firemansam

traumatizing

Reno seems, at first glance, to be fairly simple to gauge. Just some hired thug, dense as a brick. This impression could well be bolstered by his... liberal take on the uniform and the fact that when he's not on the clock, he doesn't give a single fuck about his job. It can be hard to imagine the guy you saw lazing around the bar yesterday is the same guy who's going out kidnapping SOLDIER recruits or helpless young ladies or whatever, especially to someone who isn't aware of the Turks' reputation.

He's no slouch though. When he's on the job, he takes it seriously - evidenced by the fact that he and Rude have the highest success rate in their department. There's very little that phases him, the only thing he's taken exception to in his career having been kidnapping survivors survivors from Nibelheim for Hojo to experiment on, (Apparently committing mass murder in order to stitch up a terrorist cell or tracking Cloud and Zack to bring them back in aren't as bad - or maybe his perception just changed in those five years,) which has blessed him with an incredibly laid-back nature, taking his time to go about things in a more controlled manner. Though he is a little bit more reckless than is probably advised. At one point in BC he outright says that if he stops to consider the risks, he won't complete his mission - and though he's mellowed in the five years since then (I highly doubt he would've been promoted to second in command when Tseng took over if he still had a habit of running into things without thinking them through,) it's worth noting that he's the lowest EXP level of himself, Rude and Elena (despite Elena being a rookie,) and he doesn't carry any support materia, instead relying on Rude for barriers and restores.

He's not willing to stick his neck out more than he has to, his job cuts his life expectancy pretty dramatically and he's not keen to get recycled into the planet any sooner than he has to, so he's not afraid to ditch a losing battle. Dying doesn't exactly do anyone any favours. Similarly, Reno doesn't much believe in doing things unnecessarily. Every fight with him after Sector 7 - where he's trying to stall the group long enough for the plate release to go through - is optional, and the onus is on Cloud to start them. Maybe if he was on his own, he'd go for it more readily, but it seems more likely that he's not willing to throw himself into a fight he can't win if he can avoid it, much as he really hates Cloud.

Reno's an intensely loyal character, which could be hard to picture from a guy like him, but there you have it. The Turks are his primary concern and he'll not stand for seeing their safety or integrity threatened. Any more than it is as standard anyway. And whilst not really having anything in the way of empathy, he's fairly intuitive. One has to be to work closely with a guy who speaks mostly in ellipses. It's not a bad quality to have, dealing... Data handling. And recruitment.

All said, he doesn't appreciate being taken for a fool when there are serious matters at hand and one shouldn't mistake his relaxed temperament for a long fuse. His biggest downfall as a person is probably his pride. He takes a lot of pride, both in his work and in himself. It doesn't seem to be a huge detriment - he seems to get over things fairly quickly, in fact - but it comes across that he really doesn't appreciate being talked down to or losing. He likes a modicum of control in his affairs and wants things to happen on his terms. Cloud'n co. messing him up enough that they had to bring in Elena is an obvious sore spot, Rude tells of him testing out a "new weapon" for the next time they see eachother. Plus, he's just really not a nice person. Knows that sometimes you just have to shut up and deal, even if you're working with someone you can't stand, and he'd probably be alright for a chat in a bar if you engaged him, but his overall demeanour is cold and dismissive. Not really too interested in other people. Rude's the socialite out of the group, not him.

As a Turk, well first and foremost Reno has the prerequisite slightly skewed moral compass, but he also has a keen investigative nature. Though his preferred type of 'investigation' is punching people until information falls out, he's not bad at hitting the books and finding things out the college way, he just really hates it. He's also pretty good at deposing gang leaders and kidnapping potential SOLDIER recruits, if that's a thing anyone needs.

Outwardly, Reno isn't that different to his surface persona in canon. Laid back and calm about 90% of the time. Nobody knows a whole lot about what he did before he was signed, and he only gives vague accounts of doing promotion for bands before he decided he liked performing better. Is it true? Is it not? Well, it is as far as Reno's aware. He works hard and takes what he does seriously, because if you're gonna dedicate your life to something then you'd better make sure you do a damn good job of it too, but he takes relaxation seriously too. If you catch him when he's not working, then he doesn't want to talk about work. End of.

Inexplicably, for someone who hardly does anything of note, he's in the tabloids a lot. Somehow having earned a bit of a rep as a playboy and a party animal despite the fact that Reno's idea of a 'good time' is a quiet night at the bar and then chilling back home with some friends. It's probably because he's also an irreverent asshole with no time for other people's shit. Hilariously, bar brawls are probably his most common 'problem' and yet, the one least often in the press.

The fierce loyalty he feels toward the other Turks in canon will be transferred to his bandmates, and the label by extension. Though he kinda views the label more pragmatically than the band - they pay his bills and let him do what he's good at, y'know?

Something largely positive. I'm not looking for a family type deal and I love some clashing personalities, but people who treat the music with a similar level of effort and pride would be ideal. Those are the kind of people he'll respect and so, the kind of people he'd be able to be loyal to.

I'M RARELY S P E E C H L E S S BUT I SPEAK LESS THAN YOU MIGHT I M A G I N E