melodiesoflife | Everyone gets a shot

Who: Reno and You
Where: Around Aqures Ixen, etc.
When: March 1 to...
Summary: Reno reacts to the the loss of the Other Heroes, and Cid's Mognet Letter -- not to mention dealing with everyone else's reactions toward him.
Warnings: Language, surely. No others yet.

The Streets of Aqures Ixen

It had been awful. The death, the sharp pains all through his body, just like in the vision. Except it wasn't three months from now, it was yesterday. Heroes who had done their damnedest to help and do their part, had fought for six months and who had finally made it here -- gone. No warning, no nothing, just gone.

Badou was gone. They'd just found each other again, after all that time, a real face from Atia. And frankly, Reno was sick of the losing game.

He stopped walking, fists clenched. With a frustrated yell, he kicked the nearest wall.

"Cheating"

Reno had had quite a few choice words to write back to Cid after that accusation of rigging the Mognet election. Testimony? Hair? Cid was either a lying sack of shit, or someone had actually planted some very specific evidence to get Reno caught. And on his life as a Turk, Reno had been especially careful. The worst was Cid's threat to open his file on Palitutu's computer and use it against him. What kind of trial system let that sort of history in? Unrelated incidents, only meant to bias people against him, it was hardly just! Reno wasn't one to stomp his feet and whine "it's not fair," but in all honesty, this was ridiculous.

Reno could only think of one person -- or rather, one moogle -- who had had any inkling of his plans. Life was going to get a lot harder for that little four-eyed pipsqueak Reno was so lucky to call his own. In the meantime, it would seem that everyone and their mother was out to make Reno's life harder.

The Pub [Closed to Johnny]

It wasn't hard to understand the volatile feelings in Johnny's note. Reno just hoped the bigwigs got their own copies. Whether or not they could actually do something about it... well... it seemed like something more important to choke on than Mognet, or airships, or hunting T-Rex.

He didn't bother writing back. Johnny wouldn't answer that. He knew where to find the other man, and that was better. Sliding in across from the slumped over half-demon, he ordered another round. By the looks of the table, he had a lot of catching up to do.

Wildcard

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Reno waved dismissively. "Well, nice as in, not outright jumpin' on me like other people."

Maybe Mordecai didn't want to. Maybe he couldn't. Who knew for sure, really? But it didn't matter.

He hesitated with a frown. "I wanted a decent candidate to win," he answered simply with a shrug when he finally spoke.

He's certain Reno is lying or hiding most of the truth. "'Decent' ain't the best word to describe the one that caused us so much trouble long ago. I heard some bad stories about that Mograma, reckon he don't make the most trustworthy of politicians."

"Mograma?"

Reno stared at Mordecai, blatantly bewildered. It took him more than a second to realize why this comment wasn't out of left field for both of them.

"You think I cheated for Mograma?"

Okay, that explained a little more of Barkeep's issue. But it just made Reno angry.

"He's the only one who didn't have a fightin' chance to win the election. Unless you're so invested in Moogle politics you can't help but muddle in 'em yourself."

Sticking his nose into Moogle affairs was one thing. Barkeep could understand that. What he didn't understand was why Reno was so upset about that logical conclusion.

"Who'd you vote for?"

"Merlose!"

It exploded forth, probably loud enough for other people to stare. But Reno was insulted at Barkeep's assumption. Just because he'd cheated, and just because Mograma had asked the Heroes to cheat... Okay, so, circumstantially the assumption could make sense, but it was rude! Mordecai could have just asked.

A startled child jumped and tightened his grip on his mother's hand at Reno's outburst, a few pedestrians glanced at the scene before continuing on their way, but Mordecai remained standing, watching Reno's face.

"Merlose." He crossed his arms and waited for Reno to calm down and listen. He may be rude, but he knew when was the best time to ask a question.

"Didn't she win anyway?"

Reno rolled his eyes. "Well yeah. But if I could tell the future, I wouldn't a' cheated, now would I?"

Stupid. What kind of question was that? Didn't she win anyway, yeah, maybe even helped by Reno! Tch.

"Sure, but it ain't a candidate worth ruinin' your reputation for."

The only bad choice was Mograma, but no sane Moogle would vote for him, right? Cheating didn't sit well with him, especially if it wasn't a life-or-miserable-life decision.

Reno shook his head. What reputation? Perhaps because he left his notoriety on Gaia...

"I sure as hell wasn't gonna let Mograma win," he grumbled. "Even if someone else was gonna cheat for 'im, I was puttin' more votes for an actually good candidate."

"Reno." He paused to give his name weight and to be sure to have his attention. "You got noble goals, but like Cid said, you nearly got all of us in trouble, which is the last thing any of us need."

Thankfully, it didn't seem that the Moogles were too upset at them. That would have been a disaster.

"The thing about politics and votin', Reno, is that if you change the game by not playin' by the rules, folks are gonna eye you, good intentions or not. Fortunately, as we've seen, most Moogles liked Melrose anyway, so they shouldn't be upset. Well, not as much as you'd think. You and Deadpool are gettin' off free, but you gotta be careful if we're supposed to be the symbol of hope for this planet."

"Symbol of hope?" Reno scoffed. "These people are desperate and ignorant. We dunno shit about what we're doin' here, we can't even keep ourselves from turning into crystal!"

Hope? Things were hopeless. Reno rolled his eyes. For the first time in over a year, he was seriously missing working with Shinra. Sure, it was "bad" and "wrong" and blah blah blah... But at least things made sense. Do something for a specific reason, have specific consequences.

"The people wanna hate me, whatever. I really don't fuckin' care anymore." Reno was getting tired of this. He knew his good impression was only temporary -- that everyone would see him for being an asshole eventually. It was only a matter of time. He was also aware he was really being pretty spiteful to Barkeep... but he filed it under being a stubborn asshole.

"Knowin' what to do and bein' a symbol of hope ain't the same thing! I have no idea what's behind all this or what Mograma really wants, but that don't mean I make sure the folks don't panic and cause more trouble! Even in politics, you got your mayors that don't do anythin', but at least they're there as a figurehead!"

Ignorant as they may be, that wasn't a reason to cast them aside.

"Go do your own thing. I'm gonna do mine and watch over these people while providin' a good example. Eyes are all on us, whether we like it or not. I don't wanna make more enemies than we already do."

He pulled his robes tightly over his front and gave Reno one final frown before turning on his heel. "You have a good day."

Everyone gets a shot

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