Reno (itsmydayoff) wrote in chaosunraveled, @ 2009-06-29 05:26:00 |
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Entry tags: | finished thread, rating: pg, reno, rufus, setting: niflheim's kitchen, yako |
Meeting in the kitchen
Who: Reno, Rufus, and Yako
When: June 28
Where: Niflheim's Kitchen
Rating: PG
Warnings: None really
Summary: Rufus wants to meet the locals, starting with the girl who identified him so easily, and is having Reno introduce him to people. (Many tags in this first post here. Started on AIM while IJ was being unavailable for hours on end.)
Reno didn't really understand why his boss was incapable of "meeting the locals" by himself. Admittedly, he understood why Rufus thought having Reno around was good, both for the fact that most people already knew Reno to some extent and for the fact that the people of Niflheim were not always the most friendly. But why it had been Reno who had to write a note to Yako asking her to meet them in the kitchen was beyond him. (The kitchen, of course, was the logical place to meet anybody, because then other people might show up on their own and spare them the trouble of tracking people down. Though for the moment, it was only the two of them, seated at one of the tables in the dining room area.) It almost went without saying that Yako would be the first person on the list. After all, one of the first things Rufus had said to Reno was that there was someone named Yako who had identified him very quickly with very little information. Now they just had to wait for the girl in question to arrive.
Yako padded into the kitchen and made a beeline for the refrigerator, waving her hellos and pulling out a plate of watermelon. "What was with the formalities?" she asked the redhead from over her shoulder as she kicked the door shut. "We live like, a floor apart. You could have saved yourself the trouble with the note and just knocked. I'm ninety percent sure Sal won't be detonating the rooms around mine anytime soon." She offered a smile to Reno's boss. He didn't seem half as much like Neuro as Reno made him sound.
Rufus peered at the the girl as she swept past, flicking a quick, questioning glance (this is Yako?) at Reno. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it certainly wasn't this tiny girl whose first thought upon entering the kitchen was, apparently, watermelon. He offered her a short nod when she glanced assessingly his way, faintly annoyed that she had otherwise ignored him.
"Sal detonates rooms often?" he asked, mostly to Reno, somewhat concerned.
Reno raised a hand in a lazy greeting, not at all bothered by Yako heading for food first, though he noticed that Rufus seemed a little annoyed by it. "Didn't think it was going to explode, yo," he commented, by way of not really explanation. Actually, he didn't quite know why he hadn't just knocked on the door. He glanced at Rufus briefly, then back to Yako again. Somehow slightly more formal had just seemed appropriate. He shrugged at Rufus' question. "Sal is crazier than I am, if you'd believe it. But I think the exploding rooms thing only happened once." He said it with a completely straight face, mostly for the effect of disturbing Rufus, but added somewhat reassuringly. "The rooms in question were empty, though."
"The one in the middle wasn't," Yako muttered darkly. "Honestly, if Schro didn't have his whole 'inability to die' thing, Sal would be in such trouble. And you aren't nearly as bad as some people I've met through work, Reno." She set the plate of fruit down on the table. She turned her attention to the other blond. "Nice to formally meet you, Mr. James." Somehow his surname didn't quite fit him.
"...I see." Oh, well, he only did it once. That makes everything better. "Reno, while I hesitate to declare you sane, you are certainly not the superlative crazy." Not even in my top five, Turk. Don't flatter yourself. Then his attention was caught by Yako's mutter. "You escaped with your life, at least," he offered. Rufus knew all about being in an explosion. He kneaded his left eyebrow a bit, where the bandage used to end, before catching the motion and lowering his hand. A bad habit, to draw attention to one's weaknesses.
Schro? Inability to die? And what is—was—Yako's job? He was preparing to ask when she called him "Mr. James," and he coughed lightly. He glanced at Reno. Maybe people here wouldn't know who Rufus ShinRa was. He wasn't sure how he felt about that, but perhaps he wouldn't have to hide his name. "A pleasure, Miss Katsuragi."
Reno just smirked at the comments about how crazy -- or rather not -- he was. The remark had been in jest, largely. Still, he couldn't quite resist... "You guys didn't know me so well when I was younger." A grin found its place on his lips. "But hey, I'll believe you." He shot a curious look at Rufus at the reference to "Mr. James," quirking one eyebrow slightly. Catching an equally curious glance back at him, he gave a brief chuckle. "I wouldn't worry about it," he commented, somewhat ambiguously. Rufus would know what he meant.
"I once met a woman who planted bombs and called herself 'Histerrier' because she was a a lapdog to the voice in her head. The one telling her to blow up buildings." Reno could not possibly outmatch Yako for insane stories. He literally couldn't. ".....You're name isn't Rufus "James', is it." It wasn't a question and Yako was honestly amused. As subtle as they were, exchanging glances every time his last name was mentioned was kind of a tip-off.
Rufus raised an ambiguous eyebrow at Reno's remark about his youth. Let Reno make of it what he would. He didn't bother reacting to the advice. Then Yako was talking and he listened in morbid fascination, ignoring the faint urge to rise to the challenge and spit out his own insane stories. Most of them were classified. Or just very uncomfortable, and therefore ought to be secret, even if they weren't. If Yako didn't know them, he wasn't going to share.
He blinked in surprise at her catch. She was a tiny thing, but Rufus shouldn't have let that fool him. Well done, he thought to himself with a faint frown.
"Reno tells me not to worry," he gestured vaguely with one hand, "so I won't. My name is Rufus James ShinRa. I apologize for misleading you, but I'm sure you understand caution."
Reno raised an eyebrow back, with regards to youth and crazy. You do know that was mostly a joke, right? Well, probably. He gave Yako an unreadable smile when she caught the name. Frankly, with as much attention as they'd drawn to it just then, he wasn't too surprised. Still, good catch. "Detective girl, right?" He glanced at Rufus again briefly, wondering how the man was going to take the fact that around this place, his name was likely to get no reaction whatsoever.
"But of course. Normal seventeen-year olds don't really care even if they do pick up on significant glances. Was there something you needed, by the way? Your note pretty much just said 'Come to the kitchen'." Was it just to meet Rufus face-to-face? It seemed like a whole lot of effort for something so simple.
"Ah. Detective." That was that question answered. "At seventeen?"
Even half-expecting it, the lack of response to his last name was still... shocking. Yes, shocking was the right word. He found himself waiting for something to come of the announcement— fear, or scorn, or awe, or all three —but Yako simply moved on, as though he'd mentioned it might rain this afternoon. Part of him was furious. Another part was delighted, and yet another part was suddenly enlightened. Was this what it was supposed to be like?
A moment later he noticed a gap in the sounds of the room, and realized Yako had stopped talking. Dutifully, he played back what he'd caught of her words, this time actually listening to them— a handy trick for particularly boring meetings. "I don't know why he didn't just knock," he said innocently.
Reno shrugged, and gave Rufus a vaguely amused glance. "I dunno, you're the one that likes formal stuff. Figured I'd go with it." Part of him was almost surprised when Rufus questioned Yako's age. He had long since stopped thinking about it, actually. Of course, he hadn't forgotten how young the girl was, but after having been in this place a while, nothing seemed strange. Now that it had been called to his attention, being a detective at 17 was pretty impressive.
"Ah." So it was simply that. "Yeah, seventeen. Is that odd for your world? Reno didn't seem to care about giving me alcohol, so I assumed they differed. That reminds me; I was going to make myself dinner soon; either of you want anything?" Yako changed the subject as easily as she could.
Actually, now that Rufus thought about it, he'd been... 15? when he took up the Vice Presidency of ShinRa Inc.? And the Turks were usually hired in their teens— to get the best years out of them. But a full-blown detective? "It's unusual, though I suppose not unheard of." He glanced at Reno at the comment about alcohol, raising a faintly amused brow. Really, Reno? And again, Rufus wasn't really one to talk when it came to underaged drinking, but he didn't think Reno knew about that. "Perhaps they do." Then she mentioned food, and Rufus realized abruptly that he hadn't eaten all day. "You're making—" Where had the watermelon gone? He turned to stare at Yako. "Where did that watermelon go?"
Reno returned the mildly incredulous look Rufus gave him with a smug look of his own. Why shouldn't he have given Yako alcohol? He didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the fact that she was seventeen in comparison to the fact that she was also dragged into this place to fight for hell. And beyond that, she was the one who willingly joined in on his drinking game and helped him pick out the drink for it. "Whatever you were gonna make would be great, if you feel like making extra," he told Yako, amused by Rufus' confusion over the watermelon but choosing not to comment on it. From the couple of times he'd seen Yako eat anything, he knew she somehow managed to gobble down whatever she had in a couple bites. It didn't seem possible, but then it also didn't seem possible for her to have kicked down a solid door. In all likelihood, she had finished off the watermelon sometime in the few moments they hadn't been looking.
Yako nodded, before going to the pantry and and coming back with several boxes of spaghetti and a large pot. "Oh. I ate it." She felt a flash of guilt; Yako hadn't warned either man about the speed or amount she ate. Ah well. They'd learn. She dug out a few spices before filling the pot and leaving it to boil. "No allergies, right?"
While Yako was digging in the pantry, Rufus turned his attention to Reno, catching the Turk's eye, then looking down to the plate previously occupied by a watermelon, before flicking a glance Yako's way. It wasn't just his imagination: this was ridiculous, right? The sound of metal clanging made Rufus look up, and he watched as Yako loaded a large metal pot and multiple packets of pasta— equally fascinated by the process as by the scale. No, definitely not his imagination. "No..."
Reno watched Yako as she loaded what seemed like a particularly excessive amount of noodles into a pot. He didn't think they'd be able to eat all that, even between the three of them, but he figured someone would probably take whatever was left over. People were in and out of the kitchen all the time. Besides, after her fantastically overkill attempt at party catering, he figured she was just used to making food in large quantities. Seemed like most of that stuff had gotten eaten eventually, anyway. "Nope, no allergies here," he called. Then, in a confidential whisper to Rufus, he commented, "So what do you think of her?"
"Alright!" Yako dug out a bowl and poured in two jars of sauce, pinching spices and mixing it all up. Her mind went back to the party she'd cooked for. She'd overdone it a bit, and had eaten all of the leftovers for lunch. When the pot boiled, sshe dumped it over a large strainer, then into the sauce, mixing it. "Just give it a minute and we should be ready," she told them.
Still watching Yako, he thought, Well, she's... hungry? "I think she doesn't fit in," he murmured instead. "Not with fanatics fighting for hell, not with maniacs who blow up rooms, not with us." His eyes narrowed slightly on their industrious little chef. "I think it doesn't add up." Turning at last to Reno, he concluded, "I think we ought to look a little closer. I think we're missing something."
Reno replied with vague nods through most of what Rufus was saying. He'd noticed the same thing, and had even commented on it a couple of times. He felt a little bad for her, really. She was too nice to be stuck in a place like this. Perfectly capable, yes--she had proved that well enough--but still, it had to be kind of rough on her. He smirked at Rufus' concluding remark. Again, the same one he had come to, and he had yet to find a whole lot of anything that he'd missed. "Her boss was a demon," he offered. "And she's stronger than she looks, and pretty damn sharp." The latter, of course, probably wouldn't come as any surprise after the earlier conversation. "But far as I can tell, that's the only real reason why she's here."
Yako forked out two decent portions for each of them, dropping the rest on her own plate. "All done! Do you guys want cheese or anything?" She decided not to mention she could hear almost everything they said. "Oh! What about drinks?"
"Mm," Rufus managed, before Yako turned around and dumped a massive plate of food in front of him. The Turks complained he didn't eat enough, forgetting meals on work days (every day) and picking at his food when he was dragged to it. Staring down (a bit dazed,) he knew there was no way he would finish the whole plate, and was only slightly consoled (but mostly very, very alarmed) by how much more she'd dished out for herself. It did, however, smell delicious, and he couldn't remember when last he'd eaten. "Ah... water will do, thank you...."
Reno watched incredulously as she dumped a huge amount of the pasta onto her own plate. Was she really planning to eat all that? After she'd already eaten a watermelon? He knew she downed food ridiculously fast, and in relatively large quantities (after all, it occurred to him at some point that most people would not have eaten a whole water melon as a snack before making dinner), but he couldn't imagine she was going to get through that whole heaping plate. "Uh, yeah, water's fine." With that, he shoveled a forkful of pasta into his mouth, deciding it was delicious. Yako was a good cook.
Yako set down three glasses of water before taking a seat. Watching Yako eat was interesting; she didn't shovel it in or vacuum it up; it was more like simply watching a video of a normal person eating and speeding it up. In next to no time at all her plate was empty and she was lying down her fork with a satisfied expression.
Rufus Shinra was not well acquainted with speechlessness, but he'd just watched her go through several pounds of pasta in the space it took him to lift the fork (dazedly) to his lips. It wasn't until he'd unstuck his thoughts from what he'd just seen that he realized it was good. "Thank... you," he managed.
Reno had gotten a little farther into his plate of food than Rufus had, but not by more than a few bites. And somewhere in the spectacle of Yako eating, he had frozen, forkful of pasta floating halfway between the plate and his mouth, which was hanging open in disbelief. Well, so much for thinking she wouldn’t finish that... It took him a moment to wipe the look of utter shock off his face, and when he did he set the fork back down on his plate, not quite ready to keep eating just yet. “Are you sure you’re a seventeen-year-old girl?” he asked, “And not like... something with a much bigger stomach, in disguise?” He was only halfway joking when he said it; somehow the thought struck him as remarkably logical.
Yako pouted. "That's mean! ....but logical, considering some of our teammates. No, to the best of my knowledge, I am human, but it's been mentioned that I possibly may have some demon blood in my family, way back. I'm definitely seventeen though." Yako put her plate in the sink. "My metabolism is crazy fast though."