Log: Complete

[lady-turk.livejournal.com]

When; June 30, Late Night
Rating; PG-13
Characters; Jr./Rubedo red_dragon_666 & Elena lady_turk
Summary; So much activity has made Elena hyper, and it doesn't seem like conventional ways will drain that energy. Jr. proposes a different sort of activity for the two. Round one begin! Or: Ether and Materia have a picnic and Red Dragon blows it up
Log;

Considering how Elena had completely failed at sleeping while they were in bed, Rubedo figured a midnight picnic would be the perfect thing to calm her down. Xanadu was big and peaceful, and it was easy to find solitary spots on the expansive grounds. Not to mention... Food? Food was a great way to make people sleepy.

And it worked perfectly on him. He was out like a light shortly after finishing the ice cream, sprawled out on his back with his arm draped over his eyes to block out the moonlight.

Unfortunately, the case didn't be the same for Elena. It wasn't long before he was woken up again with a finger jabbing at his side. At first it just made him mutter and bat at her hand, but when it persisted, he opened his eyes and groggily looked up at her. She didn't look...the least bit tired.

It was all that fucking coffee. Maybe he needed to start monitoring her intake. At this rate she would try to give the Durandal a new paint job.

"You've been bouncing off the walls for days, so I know this isn't a curse. What the hell's up?"

If Elena had to answer truthfully, she would have had to answer with a shrug and probably another poke into Jr.’s side. She didn’t know why she was so energetic, but even if she didn’t know why she was so hyper, that didn’t change the fact that she was. Coffee normally wasn’t one to cause this much of a stimulus change in her overall behavior. She’d drunken gallons of the stuff in the past and at most, it was the kick she needed to stay awake for a few hours. Hypers had more of an effect, but those things had been created to be able to turn a rat into a racer, so it was understandable. But Elena hadn’t taken anything like that. Not unless someone had been sneaking things into her food or drinks when she wasn’t looking.

… That would make for a fun prank, if the city hadn’t already beaten her to it.

Sitting back on her heels, Elena shrugged and poked Jr. in the side once more… On principle. Or just because she could. “If I knew, I’d tell you. I just feel really… Well, alive would be a cliché term to use, but it fits. Or hyper. Hyper fits too.”

Deciding that the appropriate term wasn’t necessary, since the meanings were the same, if in different variations, Elena shrugged again. “Why don’t you try talking? Maybe it’ll help,” she suggested.

The poke made him curl up and laugh a bit as he moved to cover his side. Well, as long as she wasn't torturing him with tickles again, then it was fine. Plus, how could he argue with her reasoning? She felt alive. He could remember how he felt after having his life returned to him...to have that warmth and that hope back.

With a grin, Rubedo crossed his arms back beneath his head to form a makeshift pillow, crossing his legs and looking from her to the moon peeking through the full tree branches swaying in the warm breeze.

"Okay. Um... What is there to talk about... Oh, today I found some new boots? But you...probably already saw that if you looked in the closet... Oh! I found an original copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz! How bitchin' is that? It even smells old. Which isn't a bad smell at all...kinda musty though?"

The smell of old books was a pleasant scent, and one that could bring back a few fond memories for Elena, though she didn’t quite have as much a fanatical love for them as Jr. did. It might have something to do with the fact that paper wasn’t quite an abdominally for her as it was for him. Though the book… She hadn’t ever heard of before. Probably something from his world’s history then.

“Old books with interesting smells and new boots aside, which I’m sure you could go on about for a while since I would have to ask for an explanation of the book given that I’ve never heard of it, things have been tame for you it seems” Elena quipped in one breath, stopping at the end for air. Which was always a pleasant reminder that, yes, she did actually need to breath now, because, yes, she had lungs that worked again.

“You never did tell me why you’re able to take things so much easier now,” Elena noted, shifting around so that she was sitting on the ground now, instead of her heels. Her legs didn’t need the break, but it was nice to move around every now and again. “Compared to before, you’re a lot less frantic.”

Her mention of not knowing anything about the book almost did get him started on it, because how could somebody not know about it?! He could even show her Glinda's autograph. But then she so quickly changed the subject, that all he could do was shut his gaping mouth for a moment and blink up at the sky.

Rotating his foot a bit, he forced a grin onto his face and shrugged. "Well ya know. I am two years older...and I did so much running around while I was gone, I guess I'm just taking some time to cool off?" Well, that was one way to put it. He wasn't exactly lying, either, just...leaving the better reasons out of it.

He still wasn't sure if it was a good thing to tell Elena, but he wasn't sure why. He hadn't told Mary because chaos had reminded him of the flow of time...but he didn't really have that case with the blonde at his side. Maybe it was just...tough to talk about. Sure, he had accepted things, but that didn't mean he wanted to go back over it again.

Nodding, Elena was actually able to stay silent for a moment thinking about just how much stuff could happen to a person in two years. Particularly to someone with a goal and as strong a desire to fix things as Jr. had. Which reminded her that Elena had been missing from her own world for quite some time now. She didn’t know exactly how much time, seeing as she hadn’t asked for the length, though she knew it had been long enough to send Rufus into action.

That thought… was a rather daunting one.

Bringing a leg up so that she could rest her chin on it, Elena became slightly lost in thought as she couldn’t help but remember what it was like back in Edge and on Gaia. Granted, people there weren’t as inclined to approach her as they were here, and things weren’t the same as it had been when she’d grown up. Shinra was no more, for starters. And there probably wouldn’t be too anymore ‘secret’ human experimentations funded by a mad scientist either. Elena couldn’t say she was too choked up about the latter though. But still…

“I know what you mean. A lot of stuff changing can leave a person overwhelmed sometimes.”

Two years could really change things and a break was something she wouldn’t begrudge someone who had probably been in the thick of all that change.

Shaking her head though, Elena pushed aside those rather depressing thoughts and gave Jr. a small grin instead. “But you’re going to get rusty if you relax too much.”

Overwhelmed? Well, yeah... It had all been a bitch to go through. But they had all faced their trials, and there would be more to come. Shutting his eyes for a moment, he smiled softly, swiveling his foot again as he listened to the crickets.

"Said I'm cooling off. Wouldn't call it relaxing."

Opening his eyes, Rubedo arched his back a bit as he stretched out, then hopped up onto his feet to look up at the trees. "I've just learned to not worry about the past anymore. I'm living in the present...and I'm fighting for the future."

With a grin down towards her, his blue eyes flickered as he tapped his fingertips against his hip. "But I'm up for a challenge."

Letting out a small chuckle, Elena didn’t bother standing up quite yet, rather choosing to just look upwards at Jr.’s profile. That was quite a statement to say about living for the here and now and putting so much faith into the future. Elena had seen people break at considering less. It was something to be admired in a person. At least it was in Elena’s opinion.

“A challenge, hm?” she teased, drawing out the last sound as far and as playfully as she could. Finally getting up, and dusting off her rear end, Elena brought a finger up to her lips and smiled coyly. “And what kind of challenge would you be interested in then?”

Rubedo watched her as she stood up, then grinned and reached back to remove his pistols from their holsters. "As much fun as it would be to test your sharp shooting, I think that'd be too dangerous. Besides, we got the water gun fight coming up."

Spinning them upright, he leaned over to set them on the blanket by the basket. Then he hopped back, taunting her over with a beckon of his hand. "C'mon. Your materia versus my ether. It'll be fun."

They'd just have to be careful to not aim to kill, but that went without saying. Hand to hand was probably safest, but that was always a last resort with him. Elena had a small frame, true, but he was still smaller.

It probably was for the best if they didn’t try to test out their own respective shooting abilities on the other. It was generally considered a bad idea and all that. Sides, Jr. did have a point, though Elena had completely forgotten about it in lieu of the arrival of certain individuals. She’d have to remember to bring it back up to the general notice of the Network sometime soon. It certainly was a better way to remind oneself about the length of time she’d been in the city rather than moping about it.

Removing her jacket, and then unbuckling the gun holster, Elena tossed her jacket and then the holster on top. And then, pulling up the back of her shirt a bit, she pulled out another gun to add to the pile. Unbuttoning the buttons at her wrists, Elena also removed the single knife she carried, more for practical purposes than to be armed. A knife did have other purposes besides being a weapon.

Shaking out her arms, Elena nodded, the band at her wrists falling down and clinking at her wrist now instead of held back by the sheath. Sending a small mental wave to the materia slotted inside, causing it to glow a bit, Elena grinned.

“Sounds good to me.”

The constant removal of weapons made Rubedo raise an eyebrow while he watched, half expecting her to have a hidden weapon in her bra as well. Of course, he wasn't surprised at all the weaponry she had on her person, considering the way her line of work had been. She had never given details, but he could tell it had been unsavory, and full of danger.

Even without them, he knew this was going to be interesting. Elena had gotten into multiple fights in the City, and she normally seemed to win. Remembering Tseng's talk of her fighting ability, he just had to see with his own two eyes what she was made of in battle.

He just hoped this didn't end with him getting frozen into an ice cube. "Ladies first."

“If you insist then,” Elena purred, deciding to start thing off with a bang. Or a bolt as the case was. Quickly charging up a quick Bolt 1 spell and releasing it at Jr.’s feet and then releasing another a couple of feet behind him, Elena didn’t stay still while casting her spells either. They hadn’t said to limit things to exclude hand to hand, but doing that so early on would have killed all the fun.

She had seen Jr. fight before, but that had been against Albedo in a whole different kind of playing field. So she knew that he’d be able to handle whatever she tossed at him, so long as it wasn’t with the intent to kill. And that not only would he be able to handle it, he’d probably be able to dish it right back at her. Which meant she also had to be ready to react.

In preparation of that, as soon as she was done casting that set of spells, Elena touched and cast Wall to give her the time to react rather than recover from whatever Jr. would toss at her.

It was a natural reflex to jump back at the sudden bolt of lightning zapping at his toes, but he quickly realized that was a mistake. Next thing he knew, he'd been knocked forward from the shock to his back, his hands catching him before he could land on his face, and he pushed to flip back up onto his feet again.

He noticed her put some other sort of spell up, but barrier or not, he had to see what sort of damage he could do. He wouldn't try the higher levels yet... A first level ether spell was best, and he definitely had his favorite.

"Ether Drive!" Rubedo swung his hand out, shooting a Fire Bolt in her direction. He didn't really have any shielding ethers that he cared to use, so instead he used the explosion as a distraction. Even if the shield absorbed it, it was bright enough to obstruct her view for a second, allowing him to run up and jump, swinging his leg in a clean roundhouse.

That was something to note. It looked like the magic, or ether, from Jr.’s world needed a verbal outcry before being able to be cast. Elena wasn’t going to assume, however, that he would always have to call it out before being able to use it. Still, Elena had to grin nonetheless at the spell that was cast. No matter what it might have been called, a fireball was a fireball in any world.

Bringing up her arm to shield her eyes from the force of impact as the fiery attack met her Wall spell, Elena was glad for the shield a second later as the felt the kick connect with her forearm, a lot harder than she’d been expecting. Sneaky, but that only made her grin wider. So they were going to do a little hand to hand as well? Far be it for Elena not to return the favor.

With one arm blocking the kick, Elena reached up with the other to grab Jr.’s leg and, using the force and momentum of his own kick, spun him around and released, sending him flying. Even as she sent him moving, Elena leapt after him. Making her jump more downwards than forwards, she used the ground to change her movements so that she was doing a flip, legs outstretched to connect where it may.

Part of him was relieved when he made contact with her arm instead of her face. No matter how much he respected her as a fighter, she was his girlfriend first, and he didn't actually want to go kicking her in the face. But when he felt her hand wrap around his ankle, concern for his well being immediately flickered in his eyes.

"Whoa!" he cried as he was flung away, the momentum from her spin making him go quite a ways. He didn't know if it was fortunate or not that a maple tree kept him from going too far. For one thing, skidding on the ground was a bitch for his jacket, but slamming into a tree trunk didn't exactly feel all that great.

Winded, he slumped to the ground and looked up just in time to see the heel of her shoe coming right down at him. Immediately, he rolled out of the way, staying crouched as he shed his jacket and tossed it to the side. They couldn't regulate the temperature here, and it was fucking warm running around in this weather with a leather jacket.

It was pretty plain that Elena was fast like him... He hadn't actually expected her to be this fast. With a little huff, he muttered out "Ether Drive" once more, a glow surrounding him for just a second before absorbing into his skin. Quickened considerably now, Rubedo jumped up and swung his hand out to grab her wrist to keep her from dodging, even if it would get him a blow in return.

The next Ether attack was more of a debuff than anything. Skin Down would at least lower her physical defense, barrier spell or not.

For the most part, Elena was glad that she had missed, though there was that tiny part of her that couldn’t help but be just the tiniest bit disappointed that she had missed. But that part was the one that didn’t need to be paid any attention to right now. She was having fun, not out to prove anything. Though, a part of her did wince when she saw him being stopped by the tree instead of the ground.

Elena had enough time to raise an eyebrow at the glow that surrounded Jr. for a moment, before her eyes widened when she figured out an approximation of what it had been that he had cast. Wrist caught, Elena clenched a fist, before thrusting her hand, palm out, grabbing onto Jr.’s thigh in a light grip. She quickly touched off a light Ice 1 spell, the contact assuring that there was going to be some frost that might still linger on Jr.’s pants, even after he shook off the chill.

As the glow settled around Elena, she shoved, pushing them away from each other. What the heck was that?! Doing a quick mental check, Elena cursed lightly as she realized the kick from earlier was smarting more than it had seconds ago.

“That was sneaky,” Elena grumbled with an easy going grin. Couching down low, Elena touched one hand to the ground and with a flash from one of the materia, let Quake do its work.

The icy chill to his thigh actually made Rubedo spasm a bit, and he stumbled back to clutch at his leg once she shoved him. Still, he just offered her a cheeky grin in response as he tried to brush the ice off of his pants.

When he felt the earth suddenly quake, though, the URTV's eyes widened and he looked down just in time for him to get knocked off his feet. Fortunately, acrobatics was one of the things that came easy to him, so he flipped and let his hands catch him, pushing away again before the shaking earth could knock him off balance yet again.

Grabbing hold of a branch on the tree he'd knocked into only moments before, Rubedo swung so that he was just behind her, the effects of the Quick causing the combination to be more of a blur than anything. And he didn't stop swinging, not until he was directly behind her where he could twist and kick once again--this time aiming for her back instead of her head. It'd still smart, but at least he wouldn't bruise her face.

With his added speed, Elena was knocked forward out of her crouch, though she managed to keep herself from landing on her face by bringing her hands out to catch herself. Jr. wasn’t the only one who had acrobatic experience. Rude was a hell of a lot more limber than he looked, and Reno… Elena figured he had some monkey DNA or something in him. It took a lot to keep up with them.

When her hands touched the ground, Elena bent her elbows before straightening them and locking her arms, swinging her legs in the motions of a handstand. If a handstand intended to kick the person behind them, anyway. From the handstand, Elena kept her legs swinging to stand up on her feet once more. Her heart was racing a bit and Elena was fairly sure there was a slightly maniacal grin on her face. It had been a while and she was enjoying every minute of it.

Concentrating for a moment on a certain materia, Elena closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them and flinging her arm out wide, sending a small shower of ice spears in Jr.’s general direction.

Rubedo just barely managed to swing out of the way of her kick as she flipped, and he let go of the branch to land. That grin of hers might have been considered scary to some, but he was grinning, too.

It was right when she moved again that he realized another attack was coming, and instead of worrying over dodging it, he held his hands out to use the Curse. "Ether Drive!"

With that, the ice attack was deflected right back at her, allowing him to take moment to call on another ether spell to boost his offense. The deflecting spell only worked once, but he didn't need to tell her that.

He was burning out on ether, though, which meant this probably would have to get more physical real soon.

Okay, so maybe he did have to call out before each spell he cast. Though the time spent between the call and the cast was fairly short, it would still serve enough of a warning, even if she didn’t know just what it was going to be that was cast.

Seeing the spears heading back at her, Elena quickly cast a Fire 1 spell directly in front of herself, melting the ice before it came close. Affinity for ice she might have, but even that would have hurt, with the spell modified the way it had been.

Since close range seemed to work best when it came to their own respective speed and spells, Elena started running at Jr. once more, this time dropping at the last minute to pivot on one foot while kicking the other leg out to try and knock Jr.’s feet out from under him.

He hadn't expected her to cast a spell so quickly, and had been hoping she would move back instead of forward. It surprised him enough to back him try to move out of the way too late, knocking him right onto his ass. With the Quick wearing off, she tackled him before he could scramble away, and he was mildly perturbed to find that she was in fact physically stronger than him.

Well, he still had the Offense ether going, so their strengths were currently matched...but without it, she would have been stronger than him by a small margin. "Ah, damnit!" he yelped as he wrestled with her to try and free himself, only to find himself pinned to his back.

His eyes flashed then as he glared up at her, a smoky red glow beginning to lick off his body. The Red Dragon could win this fight easy! But... Damnit, damnit. He didn't want to risk hurting her too much.

With an animalistic growl, Rubedo twisted in her grip and jerked his knee up to knock against her abdomen and wind her. He took the chance when her grip weakened to kick once more against her side to get her off of him.

His breaths were husky and trembling as he jumped up and backed away, doing his best to suppress the urge to use his more powerful attacks. He had it in him to do one last ether attack before he'd need to recharge, and as damaging as Satellite could be, the beam attack was safer than anything the Red Dragon had to offer.

So he steadied his hand and yelled "Ether Drive!" one last time before various crackling beams of light came from the sky to scorch the earth around Elena.

Though her stomach was smarting a bit more than she would have liked, Elena still had to say that she was excited and enjoying every moment of their little fight. Granted, she was holding back on the spells and all, but with everything else they were fairly matched. Either with or without the extra spells that Jr. had cast on himself, the scales weren’t that tipped one way or the other.

Breath coming out in small pants, Elena’s raised one eyebrow hearing Jr. cast his spell. That was a lot louder than his last spells had been. Elena soon figured out why when the beams started pouring down on top of her. It was too late to avoid getting hit by all the beams, but she could still avoid getting seriously hurt by them. Mentally grabbing Barrier and throwing up Wall as fast as she could, Elena scrambled to her feet and started to doge as best she could.

Eyes narrowed with the effort it had taken to avoid getting seriously hurt by Jr.’s spell, Elena growled low in her throat. So he wanted to play it like that, did he? The materia flashed bright as Elena pulled out the spells she wanted. Pulling out these two particular spells one right after another tired her out a lot more than Elena wanted to admit, and she probably wouldn’t be able to cast anything else for a while, but it would be worth it.

Unleashing Ice 3 at Jr. and all around the surrounding area, paying mind to slick up the ground as well, she took a deep breath before raining down her own shower upon, one made up of fiery balls of rock. Elena’s knees buckled, and she fell to one knee for a moment as the materia drained her, but with a grunt, she shook it off and stood up, waiting to see how Jr. would react now.

When he realized that he'd managed to singe Elena a bit, Rubedo actually paused to stare at her to make sure she was all right, and that hesitation was enough to totally throw him off. The ground beneath him iced up enough for him to lose his balance, boots sliding. The best thing he could do right then was drop down hard to one knee.

The rock suddenly crashing to the ground beside his hand made him jerk in surprise, knuckles singed from the proximity, and he looked up to see that more were coming. It was too quick for him to consciously react...so his subconscious flared up instead. Quite literally, in fact.

With a wordless yell of fury, the ethereal red barrier sprung up around him, and the blue in his eyes glowed more to match the crimson flames licking off of him. The sphere surrounding him managed to deflect most of the small burning pieces of earth, or rather managed to incinerate on contact, though one did manage to get through just enough to tear at his sleeve.

When Rubedo looked at Elena again, he was positively glowering, and the mass of energy exploded with enough power to knock anyone within a twenty-meter radius flat on their backs where they ought to stay.

Already weak on her feet, all Elena could really do was throw up her arms, grit her teeth, and try as best she could to stand up, but she didn’t even last a second before she was thrown back, thankfully onto the ground and not into anything. She made tracks in the dirt as her body slid backwards from the force of the blast. Her back was going to be sore after all this was over with… Which it probably was with that last move of Jr.’s.

Taking a deep breath, Elena grunted as she attempted to get up off her back, or just move in general. She managed to get perhaps an inch off the ground before her strength gave way and she was staring up at the sky once more with a loud ‘oof.’

And I think that’s it for me, Elena thought with a small mental grin. Though the words out her mouth were a bit different from her thoughts. “When I get up, your ass is mine.”

Seeing her fly back was enough to startle some sense back into him, and he looked rather horrified as he staggered back up onto his feet. Just as he'd been about to dart over to check if she was okay, though, he heard her little threat, and grinned in relief.

Seriously. He needed to stop getting carried away in tough battles... But the fact that he had at all said something about Elena's strength. He didn't unload that much power fighting just anyone.

It took quite a bit of energy just to keep upright as he walked over to where she lay, rubbing his singed knuckles against his hip. He didn't even want to think about how many bruises the two of them would have in the morning. And their little picnic set up was...pretty wrecked. Oh well. The basket had been cheap.

"You mean if you get up," he snarked right back as he stepped over her so that his boots rested at either side of her hips. Rubedo's form cast a shadow over her as he blocked the moon from view and pointed his index finger at her as if he were holding a gun, doing his best not to pant and sound as fucking exhausted as he really was.

"Try again in ten years."

Sticking her tongue out at him childishly since she doubted she could do much else, Elena let out a sigh of contentment. Though she had pretty much lost, Elena couldn’t say that she was disappointed in herself over the outcome. And right then, with his finger pointed at her and with his silhouette all she could see, Elena couldn’t help but think about what it was that attracted her so much to him, physically and mentally. While his body might be small, there was no doubt that he carried himself like the man he really was.

If she had the energy to do something about that feeling, she would have. As it was, all she could do was smirk and speak.

“Are you going to stay standing and posing there like a smug ass or do you ever plan on joining me for a little rest before we go back?”

He was quick to feign an offended expression at being called a smug ass before he stepped over her and gingerly sat down beside her. It was so hard to keep from just collapsing, but his dignity forced him to make it look as casual as possible. At last his head hit the ground, and then he shut his eyes and looked like he'd just collapsed onto a feather mattress with the really soft pillows.

Damnit. His jacket was lying around somewhere, and he had a feeling it would need to visit the dry cleaners. ...Hopefully Mary and Shelley were still in bed when he returned to the Durandal with Elena, or he was pretty sure the lecturing would never end.

"You talking about rest is a good thing. You fought some of that hype out of ya, huh?"

“I think we might have over did it a little and knocked more than just the hype out of me,” Elena replied, finally able to move enough so that she could shift her arms around to rest a hand behind her head and the other over her stomach. “It was worth it though.”

She was glad that she’d had the foresight to take off her jacket and undo the buttons on her sleeves before the fight began, though it was going to take some serious washing before the rest of her shirt was decent again. But right then and there, the jacket might have been nice to have to use for a pillow or something. At least for a little while.

Opening one eye to peek over at her, Rubedo smiled. He was glad that the moon was so bright. It had made it easier to see for a battle, sure, but what was even better was that he could get a good view of her resting, too.

She really was strong. Physically, emotionally... It was clear as crystal why Tseng felt the way he did about her. He'd known her far longer than Rubedo had, worked side by side every day with her...but he'd never confessed his feelings?

Tseng had seriously messed up in Rubedo's opinion. He couldn't believe how damned lucky he was to have her at his side.

The only question now was...for how long? They couldn't stay in the City forever...and what if it threw her back to her own world now? Or what if she chose to go back if the other Turks left? It was obvious that she loved being with them.

With a sigh, the URTV rolled onto his side to drape his arm over hers and nuzzled against her shoulder, mumbling out wearily, "In the morning, there will be a very hot bath. With extra bubbles. And maybe a rubber duckie."

If someone had told Elena that she would one day be lying on the ground with a man, one who looked like a child, but was from a different world than her own, perfectly content and feeling utterly romantic even though she’d been beaten in a fight, she would have checked them into the nearest mental hospital, if she didn’t shoot them for making such an absurd suggestion in the first place.

But she was. And it felt like the most natural thing in the world to be doing.

Sometimes that fact frightened her. How natural and how much she loved it all. Even if she was a Turk down to her very bones, she was still human. And that very human aspect of herself didn’t want to give up what she had right now. But someday, she might have to.

It was a daunting thought. It was also a choice that Elena didn’t think she could make. There was no way she could have chosen between her first love, even though her feelings were likely one-sided, and her job; and between her new love, though she’d never said the words, who meant just as much to her.

With a sigh, Elena closed her eyes and decided not to think about such things. They only caused her grief and a headache. She’d just take things day by day.

Turning a little so that she was half-cuddling with Jr. in her own way, Elena wondered if she’d be able to stay awake long enough to get them back to their room. That bath was tempting… Eh, she’d wake Jr. up after a little rest herself. “I’m holding you to that.”