In this time, in this place

[theturksway]

Who: Reno, OTA
Where: All around the train.
When: Fiddlesticks, from day 16 and beyond.
What: Reno has things to do. Like, not doing chores, lazying around, oh and he got a summon materia to try out in one of the larger carriages. The surprise is on him though, he doesn't need a large space for this little guy.
Warnings: Cursing, probably, but not much else for now. Can/will update if needed.



I. Summon

Fiddlsticks Day 16 Specifically For Initial Summoning

Reno sought out the most open space with the fewest obstacles in his way. Summons could be unpredictable sometimes and many of them were quite large as well. And if he had gotten what he wanted he was gonna have one of the largest Summons available at his beck and call. It probably wasn't the greatest idea to call forth a Summon on the cramped train but Reno wanted to get used to the feel of materia once more, especially since Summons were one of the most draining magics to use.

The new training gym was a nice place but after a bit of consideration he kept moving further down the train. It was new and had all the useful equipment in it; he didn't want to get yelled at if the Summon happened to ruin something. So he continued to the original game gym where there was less equipment out while it was empty and, as far as he was concerned, a lot less useful. It still had the open space he was looking for though. He tried to measure it by sight but, well, it's not like he knew the dimensions of the King of Dragons off the top of his head anyway. He was just going to hope for the best and if the train did suffer for it then at least they would know Summons were more powerful than the train itself.

As Reno concentrated on the Summon materia in his hand though a surprise came to him. "What? No, no, no... no way! Don't tell me it got it wrong!" All right, so maybe Reno should have been a little more demanding but Reno thought listing the name of his most preferred Summon would have sufficed. If Bahamut was too hard to kidnap the train could have at least got him Ifrit or Shiva to kick butt with. He should have been more specific and not given the train the option to deal him a bad hand.

Because as far as he could tell by examining the magic within the red orb in his hand, the Summon he possessed was not in fact Bahamut, the King of Dragons. Instead Reno felt the curious energy of a little Summon the Turk had only ever heard of in stories.

With a resigned sigh, Reno concentrated on the materia once more and this time a magical aura with glyphs surrounded him for a moment as he recited a simple summoning incantation. The glyphs reappeared in the air a little ways from him and a second later a white fox-like puppy bounded onto the ground. Reno gave it a flat look. It looked up at him curiously and gave a sniff. It instantly became happy and tumbled over to him, looking up at him with eager little eyes as if waiting for a command. Reno made a rude face at it and instantly regretted causing it's ears to flatten in disappointment.

"All right, all right. Don't look at me like that! Just..." he sighed again, "Let's see what you can do, fuzzball."

Any Other Day After That for Random Sightings

Reno practiced Summoning the little fey fox from time to time after he got over the fact that he was stuck with the tiny Summon. Summoning magic was the most draining type out there, especially depending on the Summoned creature's power. Carbuncle didn't seem so bad but Reno thought it felt particularly hard to focus on the materia magic for some reason--an attribute he wondered if had to do with the fact that he wasn't on the Planet. Like the lack of connection to the Lifestream made it harder to cast the magic trapped inside the glowing orb.

He didn't think about it too much. It made him miss things and he hated to be mopey or sentimental in front of other people. Besides, the more he practiced the easier it got to focus and use the magic without the aid of the Lifestream around him. Instead, it seemed to make him tired and groggy more quickly but at least he was getting used to it.

So the creature made appearances more and more often as Reno practiced and built up his stamina for casting magic. He got to the point where he could keep Carbuncle out for quite some time and whenever the little guy disappeared in a flash of bright light, Reno would just Summon him again immediately to further test his reserves. At least until he couldn't anymore for that day. He might want to remember to spend a few points on Elixirs next time he had some.

Reno Summoned Carbuncle anywhere and let the little fey-like creature run around as it pleased. The Turk was usually in the same carriage somewhere but Carbuncle seemed to get used to the autonomy more and more as it was Summoned by the same person repeatedly so it began to explore its surroundings a little bit. Two most notable things: it was very friendly but very shy about approaching other people; and it had a huge curiosity, nosing its way into places it maybe shouldn't always be if it thought no one was watching.

II. New Training Gym Carriage - Any Day

Whenever Reno wasn't practicing with his new Summon materia the Turk took to testing out the new training gym equipment. He wasn't as adamant about exercising as a lot of others on the train but he was a Turk and a damn good one and that meant he had to keep his skills up. Besides, he was bored as shit with nothing else to do on this train.

Reno was most often seen using the obstacle pads for setting up courses though it seemed he mostly enjoyed running them after someone else did the hard part of setting them up. He was quick. Even when he wasn't using his Electro-Mag Rod for a boost of speed he finished the courses in record time. It was clear he wasn't exactly the strongest guy around so he must have made up for it with perplexing amounts of speed and agility.

If he wasn't showing off his speed in horizontal races then he was probably showing it off vertically as he raced up the sides of the climbing gear. That seemed to be his favorite place in the whole gym, in fact. Reno would climb or simply hop on up to the top of the structure and lounge up there as if he were a cat basking in the sun. He liked to sit up there while he watched everyone else work up a sweat.

Less occasionally he would work on punches and kicks with one of the training dummies. Despite his lesser attention to such practices, he was rather good at it and his form looked nice and professional. And though he never asked himself, on the rare occasion he was asked to spar he'd square up and fight with someone who asked him to go a round.

III. Cinema

For Elena:

The redheaded Turk managed to bully, cajole, and bribe his way into clearing out the cinema for a few hours one day. Honestly, it didn't matter if people stuck around but what he wanted was the choice of movie or show for the day. In actuality he didn't pick the show of the day but rather debated and chatted with his fellow Turk Elena over what they would watch. In the end he let her have the pick though he wrestled a little to steer it towards something they could both enjoy.

He was prepared for the day to be a fun time to relax and chill with his younger associate. He brought all of his remaining snacks--of which he had bought quite a few with his remaining shop points--and had them stashed in a bag next to his seat. Elena was on his other side and he offered her first her choice of one of the three sodas and then one of the bags of chips and then handed her a full chocolate bar. Look, he had had a lot of points and the snacks were cheap and he had a sweet tooth, sue him.

"Also got some random candies if you want any let me know," he told her as they settled in, indicating the bag next to him and the rest of his stash of goodies.

Everyone Else:

Reno hung out here from time to time lounging around like it was a living room. Sometimes he'd get to the theater when it was empty and put on some sort of action flick or investigative series. He seemed fond of one series that involved a small group of government agents that fielded a plethora of strange cases ranging from regular missing person cases to tracking down stolen magical items, hunting monsters, and other random modern day crossover with fantasy style occurrences.

Other times he'd wander in while someone else would be picking out a show and throw in his two gil whether the choice was stupid or not. Or he'd walk in during the middle of a screening and plop down into a seat with his feet propped up on the seat in front of him. He'd be relatively quiet--until he reached for one of his bags of snacks and started opening it with no regard to the crinkling noise it made. If the movie was really atrocious he would make fun of it loudly.

At some point he found out the hammocks in the back were really comfy and started to hang out in them before, during, and after screenings. Honestly, it seemed like he'd simply found a new place to take naps most of the time he was laid out in one.

IV. Wildcard!

[[The usual joker card! Reno can be find lounging around a lot of times so if you want to find him somewhere else be my guest. If you wanna discuss/plot something else special beforehand, hit me with a PM or plurk @ AisuYoukai.]]

Comments

Random sightings, Game car

[stealsyourheart]

"Whoa!" Kaito yelps as the fox bounces by, the dove on his shoulder fluttering in agitation at the predator.

"You're not one of Iden'no-san's pokemon!"

[theturksway]

Definitely not a pokemon. The little guy's master wasn't far behind but not quite caught up yet. Carbuncle paused briefly to look back at the human it just ran past and it's nose twitched as it noticed the dove on Kaito's shoulder.

Carbuncle stood up on its back legs as if the tiny boost in height would help it see the bird more clearly. It looked less interested in would-be prey than just curious at the sight.

It didn't really know how to hunt or even hurt others after all. It was only a support Summon! Not that that was obvious by its foxy appearance.

[stealsyourheart]

Kaito scritches pidgeon feathers soothingly, as he crouches slowly, bringing himself down closer to Carbuncle's height.

"Hey little fella. Definitely not Iden'no-san's! What are you, huh? And do you belong to anyone?"

Aoi fluffs, clearly not happy, but she stays put.

[theturksway]

Carbuncle stretched up higher as Kaito knelt down, trying to get a good sniff of the bird, but it couldn't balance that way for very long and swayed precariously before falling back down on all fours. It made a small yippy noise and then shook out its fur.

As for the questions, it appeared to consider with a tilt of its head. It nodded quickly and then dashed off, back the way it came. It stopped after a short dash and peered back at Kaito over its shoulder.

[stealsyourheart]

Aoi takes off at the yip and sudden movement, but doesn't go far, landing instead on Kaito's head and cocking a curious head at the clumsy furthing.

"Smart though." Kaito observes, and gets up, careful not to dislodge Aoi, before trotting after Carbuncle. "Lead on!"

[theturksway]

The little fae didn't go very far truthfully; it simply bounded back down the stairs to the bottom half of the carriage. Then it ran straight up to the redhead lounging lazily in a bean bag. And leapt right into his lap.

"Son of a--!"

The cards in Reno's hands went flying as he startled from the jolt of the fox's sudden weight in his lap. The little creature may have been light but Reno didn't seem all that pleased by it's presence in his lap nonetheless.

"You are not a lapdog. Get off!"

The white fox quickly moved to obey, hopping down and sitting neatly in front of Reno, waiting for another command.

[stealsyourheart]

"Oh hey!" Kaito blinks and waves.

"Sorry man, that mightve been my fault, I asked if it had an owner. I'm Kaito by the way. Don't think we ever properly met."

Although he HAS seen Reno around.

[theturksway]

Kinda hard to miss the bright stock of red hair running around like a crazy person. Or lounging around like an extremely bored person. Pick your poison, Reno tended to be both those things. Especially on this train going stir crazy.

Right now he was pretty relaxed though the fox had ruined that demeanor a little bit.

He looked up at Kaito and reigned in the urge to sneer at the confession. No need to get into a fight with a kid over a silly mutt.

"Reno," he said, waving a hand at himself to indicate that was him. "You asked him, huh? Surprised he's smart enough to know the difference."

Actually, he wasn't. The Summon had to know basic words to follow commands and although Reno had never really thought about it, it made sense. It was either that or Summons just knew through the magic binding them to their Summoners but what did Reno know. He just knew how to use the magic, never bothered to study it.

[stealsyourheart]

"Nice to meetcha." Kaito tips an invisible hat cheerfully.

"Eh, either that or he guessed pretty well. Has it got a name?"

[theturksway]

"Maybe." Reno glanced at the little furball. "He's called Carbuncle if I remember my Summon lore well enough. A uniquely useless Summon if what you want is to bludgeon something to death. Great for the opposite though."

[stealsyourheart]

"Oh hoh, a sneaky one." Kaito grins at Carbuncle. "Probably why he's smart too then. If you can't hit a thing, you gotta be smart about it."

[theturksway]

"Yeah, I guess so," but Reno still sounds a little bummed out about having the guy instead of something bigger, stronger, more aggressive. "I think it's just that he's a Summon and they gotta understand us somehow, right?"

Reno never really thought about it too much.

[stealsyourheart]

"Dunno how Summons work, so I will take your word for it." He shrugs cheerfully, Aoi now more curious than afraid of this strange thing, fluttering down from Kaito's head to investigate further.

"We don't have 'em in my world."

[theturksway]

"No? Bummer. Summons are a type of magical entities that can be called on for various things. Most of 'em are battle related." He supposed technically they could be ordered to do other things but most of them had devastating attacks that could be used on monsters. And since Shinra was heavy into military advancements... well, they ended up being for combat more often than not.

Reno watched as the bird and the fox-like creature investigated each other. The fox was careful, poking its nose forward but quickly retreating if it looked like the bird was going to retaliate or get scared off.

[stealsyourheart]

Aoi is equally wary - but very, very curious, and soon enough the dove settles, cooing.

"Huh! Like... a magical attack dog? That's cool man. My world is pretty basic, comparatively."

[theturksway]

"Yeah, except less dog and more dragon or demon or ice goddess, that sorta thing." And this little guy definitely wasn't much of an attack anything though he was very dog-like.

[stealsyourheart]

He whistles.

"That's really cool. Makes my world real boring. But also a lot safer, I'm thinking. Can just anyone use them?"

[theturksway]

"Well... yes and no. First, you gotta get your hands on the materia that summons them. Pretty rare. Second, you gotta learn how to use the materia. 'S why they're not as commonly running around as I make it seem," Reno explained. "You're more likely to run into a regular monster on the road before you see a Summon."

Technically anyone could use the magic held within materia, that was what was so great about materia. They could grant the powers of the Ancients to anyone. But they were extremely rare in their natural form and Shinra kept their man-made materia close at hand. Selling materia behind Shinra's back on the black market might net a great amount of gil but one had better be willing to live the rest of one's life on the run from the great corporation because it was sure to punish the one responsible for its loss. Reno had personally recovered quite a few pieces of stolen tech in his day as a Turk.

Of course, now Shinra was reduced and no more materia could be produced so what was out there was finite now. Like the old days. So it was going to be a rare sight once more. That was fine, Shinra still had a few hidden away in its own stores but...still. Kinda sucked.

[stealsyourheart]

"Sounds super complicated." He muses. "More like actual weapons then, I'm guessing. Still! Normal weapons don't run around independently, so it's still pretty awesome. What happens if they refuse to be used?"

[theturksway]

Reno raised an eyebrow at the comment that normal weapons didn't run around independently. Clearly Kaito's world didn't have a corporation originally created for manufacturing weapons that came into power over such machines and eventually took over the entire world. And still specialized in weapons manufacturing even though it did other things now, too. Oh well.

"They, uh, don't." Reno shrugged. He'd never heard of a Summon that didn't obey it's Summoner. "It's magic. It kinda has to do what I command, yo." He guessed.

[stealsyourheart]

"Huh. So not like Pokemon either then."

Kaito's world is very boring compared to yours Reno.

................It does have Akako though. Akako is... special.

"Are you gonna try to get a more weapon-like one then?" Would probably cost him a good deal of points, but people do seem to like weapons on this train...

[theturksway]

"Pokemon are just...normal animals and monsters from that girl's world, aren't they?" He half states, half asks because he only knows a little from what he's heard around the train. But gathering info was sort of his things. "Summons aren't like that at all. We have normal animals and then we have monsters that are mostly vicious attack creatures as well. Summons are completely different from all those creatures. They're Legendary Creatures that only come forth when called by magic."

And only an Ancient could tell anyone any more than that about the creatures. They were pretty mysterious even for prominent magic users in his world.

"Yeah, I'd prefer another one. And some other stuff from home, too."

[stealsyourheart]

"Well. Animals with what my world would consider magic? And they seem really smart. So... I dunno." He shrugs.

He nods. "People want things that remind 'em of home." He agrees. "Have you got people here, at least?"

[theturksway]

"...that's not normal?" Well okay then. Guess some people had nice planets with only tame animals and no monsters running around. Must be nice.

"Eh, just the rookie." He said it casually, flippantly even. It was no big deal. Except that actually it was nice to have a fellow Turk on board. He's just gonna not mention Yuffie for now. That was less pleasant a reminder of home.

[stealsyourheart]

"Not in my world. Yours, maybe."

Kaito shrugs. "The most dangerous creatures in our world are... well. Humans."

He nods. "A rookie? Oh, you guys are... army?"

Most un army uniform he's ever seen... maybe he's american.