So there's a bar nobody goes to....

[two_guns_turk]

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[saystoomuch]

"Well, aren't you the lucky one." She knows, really, she shouldn't lash out at him. It's not his fault everyone else looks at her as the eternal second-best.

She sighs, then, setting the glass down with a heavy thunk and still not quite looking at him. "Forget it. It's no big deal. Should've known better in the first place."

Because of course it figures that even when she tries not hating all Turks, she picks the one to like that her sister disapproves of.

[midgarhorizon]

"Sure. Not my business, anyway... but sounds like you could use an ear to listen." Pulling away from the bar, he swivels on the barstool to get a better view of the little television the place boasted. If she really didn't want to talk about it, he won't force her. "I'll be here all night."

[saystoomuch]

Really, she should have known something like this would happen with the mood she's in. Having Reno still be so nice to her after she knows she's acting like a complete brat only sours her mood further, which makes it the perfect time for her to not pay attention to what she's doing and knock the just-cleaned glasses off the bar and almost directly underfoot.

At least none of the other Turks are around to have seen that.

Without even pausing, she's moving to clean up the mess, muttering under her breath the whole time.

[midgarhorizon]

"Seems t'me," Reno said in his slow drawl, "you could do with a less worrying 'bout what other people thought of you and more worrying about what you think 'bout yourself, Elena. It'd probably help a lot." A significant pause, a shift in his seat, and he adds, "I had a big family, too, y'know. Got compared all the time to my older brother. He was smart, amazing, did all sorta things, and got away with a lot. Me, I'm lucky I didn't fail out of school, nobody paid much attention or cared. You got a lot more goin' for ya than you know."

[saystoomuch]

She stands and disposes of the last of the bigger pieces of glass as he speaks again, expression somewhere between a glare for prying into her business again and bewildered that he'd even tell her this at all.

"Doesn't matter." She's not about to admit that she's never really stopped to think about what she thinks of herself, too wrapped up in what she's always been told. "No-one cares about what I can do unless it's reminding everyone why I'll never be as good as her."

She roots around for the dustpan and brush, then, though she's not quite done. "Maybe that's why she doesn't like me talking to you."

[midgarhorizon]

"But that's the problem, kiddo. That don't matter. What other people think of you don't matter. If it did, I'd probably be some lame ass number cruncher, going nine to five for a paycheck that barely covers the rent. I'm a Turk, and despite what people think of me, I like me. Think about it, huh?" Leaning his side into the bar, his eyes kept focused on the television, though he wasn't really paying much attention to it or caring what was on. Elena was kind of more fascinating. "Y'know, if you were older, I'd ask you out."

[saystoomuch]

"Really? Then why don't you go ahead and give them the lecture?" He's probably not trying to lecture her, of course, even she can see that. But it's still telling her what she should do and how she should be, even if the specific words are different, and she's tired of it.

Of course, then he says that next part and she manages to drop the dustpan because she's not sure she heard that right and she's half afraid someone's going to have heard that who shouldn't have.

"Don't play with me like that. You could get any girl you wanted; what would you want me for?"

[midgarhorizon]

"You're right, I could, but I'm not playing." And he doesn't continue on, just giving her an neutral look, a faint quirk of his lip just barely visible in the corner.

[saystoomuch]

She stares at him for a moment, teeth worrying her lower lip. Then she shakes her head, going back to cleaning up before her boss finds her and yells at her.

"Don't let her find out. She'll kill you."

[midgarhorizon]

"She already threatened to bust my balls, kiddo. So you won't have to worry about it for another," looking her up and down, he looks a bit thoughtful, "three years. Maybe two. But, what'd I tell ya? You shouldn't worry about what other people think. No, I'm serious. What do you think of yourself, Elena?"

[saystoomuch]

She huffs something that's supposed to be an attempt at a laugh at that first part, but that soon fades to a sudden very distinct restlessness as he goes back to the question she's been trying to avoid.

She folds her arms over her chest, very decidedly not looking at him. "I don't know." It's quiet, and clearly more than her just trying to dodge the question, and she doesn't know why she's telling him except he's the only person to really think to ask.

[midgarhorizon]

"Tch," it's a thoughtful sound rather than disapproving, and he swivels back to face her. "Sounds like you got a problem there... Why don't you think 'bout it a little?"

[saystoomuch]

"What's the point?" She's given up any pretence of working, now, uneasy and yet not really having an easy way out of the conversation. "I'm always being told what I am and what I'm not. Why give myself something else to be wrong about?"

[midgarhorizon]

"Because the moment you decide what you are and what you're not, everybody else is wrong." It's pretty simple logic, and Reno finished off his drink at the end with a flourish. "I learned that from a friend a long time ago, kiddo. You're the final word."

[saystoomuch]

"You make it sound so easy." She does look up at him, then, probably the most uncertain he's ever seen her. "Where do you even start with something like that?"

[midgarhorizon]

"It is that easy. Ya just decide what you like and what you don't like. If it's something you wanna do, go ahead. If it's not, stop. Simple, right?" He tapped his glass with a grin. "Me, I like drinking. Could ya get me another?"

[saystoomuch]

"Not really. I mean, how do you stop caring? How do you know it's what you think and now what you think you should think?"

Even as she speaks, she's moving to mix another drink for him, 'accidentally' adding just a little more than she should in the process.

[midgarhorizon]

"Uh, go by what makes ya mad then. What makes you mad?" Reno honestly had no idea what he was saying and going on about, but it's got her talking, so it can't be all that bad, can it?

[saystoomuch]

She raises an eyebrow at him then as she places his fresh drink in front of him. "You really need to ask?"

She figures she's always been pretty open about that, though she can also appreciate how most people probably don't pay attention.

[midgarhorizon]

"Then don't do the things she does. You make yourself different." There, that should work. Reno picked up the glass with an appreciative look, sipping delicately with one finger up all classy. Mostly to make her laugh, but also hitting the point home. Grinning, he cleared his throat and put on a voice- an upper crust Midgarian, something more suited to Sector 8 than a bar. "One does what one can to be unique, with the utmost dignity. Or some crap like that."

[saystoomuch]

"Huh." He makes it sound so simple. She's not so convinced, but it plants the seed of an idea in her mind anyway.

And then he's putting on that posh act and she can't help but giggle, a slight crack in the burdens she carries about herself. "You were almost convincing until you tried to sell me on someone that upper-class saying crap."

[midgarhorizon]

"Don't underestimate someone from the Plate." He snickered, leaning against the bartop in his usual slouched pose. "I've heard some of 'em tear people a new one that'd make a Junon dock worker blush. How's my accent? Maul says I'm almost ready to pass in company parties. Don't believe him."

[saystoomuch]

"And you probably shouldn't." She leaned in a little, then, slowly starting to thaw as Reno's playful side draws her in. "Still, you'd know what they sound like better than me. Academy aside, I don't get to talk to many of them. This isn't really their kind of scene."

For several reasons but she's hoping they can stay focused on the 'because it's beneath them' part and not the part where this is a Turks' haunt.

[midgarhorizon]

Air rushed out of Reno's nose in an irritated snort. "Are the Academy snobs givin' ya a hard time?"

Of course, that's what he focused on instead of the accent.

[saystoomuch]

She frowns a little at the sudden change in him. "Not really? No more than they normally do, anyway. And that's more the instructors than anyone else."

And he can probably guess why. Not even being the marksmanship instructor's daughter spares her from everything.