Simple & Hatch (no peeking!)
 

((Forgives, but I'm going to elude to that other RP K))

The bar was smoky...and the beer was cheap
...Mmmm...great way to end a day at Shinra...not.
It had been three weeks since the dissaperance of his
student and friend Lucia Belforte, and Rufus was not happy about losing her...she was supposed to be dead, and Reno wasn't too unhappy about saying that he'd failed to do the deed...who knows...maybe she was dead...He glared into the amber liquid in his glass and frowned...No, more likely she was alive somewhere, somewhere, where Shin-Ra couldn't reach her.
"Barkee!" He called, slamming a hand on the table.
"'Nother round! The good stuff this time, cheap jerk!"

At the same bar, a young lady walked in slowly.
She didn't seem very familiar to the place as she began her way through a large crowd of men who smoked something terrible, and stopped at the counter.
Danae took a seat , and sighed looking down. She really didn't drink much, if any, but when she did it tended to be a bit too much.. But today was different, she didn't come to waste herself away. Today, she was waiting for someone, a new employer who asked her to meet him here.
But at this rate, Danae would be gone long before he could arrive.

Ordering a water, Danae glanced around at the various men, and very few women who seemed to be so dunk, that most of them had passed out by now.
And looking a few seats down, Danae spotted another man who was well on his way.
(no, I am not talking about Reno being the employer... Haha.)

..Reno glared down at the next mug that was brought out to him.
"Crap...." Obviously the Barkee couldn't hear...because even through beer goggles, Reno could tell crappy beer.
"Who's a guy gotta kill to get a good beer here.."
He downed the mix in a gulp anyway.
"Lucia..." he sighed.
"I HOPE YOU'RE DEAD BY NOW!!" He stood in the midst of the crowd and yelled at the top of his lungs, not caring what stares he got...three days in house arrest because she'd broken into Shin-Ra compund? He hoped she was dead....else he might kill her himself.
With a huff Reno grabbed up his coat and shook his head, not wanting to leave the bar staggering like a common drunk.
"Here." He hiccuped throwing down the last of his last paycheck on the bar at the door.
"See if I come back here again."
He shook his head and made it halfway to the door before collapsing in a heap.
"Looks like you'll be staying a little later bub." The barkeep smirked.
If he'd been in a sound state of mind...Reno just might have shot him, but he sat there and stared ahead of him ignoring the laughter that rippled across his disoriented mind.
"Damn..." He muttered.

Danae watched Reno stumble about, and eventually collapse in the middle of the floor after screaming quite loudly something about some girl.
And the more pathetic part was that no one even bothered to help him up. Men stepped over him, on him, just whatever so they could get past him, and to the counter.

Fine, she told herself while getting up.

Walking over to him, Danae found herself smiling politely as she bent down next to his face.

"Hey," she said peering down on him. "Ya need some help?"

Offering her hand to him, her grin remained.
At this point, the man looked far more than gone as he stared up at her.
If Danae had known better, she wouldn't have even been in this place.

((Gomen, last one, I'll be on again tomorrow though.))

Reno turned his eyes upward and glared.
"Du I luuk liek I need..*hic* hell?" He swayed around his head feeling light and funny...he never got this drunk...maybe...he should ask someone..just for a little bit.
"Then again.." He took the hand and staggered to his feet.
"Woah..." He said, trying to balance. He stood there a moment then peered close at the woman who'd helped him up.
"Whose are youse?" He said trying to place the face...nothing came to him.
She wasn't red-headed...not like he was expecting with that stupid grin, so he knew he hadn't seen her before.
"What are you doing here? don't you know this is a bad place in town, only....only scum come here."

Helping Reno stay steady on the floor, Danae found her smile fading as slurred words escaped his mouth.
"I'm Danae," she said simply. "And actually, I was waiting for someone until you decided to pass out on the floor.."
Standing with him for a moment, she pursed her lips, "If only 'scum' are here, then why do you come?"
It seemed utterly pointless to try and make conversation with this man, but maybe she could get him out of the bar before he could completely lose it.
As Reno began to sag against Danae, she quickly helped him back over to the bar, and helped him lean against a stool.

"Steady there," she said while holding him up. "Come on now, just get onto the stool."

But Reno was far too heavy as Danae's petite body began to fold with his weight upon it.

"At least...waitaminute...I'm not pathed out, jutht...." He strained his eyes and sniffed.
"Nevermind that." He looked down at the floor, as if ashamed, and he gripped his upper arm with a hand, trying to sober himself up.
"I'm here....just trying to forget...I'm scum too lady, just not the kind that frequent here."

He tried his best to stand, but with her trying to drag him over to a stool, it wasn't easy. Reno staggered this way and that, and finally managed to reach out and grab hold of the seat before he took them both to the ground.

"You said you were waiting for someone?" He was drunk, not stupid.
"Who'd want to meet you here of all places?"
A job? A hit?... He thought hazily, normally this was TURK area, and if there was something going down, he wanted to know, he didn't stick out as much as he would have if his rod had been strapped to his hip, so at the moment, he looked like a plain Suit and not a Shin-Ra employee....that might give him the edge he needed to figure this out....because Danae..didn't seem to be all that she appeared...girls like her never were.

Laughing a little bit, Danae tried keep Reno propped up against the counter; this was proving difficult.
"I am here to meet a man who says he'll hire me for work, and don't ask about what kind of work, because quite honestly, I have no idea.."

Smiling, Danae was pleased to see that she had Reno successfully propped up, and didn't have to worry about him falling around anymore.. Hopefully.

"So what's your name," she asked casually, hoping he could remember it.
"Because if you happen to pass out, I might need to say, 'Hey! What's his name is out hard!' and then everyone would look at me and laugh, or rape me.."

Glancing around, Danae could help but to admit that this place did seem a bit dangerous..

"What kind of employer invites you to come to a place like this and doesn't even tell you what you're coming for....geeze." Reno 'urped' up what he could have sworn was beer that had already went down, but discreetly kept it below his esophagus.

"My name?" He questioned out loud thinking of how to handle the situation. To hell with it.
"Reno. Just Reno." He smiled as best he could, and laughed.
"But I have to say, I'm not about to konk out on you, not that kind of drinker..." He cocked his head as well as a single elegant eyebrow.
"Are you honestly worried about something like that happening? Though I can't deny the possibilites..but-"

"Reno, huh?"

Smiling at what he had said about not passing out, Danae easily found that hard to believe, considering most of his words ran together.
"I'm not going to deny the chances of someone, anyone could seriously get screwed over in this place, I mean, look at it."

Motioning to most of the bar, she sighed, "You are probably the most sober person here, and you're pretty far gone, I won't lie."

Danae could feel the glances of some of the men falling upon her heavily as she said so, she should probably watch her mouth from this point on.

"Well, maybe you're not the most sober guy here.."

"That's true." He nodded hanging his head over the counter, and propping himself up on his crossed arms.
Again he nodded.
"Yep, that's pretty true too..." No, that wasn't true...he wasn't gone...not yet...but he was wasted...house arrest would do that to a free spirit like him though, Rufus should have realized that.
If getting drunk and passing out would relieve him of the memories of those four stark white walls that he stared at for hours on end, then by Jenova he'd do it.
He turned his head to look back and laughed.
"Geh heh, heh, heh...yeah, that's probably true too..." He stopped laughing long enough to feel his head wooze, and then grew serious.
"If you're worried, I'll wait here with you till you're contact comes." With him in his current state..somehow he doubted that was making her feel any better, but with this crowd, it was best not to wait alone for any length of time.

Smiling at Reno's kind thought, Danae couldn't help but think the worse.
"Reno, I honestly don't think you could help me very much, even if you wanted to.."

She could see the look of disappointment on his face though, no matter how gone he was, he did have feelings..

"That's sweet though," she commented. "Most men when drunk go crazy, they use it as an excuse to hit on people. But you, you're just kind of here aren't you?"

Ruffling his hair, Danae got to her feet and stretched.

"So thank you for the offer, I will take you up on that one."

He frowned comically.
"You'd be surprised." He said softly.
He looked back over the bar and at the reflection of his dead eyes in the mirror there.
"'Just kind of here'? No, I actually came to forget...something."

He turned back smiling as he lead the way to an unoccupied table.
"Oh don't get me wrong here, you're pretty, and I never leave a pretty girl unattended. I'm just as bad as the other guys here, I just happen to be discreet."

"Oh really," Danae asked crossing her arms. She wasn't mad in any way, it was more of mock anger as she took a seat across from Reno.

"So you're saying you're not any better than anyone else here?"

He called her pretty.. Danae couldn't deny that he was indeed attractive as well, but right now, through beer goggles everything could look pretty.

"Hey," she said. "You called me pretty, are you sure that's not just the beer, or whatever talking?"

It easily could have been, right? Considering his stance now.. he could think that anything was pretty..

(It's short! D: )

He smiled.
"I'll warn you up front, I'm a perv, but I make it a point not to go beyond what I'm allowed, so don't give me an inch, just to be safe." He lifted his hands in a 'I'm just saying' gesture and threw his coat onto the table, just enough that he could lay his crossed arms on it, and then his head on them.

"I don't even know right now...ask me later when the room isn't spinning." Reno's face went a little green and he started to feel that old 'urp' coming back for a rematch.
He lay his head down and closed his eyes, the beer was already starting to wear off, and the sick feeling was just the beginning. Luck him, it was going through him faster than he'd hoped...must have been the water in the beer that did it...for once he was glad for watered-down booze...but he made it a point not to celebrate too much...it was still watered-down.
((That's alright.))

Danae smiled at Reno, "Who's to say there will be a next time. If there's no next time, then there is no inch."

Laying her head on the table as well, she couldn't help but to smile at him again, he was just so silly, so unusual to be in a bar..

Throughout all of this, the man that Danae was supposed to meet had yet to come, and it seemed to be getting later and later with every passing second.
Though, Danae wasn't very aware or interested in the time now.

This situation seemed pleasant enough without having to worry about impressing someone in a bar.
I was beyond that, it was casual, and simple.
And Danae liked it for the most part, and even better, Reno seemed a bit more alert now.

"This is true, this is true."

Reno, whose face had a little more color to it than before, began to look about him, and then remembered what had made him come here in the first place, farthest place from the Shin-Ra buliding, oh well, looks like he wouldn't be getting home until late again, and 'Mommy' Tseng wasn't going to be too happy with him...oh well, since when had he cared what the Scarecrow thought.

While he sat there a thought came to him, that the beer hadn't allowed before.
"How did you find out about this 'work' of yours?" He asked, with a stretch.

"My work," she said stroking her chin.
"Well, it's a secret, and I would have to kill you to tell you," she said jokingly.

Of course, nothing about a secretary job for some major company required special skills. It was just something she had decided to do as a part time deal; extra money never hurt anyone, right?

"So Reno," she began. "What do you do exactly, huh? I mean, you're dressed pretty nice to be in here."

She couldn't help but to hint upon the clientèle of the bar again, they were just so crude...
There was no escaping it, and Reno most certainly did not fit in well with that stereotype so to speak, not at all, not in the least bit.
He actually seemed quite descent, not the norm for a bar as such.

"Mmmmm...sounds pretty demanding then." He said with a slight scarastic tone.

He smiled, not a normal smile, it was his 'business' smile.
"Who me? Tsk, tsk, if I told you....I'd really have to kill you." He waved a finger back and forth staring at Danae who sat just across from him. He let it sink in, and then chuckled.
"Anyway, all joking aside, I do...a little bit of this and that here in Midgar." He glanced down at his untucked shirt and wrinkled pants, and with a snicker looked back up.
"I doubt this is what you'd call 'well-dressed' but it certainly does stand out doesn't it?" He leaned back in his chair, tucking an arm over the back of it, and crossing his legs under the table.

"This and that, huh?" She asked him, peaking an eyebrow.
"There has to be a better description than that one.."

Leaning forward a bit, her face looked as cheerful as possible, "I guess you will have to kill me then, because I'd like to know."

It was true about his attire however. It was un-tucked and wrinkly, but, it did make a splash against all that brown.

Danae leaned back into her chair, and began to gewt up slowly.

"Well I guess maybe I should get going then, I honestly don't see that man getting here anytime soon, so you are free to go Reno."

Smiling politely, Danae made her way towards the double glass doors, "Nice to meet you." She called upon her exit.

It had seemed sudden, but getting home was important as of now, considering it was later than expected.

He just smiled and shook his head.
"Not happening, you'll just have to get eat up with curiousity about what I do." He scratched his head and grinned. The sick feeling was beginning to ebb, and he felt better than he had.

Reno stood and grabbed his coat.
"If that's it then, I guess I'll head out with you." He started forward but was caught by the shoulder and jerked around, face to face with one of the bars patrons...who just happened to have a rather large chip on his shoulder.
"Now that wasn't nice of you, lyin' to the lady like that...that suit, there's only one line of work that calls for it, and we don't take kindly to 'em. TURKS I mean...they caused enough trouble around here, don'tcha think." Reno sighed and hung his head, only too glad that Danae had already walked out the door.
"Tseng's really going to give it to me this time...It's surveillance this time for sure."
"Wha-?" He gripped the man's hand, tightly, between his thumb and index, right in the pressure point and forcibly removed the hand that gripped his shirt so tightly.
"Aww," He complained.
"Now you've gone and wrinkled my shirt.......more." He started to brush himself off, but the patron wasn't taking the cold shoulder lightly, he growled and rushed the red head. Reno, still buzzing from the beer, turned just in time to avoid a head-on collision, but did recieve a nice right to the jaw that sent him sprawling onto the floor.
"That..." He frowned wiping the blood from his lip, as he stood.
"Wasn't very nice of you."

Even though Danae was outside, she had seen things through a window.
She wasn't that blind after all.

Her lip thinned into a line as she stepped back through the door, and helped Reno up.

"Now I'm not even gone for five minutes, and then you go and get attacked. Of course, it is to be expected in a place like this.."

Examining Reno's lip, she sighed, "You're fine."

Stepping back, she smiled a bit and crossed her arms, "Have at him! You can't let him treat you like that! He has no right to treat you like that!"

Now Danae sounded like she was at a staged fight of some sort, where she was pushing the loser to push himself a bit too hard.

Reno's eyes widened considerably when Danae came back through the doors she'd just left from.
"Wait, what are you doing back here?" He started as she helped him balance, then looked at his lip.
"I thought you were out of here."
"Damn TURK, stop yer yammerin'!" Again came the charge, but instead of taking the brunt of it, Reno shoved Danae out of the way and moved over himself watching the other go crashing into a table, while he righted himself, Reno turned to look at his companion with a 'duh' look.
"I was getting to the revenge part just as you showed back up." He explained.
"He hit my face, no one gets a shot on my face and isn't paid back for it. It's one of my sole redeeming features." He turned back, readying himself.
He smirked and awaited the next rush, which wasn't too far away, the bigger of the two made a grab for Reno, but he ducked under his steel band arms and landed two consecutive punches to his ribs, doubling him over.
"Had enough?" He asked, bouncing away on the balls of his feet. He really hadn't wanted to hurt him...just make sure that he wasn't going to want a second helping of that last one. Reno was all set for the man to stand again, but he didn't, instead all he did was upchuck all of that night's liquor and then some. Reno stopped bouncing around like a prize fighter and grimaced, then with a nod of his head, he turned and walked out past Danae, and out the doors without stopping.
"Well folks, that's all for tonight." He wanted out of there, and FAST. Seeing all that barf just reminded him of how teetering his own stomach was...and he was sure that by now he was a little more than green.

Danae had only blinked several times throughout the entire fight. Reno had amazingly agile and smooth movements compared to the huge men that had attacked him.
And then it seemed like only seconds until he was out the door.
"Hey," Danae screamed as she rushed out after him.
"I don't get my own personal goodbye?"
Danae was holding onto Reno's sleeve to keep him not only in place, but steady as it seemed.
"You can't just leave me like that, it's rude. And don't say that I was rude, because I am a woman, and I have the right to be rude to people whenever I want."

Now she smiled as she waited for an explanation of his quick absence.
"And don't you dare use drinking as an excuse, because that one doesn't count."

Releasing his sleeve, Danae stared up at him now, her petite figure looking ever so small against the darkness.