Renala frowns at his answer. "Hm?" she says, as she pops open the can, "something going on?" There's a weariness to her voice as if anticipating another complication.
#SteveRenalaApartment – November 16, 2023
Steve seems to weigh the question for a moment, unsure how much he should say. He cracks open his beer and takes a sip to buy him a moment before letting out a sigh and glancing back to Renala, concern slipping into his features. "Alright.. I need you to gimme your word that what I'm about to say ain't gonna leave this room, Ren..."
Renala looks up at Steve with a raised eyebrow. Whatever needs that kind of pledge can't be good, she thought, but then again, Renala is a little bit of a pessimist. "Of course, you can trust me on this," she says. "How bad is it?"
Steve exhales, gaze turning down to his beer for a moment as he considers his wording. "Hard to say. Cross has become a bit more... aggressive with his requests lately." he finally says, looking back to Renala. She was with him during one of his meetings with Cross, and no doubt took notice of the sort of questions Cross had for Steve. "Militia hardpoints. Redrock's structure. Information on other private military
operations in and around Freedom Falls. Things of that nature." He pauses, studying Ren to see if she understands where he's going with this.
Renala lets out a deep sigh after hearing him out. There's no ambiguity here. She also recalls another conversation they've had about it in this apartment. "Fuck," she says. "Things are about to get ugly very soon, aren't they?"
Steve gives a shrug. "Hard to say. He's still standin' by his story that he's just preparin' for a worst-case-scenario. Not that I believe he'd tell me if that wasn't the case anyhow..." he admits with a sigh. It's not like they're friends. Hardly even aquaintances. What they have qualifies as little more than a business relationship. He has access to something Steve needs, and Steve has tendrils in Freedom Falls that
Cross hopes might be a seed to nourish. Simple as that. "I don't even know the answers to a lot of his questions. And my injury back on Rakhana has been enough of an excuse to keep from havin' to do any real snoopin' for him. But... that excuse ain't gonna hold up forever. Also, it'd be stupid to assume I'm the only one he's leanin' on out this way... Like I said before, I ain't tryin' to get caught up in all of
this one way or another. And I sure as hell ain't puttin' my neck on any choppin' blocks for him. Just sayin'-..." he draws in another heavy breath, "...if puttin' distance between you and Redrock is the goal, Cross prolly ain't your best bet..."
Renala looks back at her beer after he finishes speaking. "Well, shit, I'll take that off the list, then," she says, frustration building in her voice. "So, is the plan still to try convincing the Redrock leadership if it comes to blows?" She quickly sips her beer before adding, "I can't imagine that being easy after the Matriarch oversaw the bosses' ceremony."
Steve lifts a hand, palm-up, in a half-hearted shrug, clearly having also picked up on the strengthening of the relationship between Redrock and the Matriarch. "Right now the plan is to hope it doesn't come to that." he snorts humorlessly. "And, if it does?" he gives a small dismissive tilt of his head, "Well... we'll cross that bridge when we come to it..."
Renala picks back up another slice of pizza after he's done speaking. "It just feels very likely it'll go that way," Renala says. "Maybe he's got a few diplomatic processes going behind our backs, but I don't like leaving the worst case unplanned when we know they're putting a lot of thought into it."