FicWad

Reno snorted at that then had to laugh at the mental image of the willowy nurse with her nose buried in the linen dress shirt. ..then stilled noticing how quiet it was. ..TOO quiet

Rude raised an eyebrow when he saw Reno stop. Without moving his head, he glanced around the room, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. He turned a little towards the door, finding that he couldn't see their guards standing there anymore. Something wasn't right. He crouched down, taking small, silent steps towards the door.

That was when evverything exploded, nurses running screaming in the hallways. .then a swaggerin brown haired figure in the doorway. "Well well, if it isn't the little redhead. ..man have I missed you."

Reno bristled "Gét the fuck outta here, Skotch, no one likes you. Fucking sick ass prick"

Rude dropped to his stomach at the explosion, wincing as the lifesaving movement tugged at his stitches. He opened his eyes, not realizing that he'd closed them, and looked around for Reno.

"Reno?" he called, the dust from the debris in the air making it hard for him to see. His ears were ringing loudly from the explosion, making it hard for him to hear much of anything.

Skotch reached down, petting the cuahl at his side. "I know, you're hungry for more o' those Turks, aren't you, my pet?" The cat nosed Rude, licking the top of his head. It was true the big panther-like creature had eaten the Turks killed during the raid, it was trained as a scavenger, though it usually got the less delectable debris of dead whores.

Reno growled, a sound that started from deep in his belly and sounded like the sound of a furious bear, thanking Shiva that this time he'd not left his weapon in the open, so he had it with him. As Rude's ears began clearing he would hear Reno go it one on one with Corneo's big bodyguard.

mRude froze. Something had licked his head. Something with a large tongue... and probably large teeth. He looked up, seeing the cat's face, and his eyes widened as he noticed the face tenticles. Fuck. He was not in any condition to fight a cuahl, and neither was Reno in any condition to fight Corneo's bodyguard. Things were not looking good.

That didn't mean he wasn't going to damn well so his best. .. he was deathly curious how they had managed to get one step ahead of a group of Turks to plan this raid, but he knew he'd probably find out when he got there, if there was one thing Corneo loved to do it was brag.. It was then the bolt spell washed over his body, throwing his nerves into chaos as he let out a loud cry of searing agony before he fell over sideways like a prize fighter, hitting the floor with a bone-rattling thud.

Rude quickly assessed his options at Reno's cry. Reno was injured, possibly unconscious. Rude was injured with a giant cat that could kill on a whim licking his head. There was nothing he could do to save them both, a thought that frustrated him infinitely. His best course of action to ensure both their lives would be to see what the enemy's next move would be.

Skotch picked up the little redhead, carrying him out, then sneered at Rude from the doorway as he called off the cuahl. He had what he'd come here for...He would later come to realize that was mistake number one.

But he decided to twist the knife, just a little. ..pressing a liquor-scented kiss to Reno's mouth, right there in front of Rude, before handing the smaller Turk off to two of his companions.

Rude dropped his head to the ground, pain from his injuries leaving him unable to do anything but watch. He'd failed. And of all people to fail, he'd failed Reno. He silently wished Reno to hold on, to stay alive and unbroken until he got there, however long it took. As the blackness fell over his eyes, he whispered his redhead's name as if it were a plea to whatever gods wished to smile on him.

Reno as he awakened found himself staring into that bloated face. .he was tied at wrists and ankles to a rack-like contraption. Much to his credit he didn't show the terror he felt. ..instead he smirked, and in a show of the defiance his time with Rude had given him the strength for he spit in Corneo's face.

"Oh, you don't want to do that, my boy. ..I have your partner. ..and he's your partner in much more than just work, isn't he?" He gestures over to the other rack where Skotch had hung the burlly Turk, who was still unconscious.

Voices. Rude heard distant voices as he struggled to break through the fog hazing his brain.

"Bastard! I swear to fucking God I am going to fucking KILL you! Not only for what ya done to me, and God KNOWS that's enough. ..but you touch him, I'm gonna cut that nasty cock of yours off and shove it down your throat! You enjoyed watching Skotch and the rest of his asshole friends raping me until I fuckin' bled, didn't you? You fucking sick ass freak!"

That voice he knew. Even though he couldn't make out the words, he would know that voice even if he were miles away.

"Reno," Rude grumbled, still not opening his eyes. "You don't have to yell."

"Oh Thank God. ..shit, they said you were dead. ..but you're not gonna get very far, partner, we're both trapped, and i'm in the middle o' chewing the Don a new one."

Corneo flipped a switch behind him, and electric current ran through both racks, causing Reno to arch, trying to escape the fire that ran through every nerve ending...shit it hurt. ..he stayed silent as long as he possibly could, but eventually the pain was too great and he let out a loud, ringing scream that had the sound of a scalded cat.


Rude frowned at Reno's words, confused in his return to consciousness, but before he could open his eyes the current rushed through his body, causing him to shout in pain as every muscle in his body seized up. It felt like his muscles were trying to escape his body by going through his skin.

Corneo shut it down, leaving the two to gasp and flop like fish trying to regain their breath. "I'd love to give a more eloquant response than that, my pet, but I unfortunatly have business to attend to."

Reno was gasping, it felt like his lungs had shrunk to half to their previous size...the nurse had said the stutter would likely pop up during times of stress, and boy was she right. .."R-rude. .. you okay?"

Rude's muscles refused to hold him up, leaving him to dangle by the apparatus he was strapped to. He looked towards Reno's voice, eyes bloodshot from a few broken blood vessels, unable to focus just yet. He was almost certain he'd ripped his stitches from the pain alone in his side.

"Reno..." he gasped, pulling into himself to cope with the bodily and mental pain. His next words were spoken as if he were speaking to any other Turk, short and with little emotion. "Status report."

"Trussed up like a prize buck. . .but if I can get a wrist free I got somethin' they didn't find... my mastared Restore in my Bronze Bangle in my sweatpants pocket. ..I can give you a bit 'o' a patch job at least if I can get down from here. Unfortunatly the door's bolted with a combo lock from the outside, we won't be escaping without help."

Reno lets out a short chuckle. He hadn't even REALIZED the bangle was in there until he felt it bang against his leg while being shocked. But it was sure a huge help...if he could get down.

Rude nodded, the gesture alone making his eyes water, not that anyone could see it... Wait. Yes, yes they could. Where were his damn sunglasses?

"Do it," he said, keeping an ear open for any sounds outside the door.

Reno grunts as he literally dislocates every finger in his hand...it was a trick he'd learned after escaping being tied so many times. ..his left hand slipped out of the cuff, and he quickly undid the right one before falling to the floor on his knees, He then cracks his knuckles to pop the fingers back into joint before pulling the bangle out. ..he only had the energy left to cast a second level cure, but it would at least seal up the wound and alleviate a good portion of Rude's pain. ..he idly noted the blood on the insides of his thighs, and wondered what they had done while he had been unconscious, though he rightly didn't remember.

Rude's head slowly went back to rest on the metal behind his head. He felt the cool feeling that accompanied the healing spell, focusing on the feeling of his wound sealing itself as most of the pain left his nerves. He felt better, yes, more human, but still not well enough to break out of there unaided.

"Thanks," he said, smiling slightly at Reno.

Reno then applied his nimble fingers to freeing his partner from the other rack. "Shit am I glad you're with me, though I'm sure as fuck sorry he dragged you into this. Maybe we can find a way to break out of this place and turn the tables on him. ..Boss has been tryin' ta get this place shut down for good for a while now."

Rude pulled Reno to him, wrapping his arms around the smaller man and holding him to his chest. "Worst mistake they ever made," he said quietly, pressing his lips to the top of Reno's head.

Reno suddenly started shaking now that he was alone here with his partner. ..the terror not showing until he was alone. "Shit yo. ..hate this bastard. ..much rather you notta gotten involved in this but if I were here alone, shit, I'da broken by now."

Rude made a soft shushing sound into Reno's hair, hugging his partner tighter to himself. He had to find a way out of there... Rude paused, concern washing over his face.

"Does Corneo have cameras in here?" he asked carefully.

"Hell yeah, he likes to keep a watch on his whores." Then he falls silent as the sound of the lock clicks "Someone's comin' in, yo."

He stepped away from Reno, knowing that the redhead is still injured, having used his materia on Rude. Rude looked at his hands as he cracked his neck, preparing for a fight. His leather gloves had been removed at the hospital, which meant that if he hit anything rough, his knuckles were going to get scraped to hell. Ah well, wouldn't be the first time, just the first time in a long while.

"Step back," he said, cracking his knuckles.

Reno stepped back, but grinned. ..handing him his spare pair from his pocket. "YOu know I always carry your extras."

Rude returned Reno's grin, but paused when he looked at the sweat pants the redhead was wearing.

"Are those my pants?" he asked, taking the gloves and almost reverantly pulling them on.

Rude loved the feel of leather on his hands. He might not purchase the most expensive shoes, he might not even purchase the most expensive sunglasses -- considering how often they were lost or shattered -- but he did make sure he always bought the best leather gloves money could buy.

Reno blushed. ..the two of them had IDENTICLE pairs of black sweats, and it wouldn't be the first time he'd grabbed the wrong ones, then he chuckled. "Guess they are, yo" Just as the door busts open to expose three Cuahls, the beasts were shoved into the door and the door shut. They were low-level bests, fortunatly, little more than a kittens, but they'd still likely chew the pair up pretty good.

Reno paled though. ..one of his favorite punishments was locking a recalcitrant whore into a room with a couple of cuahls then spraying the room with the spoor of a female in heat. ..with that phermone floating in the air they'd fuck anything they could get their claws into.

Leaving the conversation on whose pants were who's to another time, Rude rushed forward, towards the three cuahls. He hoped Reno was well enough to at least dodge their attacks, since he didn't count on the redhead fighting with his injuries.

He attacked them in order, smallest to largest, the smallest one falling with only a few strong punches. As he turned to the middle-sized cuahl, he had to dodge a flailing tenticle, throwing him off balance as he crashed into the rack he was initially trussed up on.

Reno yells out as the big one pinned him beneath his paws, feeling the fetid breath in his face, claws as he is flipped over, and a barbed member pressing against black fabric. "Get off me, you fucking stupid felline, I'm no female cuahl!"

Ignoring the sting across his bare chest as one of the middle-sized cuahl's tenticles lashed him. He ran at the large cuahl, intending to barrel into it and knock it off Reno. However, he caught sight of the claws digging into Reno's shirt and changed his plan. He lept onto the cat's back, wrapping his legs around it as his arms worked down the creature's front paws to attempt to work them free.

Reno as he felt the claws' hold loosen bucked, hard. ..he didn't mind taking a few good jabs as long as the beast was no longer on top of him, he could see the thing's cock out of the corner of his eyes, having seen this done before he knew what those wicked-looking barbs would do if the cat managed to get that thing where he apparantly wanted it. The barbs appeared when the creature was aroused, and did not recede until it came. ..at which point it would pull out and the victim would be bleeding all over the floor and not able to move for a while. as the beast flew off, and Rude more than likely with it due to his adrenaline-charged strength, he flipped back over on his back, kicking the thing hard in sensitive places, eliciting a pained yowl from the beast.

Rude was most definitly not expecting to land on his back with a large, HEAVY cat on him. His breath left his lungs in a loud 'woof', and he felt as well as heard the creature's shriek as Reno kicked at it.

"Reno!" Rude yelled as one of the redhead's kicks missed its mark and instead landed on his upper thigh, a little too close for comfort.

"Sorry, yo!" The cat got off Rude, circling Reno, like most felines it got off on having its intended partner struggle. Damn right Reno was going to struggle. That thing was in for the fight of its life if it thought it was going to fuck him. With an inhuman speed that with his injuries he should not be able to acheive he leaped onto the cuahl's back, yanking at the tentacle on top of its head, riding it like a bronc. his face was drawn into a vicious snarl. He was thoroughly pissed.

The entire time he rode the thing he was beating it about the head with his free hand, landing several good hits while the thing was bucking and trying to get him off its back.

Deciding that Reno had the large one covered, Rude went back to fighting the middle-sized creature, only to find that he couldn't, well, find it. He looked around, only to feel a sharp double lash at his back.

THe middle size one chose that moment to pin Rude down as the big one had Reno. ..he would be able to feel the barbs against his ass as his partner had.

Reno of course saw this, and shouted "Oh no you fuckin' don't, you son of a bitch! If anyone's gonna top him, it's only one soul, and that soul sure as Hell ain't you, so you'd best just BACK the fuck up." and steered the bigger one toward the middle sized one.

Rude pushed against the creature at his back, looking as if he were using the large cat as extra weight for pushups. He'd heard Reno shouting, but was too focused on getting out from under the cuahl.

Reno helped him do just that, though, as the largest cat barrelled into the middle-sized one, stepping on Rude, who let out an 'oof'.

Reno jumped off the big one's back as the smaller one slashed at its face, then he sat next to Rude idly wishing he had popcorn as he watched the two battle each other for the right to mate with the two Turks. "Enjoy the show, yo."

Rude took a deep breath as he stood up. He placed his arm around Reno's shoulders, fingers forming a fist then going lose again in an unconscious manner.

"You okay?" he asked, voice a little rough from being stepped on, kicked, generally roughhoused.

He nodded, even though he had several fairly deep claw marks in his back, a tentacle sting across his right cheek, and several puncture wounds from the cats barbs on his ass cheeks and thighs.

"you?"

Rude took a quick glance at Reno's backside, for reasons he would claim were making sure Reno was, in fact, unviolated. He cracked his neck again, keeping an eye on the two fighting cuahls.

"Fine," he said, then frowned, dropping to his knees to look at Reno's backside closer. "Corneo owes me new pants."

"Fuck the pants, yo. I'm just glad the pants were ALL that fucker got his barbed cock into." he shudders remembering the last time this had happened the poor guy had bled to death out of his ass. ..it hadn't been pretty.

Corneo meanwhile had watched the proceedings, hitting a button on the panel in front of him, vents opening in the ceiling above them, the cats where euipped with ribbons, of course, should they be knocked out it defeated the purpose.

Rude placed a light swat on Reno's posterior for the pants comment as he stood.

"You do realize one of them is going to win," he said offhandedly.

Reno nodded, the turned, looking up at the hissing noise. "Yo, Rude. ..you wearing your ribbon, or did they take it from you?"

Rude's only response was to drop to the floor as his legs gave out from under him. Ribbon? What ribbon? The one he took off in the hospital because 'two Turks could handle guard duty'?

Reno hit the floor in a similar manner as voice echoed over a speaker in the ceiling. *You will be awake for this. ..the gas only inhibits movement, it does not knock you completely out. I shall enjoy watching it."

Rude fought the urge to ask why they didn't take Corneo out years ago when he first reared his fat head, but figured it was not in his or Reno's best interest to piss off the fat man. Instead, he concentrated on moving something, anything. Finally, a single finger wiggled on his right hand. Things were looking up... at least, as up as they could at the moment.

"You sick, fat ugly fuck! It's me you want, leave my partner out of this!" He grunted as the biggest cuahl trotted over, having heard the smaller one screech...

"Ah, but where would be the fun in that, hmm?"

Rude focused all his will into moving, but still could come up with nothing more than slight, slow, easily dodged movements of his arms and legs. He could do nothing, nothing at all but watch his partner be violated by a big fucking cat. He refused to close his eyes, though. If Reno had to suffer through it, Rude would suffer with him.

Reno let out a loud screech as the cuahl batted at him with its claws, blood flying as they slashed across his arms, then his legs as it literally SHREDDED the pants he was wearing. most of the cuahl's actions hidden from view by the positioning. When it finished it trotted over to a corner and curled up.

Reno shivered, it seemed the gas was wearing off as he drew his legs to his chest.. .but he wasn't hurt. ..he was angry. . .bleeding on the floor yes, but other than that it was more his dignity.


Rude curled upon himself, pulling his legs under his body. He found it was getting easier to move, but he wasn't exactly sure he could stand just yet.

"Reno!" he called over the redhead's shriek, wanting to make sure that Reno was at least alive.

"M'okay, yo. ..mostly. sore. ..but I c'n move for the most part. " He tested the injured limbs, his legs would hold him, though one arm hung uselessly at the moment, tendon slashed by the beast's claws.

Rude carefully stood, wobbling only a little before he lifted his gaze to Reno.

"Did it...?" he ground out. From the look of Reno's condition, Rude wasn't entirely sure.


Reno's face went bright red. NO, he was not going to admit to what had happened, FUCK that. .Despite the fact that the blood that dripped down his legs, sticking the shreds of the pants to them, told the story quite eloquantly. "M'okay. ..worry about getting YOU moving so we c'n fiind a way outta here."


Rude stared down at the sleeping cuahl. He wanted so much to beat the large cat, but for some reason he couldn't. It wasn't the cuahl's fault; it was just acting on instinct. No, it was Corneo's fault, and the fat man was going to pay dearly.

Reno pushed off the wall, trying to stand fully, but his knees buckled. .he bit his lip as he attempted to wrap the profusly bleeding wound in his shoulder. "If I give ya the Restore, you got enough reserve to fix m'shoulder? It won' move fer shit."

Rude nodded, unlocking his knees and seeing if he could still stand. He took the offered materia, giving it the mental command to activate it and focusing its restorative powers on Reno's shoulder. After a moment, he asked, "Better?"

He moved it experimentally, it still had a limited range of motion, but at least it moved. "Yeah. .fucking cat."

Rude nodded again to Reno, then let his eyes move over the entire room, searching for something, anything that could be an exit other than the door.

"How do we get out of here?" he asked, still keeping one eye on the sleeping cat.

He shushed Rude as the lock on the door rattles again. A daring plan coming to mind. "I say we dive whoever's on the other side, knock 'em on their ass, and run like fuck untl we find a place we can lock ourselves into and then plan to try to get our phones back so we c'n call for help."

The cuahl it seemed agreed, it strode over to Reno's side, batting at his legs and purring. ..instinct told it to protect its mate and possible offspring, so it would defend Reno with its life.

The proposed plan reeked of Reno, but Rude had to admit that when opportunity knocked, or in that case, unlocked the door, he had to answer. With a sigh, he nodded, inching closer to the door, wondering if he was supposed to jump the guy or if Reno's new friend was planning on it. Speaking of...

"What is it doing?" he asked Reno, gesturing at the cuahl.

"Protectin' me, I think. ..crazy ass cat" As the door opened and Skot came through, the cuahl jumped on top of him, snarling and stinging him with the tentacle on top of it's head as well as scratching the Hell out of him.

Reno, not one to look a gift cat in the mouth, dashed past the huge felne and out the door.

The day was just getting weirder and weirder. Rude paused for just a moment to kick Skotch once in the side, payback for kissing Reno in the hospital, then moved quickly to catch up to his partner.

However the second part of the plan Rude didn't think was in their best interest.

"We need to get out of here," he said. "We're too injured to do any damage. We need to get out and come back with more Turks."

Reno nodded in agreement, though God knows he wanted Corneo...his hands fisted twice, his eyes narrowed. ..he curses softly and heads for where the door is, hoping they don't have too many fights before they reach it, and hoping the entry way was unlocked.

Rude paused for a minute. It was rather unlike Reno to have his plan dumped and not at least throw out some comment or another on how his plan was better. In fact, Rude couldn't even remember a time Reno had agreed to dump his own plan without so much as a complaint.

Rude spoke without thinking, "You are Reno, right?"

"Yeah. ..just hurtin' too much to argue, yo. .." His whole BODY hurt, from head to foot...

Except of course this time, because as he said, he simply was in too much pain to argue about it, blood seemed to be caking dry on almost every single bit of his anatomy, he even had some blood caked in his hair from a slash, fortunatly not too deep, from one of the cuahl's claws.

Rude grabbed Reno's wrist, striding purposefully down the hallway, hoping he'd picked the right direction to find the exit.

They did find the exit. ..only to find it locked. ..and to find 5 members of Corneo's enforcement squad hot on their heels. "Any ideas, yo?" Then something round rolled and hit him in the foot and he smirked, things in his head turning over. . .it was a summon, though he could not be sure which. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin"?"

Rude blinked. Did either of them really have enough energy to use a summon materia? Besides, they had no idea what the summon was, if it would be useful, or where it came from, for that matter. But, Rude was fresh out of ideas that didn't involve going down in a blaze of glory, so he just nodded.

"You or me?" he grunted, pointing to the red sphere.

"You prob'ly got more reserve than me, but I feel a wierd bond. .." Then he saw the engraved flame on the side of the materia that identified it as Ifrit and smirked. ..they had all been infused with the essence of one of the summons, one of Hojo's wierd experiemental ideas designed to make the four Elite stronger. ..while Rude's was Shiva. . .his was Ifrit. ..it had been discovered during training that if you have a materia of the summon with which you were infused, you used less of your reserve to call it, and it gave stronger attacks.

So he called the giant fire beast, watching the cigarette fall out of the mouth of the goon in front, he seemed to be TALKING to the summon mentally, for the huge beast seemed to grin, his cupped hands had a huge fireball in them, and he roared at the enforcers.

Ifrit. Rude shivered. He never did much care for that summon, even before Hojo's crazy experiments. Give him the ice bitch with the great figure any day. In fact, were Shiva real, she might actually give Reno a run for his money in the looks department. Plus, truth be told, Rude had just as much of a soft spot for the colour blue as he did for redheads.

At any rate, Ifrit seemed to fit Reno's personality, all fire and impetuous actions. ...the enforcers scattered at the roar, and Reno seemed to be talking to Ifrit again and the summon aimed the fireball toward the door, blowing it open. ..he then held one huge hand out, gesturing for Rude to climb into his palm "Just listen to him, yo, this place is about to go up in a huge boom that would do onea your bombs proud!"

Nope. Nuh-uh. He was not. No way, no how. And he said just as much.

"I am not climbing on that thing's hand," Rude nearly spat.

"You're gonna go up with the damn brothel, dammit! Do you trust me?"

Did Rude trust Reno? Without a doubt. But he didn't trust the fire demon not to scald him to a crisp. He didn't trust that the creature would completely listen to Reno's commands; summons got moody sometimes.

He spun on his heel, climbing through the still very hot hole in the door before turning to shout, "I'll run."

Reno growled, feeling just the SLIGHTEST bit hurt that Rude didn't trust his control over the summon completely, but he knew his aversion to the fire summon. His red hair whipped in the hot breeze after he was sure Rude was clear of the place and he straddled the beast's neck as it took to the air, closing his eyes. It would seem to Rude almost as if Reno had become ONE with the summon for a moment as hot rocks rained down from the heavens and blasted into the brothel. . ..one especially big one blocked the door so Corneo and his goons couldn't escape. ..Ifrit had evacuated all of the prostitutes after he'd chased the goons off the two Turks.


Rude didn't even bother looking behind him. He knew that if Reno said it was going up, the damn building was going up with a rather large bang. So he ran, as fast as he could away from the area.

After the building began collapsing on itself with several VERY large rocks embedded inside it Ifrit landed, then began to dissolve into globules of raw lifestream, returning back to its home within the planet's lifeblood. Reno wavered on his feet for several long moments before seemingly falling in slow motion onto his back, hitting the ground with a rather signifigant thud. He had actually dug a bit into the portion of his energy reserves that contained his very life-spark during that summon. .no, it was beyond a summon, not quite a posession, either, more of a temporary spirit-bond.

The rumbling behind him had stopped, so Rude stopped as well. He risked turning around to look, only to see Reno fall over.

"Idiot," he mumbled, jogging back towards his partner, eyes peeled and scanning the area to make sure they had made it out... and to make sure the fire demon was actually gone. Damn thing still gave him the heebie-jeebies.

Reno's eyes flickered open, though they remained at half-mast. "Can't move, yo. .." He just BARELY was able to move his head as he felt the heat of the flames on his face. "wha' happened? Last I remember was Ifrit blowing the door. .. "

Rude shrugged, not entirely sure what had happened himself.

"Come on," he muttered, pulling Reno's arm over his shoulder and walking as quickly as he could towards the nearest vehicle.

A vehicle which just happened to be Rufus' limousine. The youthful blond rolls down the window and peers at the two Turks. "Fucking shit up in your typical manner, I see" His voice held a bit of amusement as he operated the switch that would open the back door.

"Ha-fucking-ha, boss. How'd you know where we were?"

Rufus did chuckle this time "There were several witnesses among the medical personnel who survived the destruction of Midgar Medical Center that had seen Corneo's lackeys carrying you two off"

And here Rude was planning on practicing his hotwiring skills. Oh well, with Reno as his partner, there would definitly be another chance, probably more than one.

"Sir," Rude said, helping Reno into the back seat.

"That was quite an impressive use of that summon. ..I've never quite seen the like of that before." Rufus mused as he rode next to his driver, Tseng next to him.

Rude shuddered. He'd been ignoring the power cracking along Reno's skin until Rufus brought it back to his attention. He shuddered again just for good measure.

Rufus then went on to describe what HE had seen from his post along the highway...how it seemed as if they had become one for several moments, Reno and Ifrit as one entity. . .Reno's rage toward Corneo being channeled THROUGH the summon.

Rude did his best to keep his discomfort relatively unknown, but it really creeped him out, his redhead and the fire demon acting as a single entity. Instead, he focused on his injuries, trying to figure out exactly what on his body hurt and what didn't. As he worked, he found there were more did's than didn't's.

"You think it wouldn't freak me out if you linked with Shiva, yo?" The question was of course rhetorical because Rude would of course never do something so foolhardy unless the Planet itself were at risk.

Rude was feeling a bit like a petulant child. He was tired. He was sore. He just wanted a strong drink and a good night's sleep.

"At least Shiva's hot," he muttered, looking out the tinted window at the city around them.

Reno sets a hand on the head of the cuahl who'd leaped into the seat next to him, looking at Rufus awkwardly as Dark Nation bristled at the invasion of her territory by the youthful male. "He thinks I'm his mate" He explained with no little embarrassment.

"That," Rude pointed at the cuahl, "is not living at the condo with us. I am not sharing you with a damn cat."

Rude looked at Dark Nation, adding, "Presidential company excluded." The all black cuahl could be a little moody sometimes when she knew people were speaking ill of her.

"I'll give him to Rufus, jeeze.. .and if Elena finds out WHY he thinks I'm his mate I'll never hear the damn end of it from her." His face was bright red, the past three days had been absolutely horrid, and there was still the mess with the rest of the Barons to think of. ..the Barons were pissed at their territory being destroyed, something they were after both Rufus and his father for.

Rude was done. He was done. He wanted to go home, go to bed, and pretend the day happened without him. He was getting cranky, what with not eating much during the day, the nicotine craving, the caffiene headache... oh, and all that other shit that happened to them.

"Can the debrief wait until tomorrow afternoon, sir?" he asked, voice telling of just how grumpy he was getting.

"Of course, I will take the two of you to your condo. ..and here. .." Rufus handed over a bottle of his finest bourbon as well as bottle of high quality single malt. The bourbon being Reno's poison of choice and the scotch Rude's.

"Thank you, sir," with that Rude leaned his head back on the seat, closing his eyes and going in and out of a light slumber until they arrived at the condo.

Reno had fallen over into Rude's lap, when they arrived Tseng and Rufus actually carried the two upstairs, both of them seemed to be out pretty hard..as they were laid out into the bed next to each other Reno settled his head into Rude's chest with soft sigh.

Rude did not wake up until almost noon the next day. He stretched, joints popping as he moaned quietly about his not-a-dream-after-all injuries. Something was tickling his bare chest, and when he went to scratch at it, his fingers met the top of a red mop a little harder than expected.

"Sorry," he said, voice gravelly like it always was when he first woke up.

Reno winced when he awakened, feeling a purr and a warm mass at his feet. "He musta followed us up. ..little stink.speaking of stink, I absolutely STENCH of dried blood. ..Gods, I need a shower."

Rude had started to sit up, but when he saw that thrice damned cat, he flopped backwards, head bouncing off the pillow.

"Too tired to shower," Rude said, yawning around the word 'tired'.

Reno of course had his emotions ALL too close to the surface due to the past few days and gave Rude a petulant and somewhat offended look as he grabbed his own sweats and a t-shirt and a towel.

"Save me some hot water," he mumbled, rolling onto his side and laying in Reno's warm spot. Not that Rude's spot wasn't warm; it's just that Reno's spot was nicer.

"Water'd be hotter if you were under it with me, you know" he said, trying to keep the tiny bit of weary hurt feelings out of his tone.

Rude grunted an inarticulate response. Appearantly, Reno was in a mood. Rude rolled his eyes and pushed the cuahl off the foot of the bed before climbing out himself.

"Not on the bed," he told the large cat, then padded naked towards the kitchen.

He opened the sliding glass door that lead to a balcony, telling the cat that if it needed to use the litterbox, the balcony would work for now.

"Coffee," he droned, gravelly voice taking on a zombielike timbre. He put the ground coffee into the coffee pot, setting the timer for an hour, hoping that Reno wouldn't suddenly decide to become a five-minute showerer. With coffee being worked on, he padded back towards the bathroom, scratching a couple times as he did.

Reno stood with his head under the spray. ..his eyes held a distant look. Yes, the redhaired Trickster of the Turks did melt down on occasion. .. .He bottled up his emotions, just like Rude did, though whereas Rude used his cool, calm demanor to hide his true emotions, Reno used both his flashes of rage and his easy humor, , .but when one bottles up their true feelings eventually they must come out, and when they do, it is usually quite messy.

Rude silently padded into the bathroom, stopping at the mirror to stare at his reflection. He looked like hell... no, shit... no, hell and shit. He looked like he needed coffee... and that shower Reno had offered.

"Hope your cat likes tuna," he said as he opened the shower doors and stepped inside.

Reno just nodded. ..simply trying to process the past three days in some fashion that he could stay sane afterward, and failing miserably.

Rude stepped forward, arms going around Reno as the extremely hot water fell on them both. With a slight frown, he turned the cold water up until it was still warm, but a less scalding temperature. Without another word, he reached down to grab Reno's shampoo, drizzling it into his hands before starting to wash Reno's hair for him.

"Shit yo. ..I can't. .. can't piece all of this shit together...just don't know how. ..f-fuck." The stutter on that last word in the sentence told clearly of the turmoil his head was in. "Now we just need your past coming back for y-you to cap this fuckin' week off."

Rude froze at the mention of his past, but continued washing Reno's hair, tilting his head back for a chaste kiss and to wash out the shampoo. He didn't say anything, letting Reno talk through his internal maelstrom.

He starts punching the shower wall. "Glad he's dead yo. ...g-glad. ." but somehow it sounded as if he was trying to convince himself of that. .. as if he himself were not sure of the truth of what he'd said.

Rude lightly grabbed Reno's fist. He did not want to repair another hole in another wall. Last time's tequila shooter marathon had left quite a few of them, enough for Rude to re-drywall half a wall in the living room.

"He won't touch you again," Rude mumbled, shampooing Reno's hair a second time, fingering the soft red strands as he did.

"That's the thing. ..I say I'm glad,but some wierd part of me tries to t-tell me I d-deserved i! I was whore, yo, a fucking whore and as much as I love you, and Gods know I do, I can't help my fucking consciense telling me that Corneo's abuse was the best I deserved!" The tone was tortured, filled with his own inner self-loathing.

"Shhh..." Rude pressed his lips to Reno's soapy forehead in a gesture of comfort. He tilted the redhead's chin up, forcing his head back carefully so he could wash out the rest of the shampoo.

"You were a whore," he mumbled, damn that morning voice, "You're not anymore. You're a Turk." And a damn fine one, Rude added mentally, not thinking that maybe Reno needed to hear it.

He nodded. ..the inner demons wakened ever once in a while as it was, but the past few days had whipped them up into a fine frenzy. "I destroy everything I touch, yo. ..almost got you killed. ..almost got MYSELF killed MORE than once. ..shit. .."

Rude shushed him again, holding up the bottle of conditioner in as a question of whether Reno wanted him to use it or not.

Reno nodded again. ..the tremors finally came. . .it used to be he'd be cutting by now, but his time with his lover had taught him to let go when things got bad. .that it wasn't shameful to cry when the pain got bad enough. ..so instead he simply turned around, resting his head on Rude's chest and letting them come. The few times he'd done this it was always silent tremors. ..tears falling without sound.As loud as he was the rest of the time. ..he was silent when he was in pain.

Rude carefully conditioned Reno's hair, tilting his head back to wash out the conditioner when it was time, placing a soft kiss to each of Reno's closed eyes.

"Just let it go," he said softly, pulling Reno into a tight embrace. "Let it out. It's okay."