questions for everything (tag: Reno)

Remi had wandered out to the forest after she'd gone to the electronics store with Tadashi looking for a new phone. Well, she had one now, but she felt like being away from a lot of people for the moment. The gardens were pretty crowded, and she figured as long as she didn't get lost, the forest would suffice nicely. She stopped walking after a little while, running a hand trough her hair and leaning against a tree. She didn't feel like herself.

Inhaling deeply, Reno closed his eyes as he welcomed the old and familiar burn pass down his throat, and then breathed out, watching with lazy eyes the light steam of smoke glide upwards inchies away from his face. Well, he failed. Fair and sqaure, and as much as he enjoyed Remi's homecocked meals, the bet was now off. He would've surely lasted at least one day more, if it hadn't been for this mornings little 'incident'.
Reno frowned, cursing under his breathe and leaned back against the tree behind him. Kinda sad the he still allowed such thigns as nightmare rile him up like this, and even to the point of almsot chocking his roommate to death. As if that kid hadn't dealt with enough shit in his life... Oh hey, guilt trips! Guess he still had a conscience afterall.
Sighing, he pushed himself off the tree and decided to head back, still needing to feed himself something even if he still didn't feel eating. Scarthing his head, he kept walking, only coming to a halt again once he spotted a familiar face leaning against a tree further up ahead. And she looked upset. Oh... hello again, guilt trips.
He didn't say anything, just walked up to were she was and stopped a few feet away, his expression unreadable and the cigarette still dangling between his lips.

Remi was starting to feel really terrible about everything, which was unlike her. She was normally so good with the bad emotions; the ones that were negative and unpleasant, but for some reason, since yesterday she hadn't been herself. Remi raised her eyes as someone approached her. Reno. She hadn't seen him since this morning. She tilted her head back against the tree. He's smoking. She guessed he really needed one since this morning. That didn't excuse him for destroying his body and the environment. She wanted to snatch that cigarette from his mouth and tell him if he didn't care about himself at least care about the environment.
Remi didn't feel like talking about this morning. She didn't really feel like doing anything. She was only sulking anyway. She didn't even bother to give him a false smile the way she always does Tadashi. At least she didn't have to cook anymore. She still hadn't remembered the night before. Remi puts her hands behind her back. "Did I give you that hickey, Reno?" She asked him flatly, recalling when she'd seen it this morning.

In all honesty, Reno wasn't really sure what kind of reaction to except from the blonde. He guessed, that he was hoping she'd react in that typical way of hers he'd learned (and grown found off) these last days. Where she'd probably would have pushed herself away from the tree and snatch the cigarette away from his mouth, and then proceed with scolding him about not only breaking off the deal, but for hurting his health and the environment. He just had to deal with the disappointment when she did none of that, and instead simply leaned her head back. A more than enough sign that she wasn't ok. Remi didn't even bother to put upa false smile for him, but for that Reno was grateful for actually. He's had to deal with enough of false people in his life already.
Thinking he wasnät going to get any sort of reaction out of her, he almsot swalloed his joint at her sudden and flat question. "Oh, so you saw that," he said offhanely after a few seconds, unable to contain the small grin of amusment. "Yeah, you did," he aswnerd then, just as flatly as she had been when asking the question, and not looking botherd or concerned at all about it. "You suddenly felt the need to 'mark' me, as you had put it," he snickerd, inhailing deeply again from his cancer stick and breathing out more light steam of smoke.

Remi could feel a huge weight being lifted off of her chest. That meant they hadn't done anything. But why would she suddenly want to mark Reno? She hadn't done that since her eighth grade summer with a guy she liked to claim as her boyfriend, when he wasn't. Remi couldn't feel the amusement as Reno snickered at her. As a matter of fact, she frowned. "Put it out." She commanded sharply. If he was going to do it, he should at least do it indoors and not in the forest. That was direct pollution to the trees. If he wasn't going to, she surely would. She probably wouldn't win but she'd definitely try. She didn't care if he did it later, it was now that bothered her.

And there it was, that usually spark he had grown so used to. But instead of feeling a bit relived, her little demand this time just... annoyed him. Unlike all the other times, right now he was anything but ok with it. So, he inhealed again, and as if just to taunt her, breathed out again, knowing perfectly well why she wasn't ok with it. The trees, and the whole deal about the enviorment. But Reno wasn't in the mood to be nice and caring right then, not the understanding and chill person Remi had seen him to be... at first.
"Nah," he said impassively, the grin on his face almost mocking her. "Don't feel like it."

Remi's frown deepens. She wasn't fully expecting him to obey her the way Tadashi did, she was never like this with Tadashi, though. She was never like this with anybody; except maybe her mother when it first happened, because if she'd been paying attention it wouldn't have happened. But she got over it, and she had stopped addressing her parents altogether. That was a dark time for her. She'd begun to question everything she'd ever done and everything she would ever do. Reno was clearly mocking her and she didn't like it, like, at all. He was different. He'd always teased her intentionally, but this time, it was a deliberate kind of teasing.
Remi peeled her body off of the tree and closed the distance between she and Reno, looking up at him with an unamused expression. It wasn't a glare, not like the expressions she'd given him last night. "Feel like it then." She retorted bitterly, shooting her hand out for the cigarette.

Reno didn't move as much as an inch from his spot when Remi pushed herself from the tree, and merely stared down at her with the same grin. But it soon fell at her retort, and waht little amusment he had left of the situtaution flyng out the window she held her hand out, actually demaning him to hand the cigarette over to her.
Somethign dark and cold washed over his expression then as he made sure their eyes were locked with each others. Reaching up, he slowly removed the join from his lips, but instead of handing it over to the girl, he simply crunched the joint with his palm, with the tip still alight and burning as his palm touched it. But no hint of pain showed on his face as the skin inside his hand was burned. "Or else what?" he asked darkly, taking a step foward.

Remi emotionally and mentally cringed at the expression Reno gave her and the look in his eyes. She would never let him see it, though. She fought to keep her face the very same as it was before. Remi is about to scold him when removed it from his mouth, expecting him to throw it on the ground. But he didn't. He crushed it in his hand and didn't even flinch. Reflexively, her fingertips start to glow as she immediately wants to make sure he's all right. But he didn't need it and she fought the urge, suppressing it. Remi then fought the urge to step back when he stepped forward, her foot having moved back before she returns it beside her other foot. "I'm not afraid of you." She clarified.

His eyes narrowed a bit, but for the most part stayed unchanged, not even blinking as he did nothing just stare down at her. He took another step forward when Remi stood her ground, and when she clarified that she was not afraid of him, the redhead just chuckled. "Of course you're not," he murmurmed, now slowly walking forward. He unwrapped his hand around the joint he'd just crushed, the cigarette burn already rapidly healing itself, leaving only a thin trail of smoke behind as he lowerd his arm to his side. "But that's beacuse you don't know me." His voice had turne dinto a low, threathing whisper, his head now lowerd down to her eye level. "And you should be damn grateful that you don't."

Remi wasn't surprised when he started chuckling. Her eyes fall to his hand as he opens it. In the back of her mind she thought of littering but she caught a glimpse of his palm. It was...fine. His hand was fine. Smoking cigarettes didn't do anything to him because he could heal anyway. So why did he agree to try to quit? Remi felt uncertainty and fear building within her so rapidly she couldn't ignore it. "You wouldn't let me know you anyway." She mumbled. "If you take pride in trying to scare me, then I don't want to know you."

Reno titld his head slightly, letting a heavy silence fall between the two of them before he straitghend himself back up. He'd be a poor excuse of a lier if he tried to convicne himself that her words hadn't hurt him a bit. Even if it didn't show. But then again, he had kind of been aiming for that sort of response from her.
But taking pride in scaring her? Now that was just funny to hear, but so unbeivably far from the truth. "Yeah, I get off on scaring ya.... that's totally the reason why I've become so damn found you," he mutterd sarcasticlly as he pushed past her. "Or why i botherd doing things i didn't have to, just to try and please you. I've been so 'threathing' whenver we met."

Remi huffed heavily, rolling her eyes as he spoke. Well she couldn't help it. It was the best she could come up with at the moment and he was being such a dick she really just wanted to get under his skin which probably wasn't a good idea considering how he acted this morning. She wasn’t going to let him know she was afraid of him, even if only a little. So what if he actually had gone out of his way like that? What was she saying. That meant a lot to her.
"Reno," She whirled, extending her hand to his and grabbing it firmly. It was the hand he'd put the cigarette out in. Remi's eyes fall to it in fascination. She ran her thumb over his palm, it was completely healed now. Remi lowered her eyes. "I’m sorry." She apologized. "Just...let me in. Tell me what happened that when you wake up you needed to strangle someone." It was clear he'd been somewhere dangerous.

Reno really wanted nothing else than leave, to keep waliking until he ended up wherever the hell he could, as logn as he was alone. He was in no mooed to deal with anyone, but himself. And as sad as that is, even that was to much to deal with.
Still, he stopped when Remi reached out and grabbed his hand. He could've easily shaked her off and kept moving, but he didn't. While mentally cursing out himself, he turned half around to look at her, feeling both a bit soothed and uncfomrotable as her thumb trailed over his palm.
He groaned a her apolpgy and averted his eyes, not feeling any better with himself at earing those words. "Why?" he mutterd, slowly starting to draw back his arm from her hold.

Remi wasn't having the best day either, they both weren't, some worse than others but it still wasn't a good day. She raised her blue eyes to his, noticing for the first time that they're the same color. She'd never looked at the color, she'd always been looking at what was behind them. Remi held Reno tighter has he began to pull his arm away. She smiled at him. Why? What kind of a terrible question was that? It had numerous answers. She was genuinely a nice person, because they're friends, she always wanted to help other people in any way she could, she didn't want him mad at her, how else was she going to keep watch on his now returned smoking habit? That wasn't the answer to any of them. She liked Reno. He was different from most people she'd hung out with. "Because I care about you." She told him truthfully.

"......"
Reno could come up with alot fo tuings to retort with to her genuine words, most of them being cruel, unnecesary and hurtful, and still hold nothing but the truth. But for some reason he coudln't find it in himself to say it. No, of course it's not the first time someone's told him that they care, and not all of them had been liars either. Still...
He sighed and and ran a hand down his face, muttering something to himself under his breath. She wa smore than free to care about him, but that did't mean Reno felt like spilling out his lfie story and all of his drak secreters, much less explain to why he sometimes acted like a bloodcrazed physcopath. Hadn't he already shown that side of his enough to her and Tadashi?
"Geez this turning way to dramatic for me," he whined, sounding like his usual and childish self whenever he got bored with something. He move dhis arm again, but instead of pulling back his hand instead intertwined with hers while he turned around to face her. While he may ahve sounded ok, his expression showed quite the opposite. "If I told you, you'd end up hating me anyways," he chuckled quietly. "I'm all of the things you dissaprove off."

Remi remained calm and felt relieved that Reno wasn't behaving the way he had been anymore. Saying that she didn't care at all about the way he acted would be a full lie. He had scared her. He still scared her. But she wouldn't run. She didn't believe that Reno was a bad person no matter what he'd done. No person is truly evil to Remi. There was always a reason for everything, and people did the things that they did for a reason. Simple cause and effect theory.
Her eyes fall to their hands when he intertwined them. Reno still looked the way he was behaving. "I don't hate anyone, Reno." She told him quietly, as if she were reminding him. "I could never hate you." She went on, her smile gone to emphasize that she's serious. "A lot of people are the things I disapprove of. But...you don't know what I disapprove of. You only know my views and beliefs on the environment and human choice of diet. You know a bit more about me than I do you, but it still isn't very much. So, let me be the judge of that."

There was a small smile tugging at his lips as he litsend to her, his whole demanor seemingly softeing up and allowing him to relax. It was these kind of person he really had no idea on how to deal with, how to react or what to even make of them. In the world that he grew up in, geniuly kind people who asked of nothing more in return for themsellf, didn't exict. He gave a small nod at her words, giving ehr hand a gentle squeze like the night before whne he had dragged her drunked ass away from the bar. of course she was making some fair points here, about him knowing a bit more about her than she knows about him. And that's exactly how he'd like to keep things. A part of him wanted to prove her wrong, throw back all her kind words back in her face and see fear along with regret take over her expression as he told her exactly what kind of person he was. And the other side, wanted to rest his head upon her shoulder and make up something less horrible thna the real truth, act like everything was ok and just shaken up because of an old stupid nightmare.
"Feel free to ask, whatever the hell's on your mind," he sighed, sounding jsut as exhausted as he looked. "But I won't proimise i'll answear everything, or even be truthful about it."

Remi felt a warm tingle occur in her stomach when Reno squeezed her hand. It felt vaguely familiar...why was that? They hadn't held hands before, at least she didn't think so. She definitely would've remembered holding his hand...unless she didn't. Exactly what happened last night? That would be her first question. If she didn't ask, she would be left in a world of uncertainty in which she didn't know how to react. Or she could just ignore it. She trusted Reno, even if he had scared her.
"I don't want to hear it then," She told him truthfully. "I don't want anything but the truth." That's all she accepted. "If you lie, I'll never trust any word that ever leaves your mouth for the rest of my life." Remi really meant it too. She takes a deep breath, her eyes falling elsewhere as she tries to word her questions. She wanted to know a lot of things about Reno, if not everything. "What happened to you that you opted to kill someone when you woke up?" She requested softly.

"Fair enough," he snickerd, taking waht she said seriously, but not really that concerned about it. Then all he ahd to do, was not answear at all. He glanced away at ehr question, not really surprsied that she'd choose to go with that question first. Now, how'd to explain this in a gentle way that won't leave her paralyized in fear and shock? He hummed to himself, as if in deep thought while his thumb ran over her knuckles in a caressing manner. "It's kind of a long story," he mumbled after a moment with a shrugg, his demanor not exactly giving off the vibe that it was anything serious or worth tallking about.
"...me and my old man had a big fight, on my part it only began as an means of self defense but, soon enough I was fighting back just beacuse I felt like breaking his skull open."
His voice was flat and unbotherd as he spoke, his expression a mixture of fatigue and soemthing else. "But then mom tried to calm us down and then-" he abruptly stopped his stence, the pale blue eyes of his now much wider than seconds ago as he silently stared aimlessly ahead of them. He frowned, and then let out a dry, low chuckle with no hint of humor or amusment in it. "Nevermind, I'm not up for a story time now anyway," he quickly dissmied it, turning his back on Remi once again as he began to hear the strangled cries of his mother echo inside his mind. The hand that ahd been holding Remi's twitched violently, and he quickly slipped it out of her hold and shoved it inside his poket.

Remi smiled in relief when Reno agreed to her terms and she mentally prepared herself for the worst. She listened to him hum as he rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. It felt good, soothing really. Remi expected it to be a long story when he said so, but she didn't say anything she just waited patiently and pressed her lips together at his offhand tone. Remi's face changed at the mention of him just feeling like breaking his father's skull open. That wasn't a fair fight, Reno healed; and judging from the cigarette, really rapidly too. Remi's heart was beating in her chest and her stomach felt odd when Reno chuckled. She wasn't just scared of him anymore, she was petrified of him. Reno's jolting hand startled Remi, and she withdrew her hand the same moment he slipped free. Remi put her hands behind her back.
There were tremors running through her body now. She couldn't control them, her hands her shaking violently and she couldn't keep them still despite tightly holding them together. "D-Did you kill him?" She asked quietly, trying to keep her voice from shaking too. She swallowed, her throat dry.

Ah... there it was, Reno thought unsurprise,d not needing to look at Remo to know how terrified she was at that moment. "No, I didn't kill him," he answerd, moving his hand up to rubb at his face again, the hand inside his pocket now clenching tightly in attempt of makig the twtching stopp. No, he had not killed the man he used to call 'dad', he was still alive somewhere, probably drowing himself in alcohol.. if eh hand't comited suicide yet that is. Breathing in, he forzed himself to once more face the girl behind him, only able to offer her a small smile as he took in her petrified form trying to keep her body from trembling. "Remi," he murmured softly, taking one careful step towards her. "You really don't want to know anymore about me."
Beacuse what happend that night was something to hoorible to grasp even for Reno, something that made him try to commit suicide himself more than once. And that wasn't even half of all the shit he's done in his life.

It was good to hear that Reno didn't kill him. So why didn't she feel better? It was as if what he said meant nothing, when she knew it did, even if only a little. Remi cringed when Reno turned around to face her. He's still him. She tried to convince herself, He's still Reno. He's still Reno. She gasped lightly when he said her name and stepped forward. She couldn't move. She couldn't step back. She jolted her head to the side and stiffly managed to shake her head back and forth. "No," She said quietly. "Tell me." She was entranced by it now. She wanted to hear the rest.

Reno didn't move any further, the fear in her at the moment so damn obvious and he immediently regretted going along with her whishes. I fucking hate being right sometimes, he thought sourly. But then she shaked her head, and still insisted on him to keep telling her, that she still wanted to know. Another heavy sigh letf the redhead. Somehow, he got the feeling she'll keep this up until she got the truth out of him. Mght as well be straight with her then, right? And get this whole shit over with. "Like I said, I didn't kill my old man, it was my mom who-" He stopped again, unable to form the rest of the sentence as a big lump was nor forming in his throat. "OK, so I've had a shitty life," he then flatly stated instead, and began to pace around. "But that is no excuse for the fucked up things I'm been involed in or caused. I've done alot of shit, tried out everything that's conciderd bad and a crime. There's to many reasons to why I suffers from nightmares, too many to count and it would take to fucking damn long to list them all down to you."
He couldn't do it. He couldn't just blunt out tell Remi, this stubborn girl that he's a little to quickly grown found off, that he's killed alot of people without giving a single fuck about it. Even now he didn't feel regret for it. He was ina different place now, startign anew, far awya from the slums and people he worked and did all the dirty work for.
He had moved over the tree Rem had been leaning against, and sldie down to the ground. "I don't want you to know," he mutterd, staring down at the grass infront of him with a hollow look. He didn't want her to know that he caused his father to go insane, or that he was the cause of his mother's death. He didn't come here to regret his past mistakes and wish everythign wouldve been different. He was here to move on and make the remining part of his life the way he felt like it.

Remi felt a sense of security when Reno stopped walking. She didn't want to be afraid of him but...she was. Her eyes followed him as he walked back and forth. Her eyes drift to their conversation about insomnia when they'd first met in the greenhouse. She didn't want to believe that Reno was a murderer or committed all the crimes he said he did, but she knew it was true. She was growing to like him, a lot, and no matter what she said or how many times she said it, she couldn't keep herself from feeling afraid.
Her eyes followed him as he made his way to the tree she'd leaned on earlier. Remi swallowed, hiding away her fear as much as she can manage before she approached Reno, sitting down a few feet away from him. "It's okay." She said quietly.