Shinra Off the Clock

Shinra Off the Clock
Date of Scene:	10 March 2013
Location:	Goug
Synopsis:	Montag, Reno and Rhiannon head to a local pub to get dinner after their shifts are over. Also in Reno's case try out the local booze. There they run into Leida with rather strange encounter and as always? Rhiannon wants samples of EVERYTHING!
Cast of Characters:	Reno, Leida, Rhiannon Zellen, Montag

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Montag has posed:
Montag had been busy collecting tags for the agreement they'd made with ADAM he's not sure what to think but it's easy work and he can't complain about not getting shot at but tonight he's just come off duty and is prowling for one of the pubs in Goug this one is a strange one born of a partnership of a Midgar native and Goug Native. It's called the rusted blade but it's pretty good an odd mix of the feel of Ivelance and the more high tech world that the Shinra hails from, the food's good the beer is amazing as its from a local brewery and here Montag is just entering still clad in his unifform but his helmet is checked back at the base. He does infact have a face under that thiing.

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
Rhia could be seen following behind Montag. Why in the world was she here? Why, for no reason but to make his life miserable of course! With her arms tucked into her sleeves and a wry smile on her face, she spoke lightly. "Mr. Montaaaaaaag~ how long do you plan to continue ignoring me for?"

Coming up alongside him, she leaned around to stare into his face. "All I ask for is a single blood sample! It is for science! That should be reason enough for you to happily relent!" With that said, the witch-I mean, scientist, pulled out an empty needle from her lab coat, waving it playfully.

Leida has posed:
It has been a rough night for everyone. Hades' totally suprising and not at all completely expected betrayal of the heroes seeking out the lost shard of Manhattan has left the hub center of dimensional travel also known as Traverse Town in a shambles. People huddle in their homes afraid to walk to the streets of eternal night which still suffer from the lingering presence of even darker shadows. The refugees from the Big Apple in particular feel the heavy weight of these forboding events having only recently lost their homes to the machinations of the Shadow Lords and with the crushing defeat on their very doorsteps the fear of a repeat of that terrible event is all too easy to see.

Even for those who are not particularly vested in the welfare of the city on the edge of eternal night the reprecussions of this event can be felt. Already skirting on the edge of being merely tolerated, Leida found herself beset by overly aggressive guards and impromptu militia formed in the aftermath of the assault to drive away the surges of Heartless that followed in its wake as well to as try and reassemble some faint peace of mind from the scattered fragments of their complacent happiness.

Though Angantyr told her that hating humans for shunning her was a path down the road of darkness, the young princess couldn't feel anything but bitterness and a familiar hint of fear upon being driven away from Traverse's neon lights and quaint architecture. She knew full well that her appearance was disturbing to these 'beings of light'. As one bound to the darkness by her very soul she couldn't much well do anything about that. The corrupted yellows of her serpentine eyes, the quartet of crimson red horns jutting up through her hair like blades, and the palpable aura of unease that surrounded her very presence were all facets of her existence no matter how much she might wish them gone.

Leida is not usually one to drown her sorrows in alcohol though when she does indulge, she does so with gusto. After being run out of the one town she knew well besides her home in Fluorgis tonight ended up being one of those nights. When Montag and Rhiannon enter the bar the young demon girl is already seated in the far corner. A half-filled glass of some form of booze sits on the lacquered wooden table infront of her but she has abandoned it to nurse the bottle directly. The vacant stare and faint blush she is sporting seem to indicate she's been at it for some time. Unsurprisingly, she sits alone despite her fair looks and clear intoxication which might otherwise make her an easy target for anyone cruising the bars for an easy date.

Reno has posed:
Since the world of Gaia had been lost to darkness, the ShinRa personnel have had to make great adjustments to their lives, especially since the beloved corrupt pizza city they knew and loved (more or less) was now superimposed on some kind of steampunk city overrun with diminutive living amusement park mascots. Some particularly stubborn, intelligent, or mentally cunning individuals adapted faster and steadier than others. But when it came to after-work hangouts that serve alcohol, Reno had taken to adaptation like an asian carp to a fragile pond ecosystem.

So of course the flaming-haired agent was already on his second or third round by the time Rhiannon and Montag showed up. In fact, he had only a little while ago finished off a tasty little concoction with a wedge of lime clinging to the salted lip of the glass-- It reminded him of warm and wild summers vacationing in Costa Del Sol. And now it was just about time to order another.

Of course, Reno wasn't already in THIS bar, but had just started on an impromptu weekend pub-crawl, and happened to spot two familiar ShinRa-company faces walk into this bar one after the other. For the sake of amusement, Reno decides to put some of his skills to work and sneak up on the two.

"Yo, 'Mister Montaaaaaag'-" Reno exclaims with a rosy hue to his cheeks from behind as he leans one arm each over Montag and Rhiannon's shoulder. "Haven't been in the bar a minute and already you have a pretty girl all over you, demandin' your "genetic material". Reno accentuated with a conspicuous wink. "Didn't know you were such a Ladies' man!"

The turk then backed away before either of them could reply with a punch, slap, or anatomically significant syringe stab.

After the moment of teasing had passed, Reno took a good scan of the bar, and noticed a certain Darkness-Tainted shard-hunter drinking like the subject of a George Thorogood song. Reno shot a quick 'is this a business trip?' glance at Rhiannon before striding casually over to Leida's table and pulling out a seat for himself, then pausing.

"Hey" (disarming and slightly goofy smile) "'sThis seat taken, yo?"

Montag has posed:
Montag has got used to it more or less and other than the Resident mad doctor he's not seen hide nor hair of anyone from Wutai and honestly she'd ditched them long before the Heartless came into the picture so it's one sin he'll not hold against her. However there goes his nice off duty night and he looks over at Rhiannon for a moment "I was just thinking! A blood sample again?! Look Ma'me I just have made due never signing up for the lab. Just a personal habit I guess prehaps a bad one."

Oh Minerva why him? She does however look to see a young girl enter given the place served about anyone he didn't think much about he looks over at Leida dor a moment and pauses at the young lady who seems to be drowning her own worries in booze he does raise an eyebrow.

here comes Reno a pro with a love of booze, He looks over to Reno and smirks "Yo Reno, enjoying the off hours huh and I get that a lot from the doc she thinks I'm some sort of freak for serving long as I have and suriving." He'll make his way in and look for a spot to sit down at this point.

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
Rhia pouted at Montag's answer and sighed dramatically. "Is that a no then? That is too bad! Your genes could be just the ingredient needed to create the utimate super soldier!" And then there she went off on another tangent. But before she could get too far, Reno's voice broke her out of her trance.

"Oh? Well now, if it isn't Reno!" She smiled and waved lightly...with the syringe. "Come to have your blood taken? I suppose I could use yours as well!" Wait a second, this wasn't her lab! But she apparently didn't care. Her eyes soon fell upon Leida and suddenly, Reno and Montag's blood became a non-issue. "Oho~" It was her! That girl they sent off to die at the reactor in China! ...Or something to that effect. Well, this was interesting development!

"Why hello there!" The scientist greeted, following along with Reno as they approached her table. "I have not seen you since I was in Fluorgis. Have fun here, hmm~?" And she asked that despite the fact that the younger girl was clearly drowning her sorrows in booze.

Leida has posed:
It takes a few moments for the young girl to realise that the faint rumbling noise on the edge of her consciousness isn't her stomach protesting the lack of food. She tilts the bottle back again to pour some more of the amber fluid down her throat, prompting another surge of the strong burning sensation that comes with it before turning her head to give Reno a bleary stare.

Her eyelids droop halfway as they fight off the constant desire to slide shut and send her off to a few hours of blissful slumber before the bar closes and she gets run out into the street. Eventually, however, they manage to slide away from the table, traveling slowly up the dark suit to settle on an unfamiliar face.

Once the realization that she's not alone strikes her the princess regains a measure of sobriety in the span of a few seconds. She sits up straight and gives him a look that is a mixture between annoyance at being disturbed and surprise that anyone would want to sit by someone that looks like Hell warmed over - horns included.

Leida gives a disdainful snort that isn't particularly princess-like and looks away. "No one else has laid claim to it since last I looked. Your standards must be quite forgiving if you wish to sit with me."

Rhiannon's voice draws her attention back towards the table and in her inebriated state it takes sevearl seconds of blatant staring at the other woman's face before recognition sets in. "Oh... you." For a moment she considers throwing the bottle in her hand at the scientist's face for her part in the plot to draw her into that reactor. But right now the contents of the bottle are more valuable to her than petty revenge, as amusing as it might be to see that smile wiped away.

Reno has posed:
Reno flips the chair around and sits, leaning in towards Leida with arms folded over the top of the back. "Well ain't that a thing to say about yourself!" Reno raised one eyebrow. "Yer lucky I ain't a gentleman or something, or I'd hafta fight you for insulting a lady." Reno joked, adjusting the dark goggles strapped uselessly to his forehead, a visual contrast to Leida's horns just across the table. He opened his mouth to continue, but then the others joined him at the table.

Reno glanced at the smouldering bleary-eyed stare between the tainted princess and the mad scientistette. "Oh... hey. I see you two, um... already know each other. Cool, yo. I work over at ShinRa too. Nothin' fancy like Shin-Sec or Science R&D departement, though, I'm just another salary dude in General Affairs. My name's Reno, what's yours?" Reno hazarded a warning glance at his compatriots the moment Leida looked away. After pausing for an answer, the savvy conversationalist would move the conversation along. "So... how did you come to Goug to tour ShinRa HQ, or hit the theaters for the latest production of Loveless, or the shopping, or what?"

Montag has posed:
The Shinra Rush has begun upon Leida he doesn't realise it's the girl from Sammy's report yet however. He looks over Rhiannon for a moment and sees Reno's got her attention and he does not mind there at all he does however introduce him self "Hello Miss names' Morgan Montag. Shinra Securty." he'll flag a server down and place is order.

Though the girl doesn't seem too happy and he's going to back off at this point from her. He looks over at Reno as he starts hitting on her, he'll let him have his fun he's not looking for a date at least tonight. He does however click about who the girl is now and will try to give her some space.

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
Rhia just smiled at Leida's look and just sat down at her table without a second thought. "My, that is a lot of alcohol you seem to be consuming there. How DOES your body manage to keep that all in check?" Her eyes twinkled in amusement then, leaning her elbows onto the table and resting her chin on top of her intertwined hands.

"You know, I would love to have a sample of your blood...for scientific purposes of course~" She was probably going to ask everyone for their blood by the time the night was over, wasn't she?

Leida has posed:
Despite her intention to remain thoroughly depressed this evening, Reno's comment causes the beginning's of a smile to pull at the corner of her lips. She covers it up quickly by jamming the bottle back in her mouth and downing another measure of the harsh liquor. Its fiery passage down her throat puts a fresh grimace back on her youthful features which seems to satifsy her needs and she turns back to face the duo, since Montag seems to have chosen the path of prudence.

"Leida..." She offers her name in return while giving Reno another wary stare. People didn't just come up and introduce themselves to her like this. The fact that he was a part of ShinRa made her even less willing to trust him.

The concept of corporations and massive business entities isn't something a girl from a feudal world is capable of understanding. To her ShinRa is the name of a family or an organization and one that is mostly responsible for her current situation. If she had not set foot in that reactor then Seith may never have had the chance to draw on her inner demons like that. Reno's guilt is through association. She has no idea that he's a Turk, ofcourse, or this conversation would probably end up much like Sammy's attempt to entice her into their labs - with her drink in his face.

For the time being, however, his charisma combined with her loneliness has earned him a seat free of the threat of flying bottles. Rhiannon is a different story. Her brazen request is met with a petulant glare, Leida's eyebrow twitching in obvious annoyance. "I already told your messenger that I have no intentions of submitting myself to your whimsical science."

Reno has posed:
Reno says, "Aw don't worry, she asks everyone that." Reno waves his hand dismissively.

glancing over his shoulder, he notices that Montag had the attention of one of the servers, and waves the man over as well. "Yo! Ummm..." Reno snaps his fingers. "Armando, right? NO? Sorry , you look like this other guy I know. Hey anyway I was gonna buy the nice young ladies a drink, but one of them's already got the drop on me so.... Just get a big order of garlic-parm fries over here, put her bottle on my tab, mix me a 'Sister Ray', and get the lady with the syringe one of whatever she wants on me, ok?" Reno requested, then turned, wispering. "Seriously, Rhiannon, put that thing away. Aren't you supposed to leave the tech stuff in the lab when you clock out?"
Once the ordering was done, Reno stretched his arms. "So no scientific whimsey, huh? Ehh, it ain't for everyone, anyway. So where do you come from, huh? Your accent says you ain't from 'round here, yo. Travelin' must be tough with all those little dark monsters runnin' round, right?""

Montag has posed:
Montag now has managed to pass off Rhiannon's intrest on to Reno's ability to consume more booze than anyone he's ever known aside from him. Seriously how does Reno do it? Was his mother or father a booze elemental? He's got to wonder about that quite a bit at this point. As for Leida he is keeping an erye on the girl for a moment/ As for the the girl he's looks at her again. "Give the lady some space, she already took a risk for us and got in a real bad place cause of it."

He looks back to reno for a moment "She never stops Reno, seriously as for you we need to talk business late got an op that might need some Turk support."

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
"You mean you don't want to? Oh, shame, shame, shame..." Rhia spoke in an amused tone, tucking away the syringe. "Very well, I suppose I shall let you go for tonight." She smiled pleasantly at the girl despite the obvious annoyance being shown by her.

"You know, if you continue to look at me like that, your cute face will be stuck like that permanently~" The scientist giggled then, glancing at Montag and Reno. "Awwww, you two wound me! I'm not a monster!" Yes you are, Rhia. "...But nevermind that, what is this I hear about an op, hmm~?"

Leida has posed:
The gentle reassurance does little to assuage Leida's misgivings about the creepy scientist's intentions and the girl affixes the full force of her baleful bloodshot stare across the table at her. Rhiannon's concern for the welfare of her facial expression doesn't even dent the mask of annoyed disdain. If anything, she scowls harder.

"Heartless are no concern of mine. It would take a veritable army of the little demons to stand in my way." That was probably bluff for the most part. While the emergence of the horns during the incident at the reactor had brought forth a solid measure of the demon's former power into her control she was still a long shot from being anywhere near the threat that the shadow spirit had posed. Her ease of travel was in truth attributed to her ability to manifest the corridors of darkness, allowing her to nearly instantly move between any place she has visited before. Ofcourse, the only ones who showed the knack for this particular power was Shadow Lords or those in their employ so she's kept this particular development to herself.

Slumping back in her chair, Leida allows her glare to drop back down to the bottle in her hands. "Where I come from is an irrelevant question. My world is naught but dust in the wind." She takes another drink, this one longer than the rest and slams the bottle down on the table a little harder than intended. "Is this why you have disturbed me? To ask mundane questions? To find out more about your test subject?"

Reno has posed:
Reno Shrugs to Leida and replies.
"I just thought you were a cute girl who looked lonely. Cute lonely girls usually LOVE being disturbed by my mundane questions! Besides, it sure beats walkin' up to someone ya never met an' aking them real deep phili stuff, right? Like... 'what is the purpose of the duality of essence between the light and dark halves of the soul'. Reno intoned in an overly-serious and dramatic sounding deep voice

"You know... philosophy, yo!"

The turk really had to strain to pretend not to hear BOTH MONTAG AND LEIDA bring up an operation. He made a mental note to have a nice friendly chat with Montag later about mentioning any details about ShinRa operations in public where people might overhear, let alone at the same damn table as a noted warrior and possible shadow lord with an overt opposition to ShinRa... Or mentioning The Turks. The vast majority of what The Turks did stayed off the record, and Reno wanted to keep it that way. Why else would he had introduced himself as just a nobody from General Affairs dpt.?

Reno let out a deep sigh when the server handed out beverages to Reno and Rhiannon, and set a delicious smelling, steamy bowl of garlic-encrusted fries down in front of Leida.

"Ah well..." Reno said, stealing a fry and dipping it in a ramiken of ketchup. "I know when ta let it go." munch munch much. "I'll see ya 'round, Leida. Don't be a stranger, yo!"

and with that, Reno stood up from the chair he was backwards-sitting upon, and made his way casually towards the exit, pausing to pass the server a wad of gil.

Montag has posed:
Montag gets his order and starts to dig in "No, you do ask." Montag notes as he digs in and he looks to Leida and he says "... thats impressive. I was there the day they consumed my world. I was on the plate fighting till the darkness consumed us all." He thinks back to what he thought would be the last thing he'd ever do taling out a Wutai mage not allowing them to enjoy their victory.

he seems focused on his meal now. "Well my meal's her and I'm famished I think I'm going to enjoy something that's not from the caf or a ration pack. As for the reactor you likely save me and my comrades some fatalties and you got my thanks..."

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
"Aw, come on now. You should smile! Come on Leida-chan~ Look at me~" And Rhia pointed to herself, her face in particular and made a big, wide smile, looking rather silly in retrospect. "Like thiiiiis~" The arrival of food and drinks, and Reno's departure didn't seem to stop the scientist any and she continued tring to elicit reactions from the demonic looking girl.

"Or perhaps you have forgotten how to do so? Oh dear...this is a serious problem!" She then glanced at Montag with a stony serious expresstion. "She has forgotten how to smile!"

Leida has posed:
Leida just stares at the strange man as he lays out his reasons for choosing to pester her with questions. She couldn't fault his logic. Had it just been Reno who approached she probably would have been more than happy to let him go through the whole attempt to cheer her up or distract her with simple questions, however the presence of obvious ShinRa elements has soured her mood.

The girl's corrupted eyes narrow at both Montag and Rhiannon upon their cheerful comrade's departure. Reno takes all of the charm out of this encounter with him leaving the scientist and the soldier sitting with a very unpleasant demon girl. She watches him go for a moment before turning her hateful stare back at Rhiannon's ridiculous attempts to either mock her or endear herself.

"I sit in the presence of one responsible for luring me into a trap that has fractured the seal containing the evil elemental within my blood which in the process has turned me into a monster. My world is dead. My only friends are those who pity my existence. Tell me what exactly should I be smiling about?"

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
Rhia simply handwaved all the (true)accusations and reasoning coming from Leida, her smile serving as a contrast to the other's narrowed, unamused expression. "Because it takes less muscles to smile than it does to frown! You are wasting energy being all pouty. As cute as it may be~"

She really had no sense of danger, did she? But Leida's words do cause her to look with a bit more interest. "So, you have an evil elemental sealed within your blood. Said evil elemental is slowly escaping, and your body has become corrupted as a result. ...How fascinating!"

Continuing to ignore the food laid on the table, Rhia leaned forward a tad as she spoke. "Are you sure, you don't wish to allow me to take a blood sample~?" Nope. Still not giving up.

Leida has posed:
An incredulous look replaces the scowl for a moment both at the lame joke and Rhiannon's seemingly single-minded obession with sampling the blood of every thing that moved. "A person with the slightest notion of prudence would not be interested in such a terrible curse." Leida lifts her bottle to take another chug but after only a few drops she finds that the contents are exhausted.

"Tch." The princess tosses the useless bottle aside and turns her attention to the plate of food which has already been paid for. She samples one of the fries, giving it the appraising look of a person who's never seen such a thing before and is surprised to find that the taste isn't completely disagreeable.

Leida munches slowly on the food and resumes her disapproving stare at across the table though the intensity of her annoyance seems to have dwindled. "Why are you so interested in my blood?"

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
"Bah, prudence does not pave the way to answers! People only continue to advance because they seek out the unknown." Seeing Leida's look of irritation at the bottle for having the audacity to be empty caused the scientist to chuckle lightly to herself. "Perhaps you have had enough alcohol for one day now, hmn?" But they, she wasn't going to complain.

If the princess drunk herself under the table, she'd just take a blood sample while she was passed out! ...What? Unethical? What ARE ethics? "My interest in your blood lies with the very reason you mentioned before~" Waving a finger lightly, Rhia smiled in amusement as she repeated after Leida's previous words. "Something about an 'evil elemental', yes?"

Nodding then, the scientist changed her posture, crossing one leg over the other and folding her arms back into her sleeves. "I would love to see how such a thing looks like on a molecular level. Perhaps run some...tests to see how it reacts to certains stimuli~" Sounds like standard mad scientist fare thus far.

Leida has posed:
Leida opens her mouth to say that she'll decide for herself when she's had enough but even in her less than lucid state she realizes how stereotypical that sounds and is likely a good indicator that she /has/ had enough. Rather than admit that out loud, however, she just stuffs another fry in her mouth and chews furiously.

"You tamper with forces beyond your ken. Gods and spirits are not meant to be understood or analyzed by humans." She almost sounds indignant as if referring to herself with that statement. "You would do best to turn your curiosity elsewhere."

Rhiannon Zellen has posed:
"Hmn...perhaps you may be right..." Rhia almost seemed to admit, looking upwards and watching the ceiling thoughtfully. "...Or perhaps I simply do not care about the boundaries set by whatever gods, spirits, and deities presume to think they are at liberty to do so." Yeah, that sounded much more likely. Especially in her case. What WAS sacred to her? Probably nothing.

"Therefore, I will remain ever curious now~" And then she resumed smiling pleasantly, watching as Leida ate her food idly. "So, about that blood now..." And then she pulled out a syringe from her coat, waving it cheerfully. "Are you ready to hand some of it over~?"