darker than life

Independent multifandom, multimuse roleplaying blog.

Fanfiction writer traxits, +20 years experience roleplaying.

Multiverse muses, crossover and OC friendly.

Ask box is open at all times, IC and OOC.

Tracking: darker-than-life.

Current main characters: Reno, Reeve, and SOLDIER Tifa, from FF7.

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Her comment had been a mere teasing, of course – but as expected, Reeve was always polite to a fault. Melissa sometimes doubted he was capable of saying anything truly hurtful or horrible to anyone, and that was one of the reasons he was so popular with her own girls: even when refusing company, he was pleasantly charming. It wasn’t as if any of them ever held a grudge against him – if anything, it had transformed the Urban Development director into a challenge.

But with her – the owner – things were different. He couldn’t very well dismiss the proprietress like that, and it would make very little sense for Reeve to come to the Honey Bee Inn if not for something only that place could provide – apparently it was the barbecue, but Melissa knew better. Director Tuesti was a terribly busy man – if he needed a break from his work, there were probably a dozen bars topside where he could have a good drink and amazing food, or meet beautiful ladies or even gaze at the skyline of all Midgar from the top of some panoramic restaurant.

No – there was something peculiar to her establishment that kept luring Reeve back, and Melissa was curious. There were times when she would use her charm to disarm certain guests and to extract information in-between unsuspecting bouts of laughter and commemorative toasts, but that was not one of them. The food she had chosen, the way her body language changed and the last touch – a brief moment of respite where she kicked off her heels, bare feet resting over the soft carpet before she adjusted on the couch, sitting over her bent legs as she often did when visiting the local Wutai restaurants in the neighborhood.

She was no queen bee for a moment – just a woman sharing a snack with good company.

“Really? And here I thought I was an expert at blending in,” she offered – but clearly as a joke, because in a room full of pretty girls in a honeybee costume, Melissa clearly dressed as glamorously as she could to distinguish herself from the other employees. “But contrary to popular belief, I’ll have you know that I don’t sleep in cocktail dresses – I actually have flannel pajamas, sweatpants and old hoodies for when I’m off-duty.”

She reached for the beer then – a sip of the cold beverage that did wonders to her throat, and eased the warm feeling of the inn a bit (it was never freezing cold indoors when the staff was never wearing much – a courtesy to the girls). “What about you, Reeve? You seem to come here to escape work for a bit, but I see you can’t leave your PHS alone for long. Do you get to loose your tie and roll up these sleeves at some point?”

Reeve tilted his head for a moment, and his smile widened slightly as he studied her.  He reached up then, fingers deftly pulling his tie loose and off to disappear into one of his jacket pockets.  He flicked open the top two buttons in a practiced motion, barely thinking about it.

He was aware, at least on some level, that he was seen as something of a challenge in the Honey Bee Inn.  He was always careful with the girls—more importantly, he was careful of their feelings—and he knew that more than one of them went out of their way to ensure his comfort on the evenings he spent down here.  He was no Palmer, of course, with a room on demand, but then, he didn’t need a room here.  It wasn’t what he came for.

He shrugged out of the jacket, taking only a heartbeat to move the PHS from it to his slacks’ pocket, and it pooled behind him carelessly.  Then he leaned forward a little on the table; one arm bracing his weight.  This was the most relaxed he’d been here in a long time, certainly since most of the girls who were here now had seen.

Melissa on the other hand…

Well, she remembered when President Shinra used to hold court down here on a more regular basis.  She was the only one who might have seen him like this before.

(Years ago now.  A lifetime.  He scarcely remembered the child he’d—they’d—been.)

He picked up his whiskey for another easy drink, and as he lowered the glass back down, he glanced up at Melissa.

“Be ready,” Lazard warned with a smile. “They like having new, interesting things to take off the board. Bonus if they get to explore places usually off limits or apply themselves in ways they haven’t before. They thrive off new challenges, Reeve, I cannot stress that enough.”

He knew, even if Reeve didn’t, that this was going to be a success. It would just take time.

He smiled back, shaking his head. “I’ll let you think that, then. Whatever it takes to keep the missions coming.”

"Believe me, I can find them work."  Reeve laughed faintly at the thought.  It was an almost dangerous admission, but here in the executive break room at such an early hour... It didn't feel that way.

He didn't think Lazard was the type to take advantage of it at least.

“You mean you haven’t already?” Genesis clucked his tongue, smile firmly in place and pointedly not watching the way Reeve leaned, wondering how much was comfort or habit verses fatigue. He’d get him home soon, and that would be that. Nothing to worry about then, once he’d gotten some well earned rest.

“Almost,” Genesis murmured, the word on a breath and lips scarcely moving as he too watched the tick of the numbers. At a more normal tone he said, “I’m accommodating; I tell him what he needs to know and don’t bother him with the extras.”

Almost indeed.

"Considerate of you.  I'm thinking he needs a wine basket for his office."  Reeve's smile widened, and he went ahead and pulled his PHS from his pocket.  It would sell the teasing if he appeared to actually be ordering something.

...

Genesis laughed at the gentle teasing, tucking his phone away and idly toying with the keys. “Of course I know how, Reeve. I just don’t unless it suits me. Cat, you know.”

Which wasn’t entirely true, he behaved for Lazard even when it didn’t suit him to, but work was an entirely different thing than being about with friends. And on that note - “I ‘misbehave’ just as much as I need to, and no more. It’s very calculated.”

Usually. Mostly.

“Is that what you tell your director?”  Reeve shook his head slightly, and he leaned back against the glass of the elevator as he watched the numbers tick down.  “The poor man.  I should send him a gift basket to express my sympathies.”

“We’ll need duplicates either for syncing with each other, or for networking, if you want to start with either of those,” Genesis suggested. “Normally I suggest something mundane for learning work like that… Restores, Walls - defensive and curative things.”

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. If he knew what the other person was capable of, he’d absolutely throw in offensive materia. But Reeve was a wildcard he didn’t quite know what to do with yet.

“Of course, it’s harder to see those in action,” he admitted. “Is there anything you’re particularly comfortable with?”

Reeve considered that as he shut the trunk of the car. “Wall is probably the easiest to test things with, even if, by its nature, it will be subtle. Given the option...”

This meta has been a really long time in coming, to be honest, but it's kind of tricky just because of how much I have to actually cover in it, and because I write a very... fluid Reno, I guess?  And what I mean by that is that I am very quick to modify my Reno's backstory to fit in with my partner's stuff.  Especially when writing with a Rude or a Tseng or a Veld, because all three of those characters have the potential to massively impact his character development.

So. For the details... below the cut.  Warning, there's some dark topic mention (I mean, Turks, okay?) and this is very long, because I touch on his history, and I kind of go into his relationships with authority figures, and I go pretty in depth in why he's such a lost soul post-game.

@darker-than-life​ . from here

The relationship between the Honey Bee Inn and Shinra predated Melissa’s reign – it went further back even, to the years before she was brought over from the Sector 5 slums and still was known as Lilian, as innocent and ignorant about the hard truths of the Wall Market as any girl of her age had been. But once she started working there and met the regular patrons (the Directors and the President included), she started to form her own opinions about them.

As well as her own connections with them – even more so after buying the place. And while the intentions of most of the executives had always been somewhat clear (Director Palmer was one of their top-ranked clients, after all, enough to have all the staff calling him by his first name and one of the premium suites always reserved when he called in advance), there were others which were more of an enigma – such as Reeve Tuesti.

Now, Melissa knew Reeve visited for some of the other pleasures the inn offered – such as the food, the ability to take a breather from the Shinra halls and their routine and just relax for a moment (although she was willing to bet this was never easy for someone who was always working late as he was). And yet, there they were – two nighttime creatures, devoted to their jobs and who constantly had their paths overlapping.

And even if the inn proprietress was all smiles and honeyed words to some of the other guests who called over to say hello, her thoughts remained with the director. Melissa sipped some champagne herself with a lawyer from Sector 8 who was very excited about an upcoming IPO transaction and offering free drinks to all the girls to celebrate, then exchanged pleasantries with a hotel manager from Sector 3 who she shared some suppliers with (deliveries from the Icicle Inn area were just terrible these days, snowstorms were not letting up). Melissa made a final stop at a newcomer’s table to check whether things were going well with her girls and then headed into the kitchen.

She returned to the lounge once she was satisfied things were under control and then gestured to Erika from across the room – the madame herself was taking a break from floor management for a moment and leaving things with her senior staff.

Melissa then went back to Reeve’s booth with a bowl of snacks and a beer in hand – not her typical drinks while on the job, but she felt like having one with some edamame. Grinning at the Director when rejoining him, she pushed her offerings closer to him and allowed herself to transition to a more at-ease posture – Reeve was a guest, but one she knew she didn’t need to be so guarded around. A kindred spirit sense, perhaps.

“You can pretend I’m not even here. I just wanted to have a break with some snacks but Charlie will have me out of his kitchen in five seconds if I stay inside while he’s working,” a wink followed before she helped herself to some of the soy beans from the bowl, fingers working to squeeze them from their shell with ease, “So bossy. But, between you and me… I heard his boss is just as bad.”

In the time that she took circulating the room, one of the girls had refilled his whiskey, and Reeve had lost himself for a moment in checking his PHS, triaging the barrage of emails that never seemed to stop. Most of them were little more than internal communications where he had been carbon copied more as a threat than because his input was actually needed.

There were of course exceptions to that, including the newest branch of lunacy from Heidegger and Palmer, wherein they wanted to pitch the Department of Engineering.  As though Urban Development didn’t already handle that.

Then Melissa emerged from the back, and Reeve glanced up just in time to realize she was planning on joining him.  With a beer instead of the wine or champagne he was far more used to seeing her with.  He put away the PHS, and he matched her grin as she set the bowl down.

Her voice was easy again (still), and he couldn’t help but chuckle at her teasing.

Genesis hummed thoughtfully, getting out and stretching a moment with a sigh. All in all, not too bad. That road might need something done about it, though… a good demonstration to Reeve about what he was dealing with, perhaps…

For now, he went back and grabbed his bag, shouldering it with a thoughtful hum. “Well, I suppose it’ll certainly do for the night. And perhaps for a bit of play, if you’re still up for it?”

Reeve pulled out both his bag and his laptop case, and he glanced up with a little smile.  "I'm certainly up for it.  I have to admit, I’m intrigued with this multicasting theory."  The thought of syncing his magic to Genesis' was still a little unsettling, but by now, he'd turned it over in his head enough to be ... excited at the prospect.  He'd felt out, as subtly as he could manage, the edges of Genesis's magic, and while it felt nothing like his own, it was certainly far richer than the average materia user.