paixaorpg | Gotta catch a train [Completed]

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Gotta catch a train [Completed]

Character(s): Sephiroth, eventually Kadaj and various Turks
Content: While en route to his rendezvous with Rufus Shinra, Sephiroth is intercepted by Kadaj. Insanity ensues.
Setting: Somewhere east of Paixao Central Station, and heading in that general direction.
Time: Mid-afternoon
Warnings: Swearing, violence, and bloodshed. Well, if Kadaj and his summons can shed blood, that is...

Sephiroth had had better days. First, there had been the unfortunate encounter with whatever those creatures had been; then, the strange man named Vincent. They had parted company after he checked something on the journal he carried, which had prompted Sephiroth to do the same. After spending the better part of an hour speaking with a man named Shinra and a person who claimed to be somehow related to him, he'd started moving toward the central station marked on his journal's map.

This whole thing stunk to high heaven. None of it added up; President Shinra, dead? His son in charge of everything? Sure, it would probably happen like that, but that would take -years-.

And now, a person claiming to be related to him, and who was quite obsessed with meeting him. A man named Kadaj, who Shinra claimed was one of Hojo's science projects gone wrong. A man who was supposed to have been created as a replacement for himself, alongside two others...

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If he'd had any sort of faith at all in gods, Kadaj would have said they were conspiring against him.

As it was, he was left cursing viciously at nothing, tired of slaughtering the numerous Nobodies and in too much of a hurry to do that now anyway, no matter how much he wanted to vent. The President was here, more of his turks were here, and all of them were from some future after his, where he had been defeated. Could things get any worse? Obviously they could, because not too long after that he had found Vincent's entry mentioning Sephiroth of all people and he knew he had to meet the man no matter how much he loathed him. That what Mother would have wanted.

He whiled away his time on his way to the man in conversation with the President himself, his expression shifting rapidly from amused, disgusted, confused, and all the way back to furious again. He hated communicating like this-- it was so much easier to be in control of the situation when he was with Shinra in person. He'd be able to stop the man's dancing around the issue with a mere word or action then. Instead he had to wait between responses and try to discern through language alone whether the President was lying or not. It was impossible. Absolutely maddening. He couldn't wait for when the time came to finally see him in person. Then he'd be able to tell if he really was...

But no. He had to meet with Sephiroth, the favorite, and try to convince him to join his side, all to make Mother happy. Mother would want that, right? She wouldn't want her sons to be fighting. He had to stay calm, assess the situation, make the correct judgments... all of it to win Sephiroth over so that everything would be perfect for the Reunion. For Mother. That was his job.

So... he would do his job.

Mother would be so proud of him.

Trying hard to maintain that kind of perspective on things, Kadaj tore his eyes away from his journal and put it aside for now. He could talk with the President after he was done speaking with Sephiroth. Thankfully, the other silver-haired man was incredibly easy to spot, and, keeping a tight rein on the jealousy and anger that sprung up at the mere sight of him, the remnant made a beeline towards him. Hopefully he could get this over with quick. The more time he spent speaking with him, the more likely it was he would say something to drive the other man off. Mother wouldn't want that at all.

Once he got close enough to him, he quickly fell in stride with the other man, saying with rather forced light-heartedness, "Sephiroth, I presume~?" As if it could be anyone else.

As the shorter man fell into step with him, Sephiroth made a quick assessment of him.

Not too short, nor tall; graceful walk; annoying voice; and dressed rather similar to himself.

Couldn't be anyone but 'Kadaj'.

"You presume correctly. And I assume you are Kadaj?"

It was a useless formality; there was no doubt in his mind that this kid was who he was. His very first thought was to tell him to go home and find another hero to emulate. He'd seen enough like him to have that routine well in hand.

But Shinra had already told him there was more to this one.

"Why are you so eager to speak to me before my other engagement?"

Kadaj's eye narrowed almost imperceptibly at the sound of the man's voice. If Sephiroth thought his was annoying, well, that didn't come even close to what the remnant thought about the others much deeper, more formal-sounding tone. And this was what Mother wanted? Why wasn't he good enough? It just wasn't fair.

Still trying to appear genuinely happy about seeing him, Kadaj went on to say, "Yes, that's me~ I wanted to talk to you because, well, this is much more pressing than meeting with the President. You know, he finds the truth flexible at best. I wouldn't be surprised if he tried warning you off seeing me at all-- has he? Not that that would stop you."

Neither did being approached by strangers who wished to talk to him, it seemed. Kadaj was beginning to wonder just how long it would take for them to arrive at the station at this rate, and while he doubted they'd make it there before the Turks did (what with Larxene's delaying them and all~), he thought it would be better if he tried to slow things down on this side as well.

Walking a little faster to get ahead of Sephiroth, he turned and stepped directly in front of him, stopping in his tracks and hopefully blocking him from going further. "Sephiroth, you need to listen to me. Mother is waiting for us-- we have to find her. You said you wanted proof, right? Here I am. Ask me anything and I'll tell you. I'll even show you. I'm willing to do anything if it means you'll join me. Don't go to the President just yet, Sephiroth; we have much to discuss."

Sephiroth debated just walking right over the guy, or at least around him. It would be rude, true, but so was stepping out in front of him like that.

With an internal sigh, he folded his arms over his chest and looked Kadaj dead in the eye. "You have five minutes to prove your case. After that, I am going to my meeting. Whether past you or through you."

Sephiroth was not a person who suffered fools gladly. Fools were always the first to get themselves killed. People getting killed on his watch was unacceptable.

But this guy was just -asking- for it.

... Five minutes?! That was it? That was all he got?! Hands curling into fists, Kadaj did all he could not to glare right back at this... ohh, he wished he could insult him without somehow insulting himself. The worst he could think of that didn't do that was calling Sephiroth ignorant, and he still couldn't say that to his face.

He closed his eyes, very quickly running over his options. There was no way he could compress the entirety of his knowledge into a five-minute interval, and likewise no way that would actually convince Sephiroth. He had to think of a much more direct approach.

Within a few seconds he had it, and his eyes snapped open again while he grinned, obviously pleased with what he had come up with. "Then I'll prove it to you," he said in a purr, bowing his head and concentrating... This had to work, so he knew he'd have to make it as impressive as possible.

At first nothing happened. Then, the air around him began to shake violently, the disruption causing his hair to fall in disarray before lifting slightly upwards. A blue halo of light seemed to settle around him, steady at first but gradually starting to flicker madly. Superimposed over his body, a figure began to appear, significantly taller than Kadaj but which had disturbingly familiar features-- especially to the man this show was intended for. The glow around him intensified, the near-perfect image of Sephiroth over him flashing in and out of view much more rapidly, growing sharper by the second.

Finally, it became too much for Kadaj to maintain, and the image around him vanished from view, the blue light and the energy powering it slowly fading as well. The air grew still, and it was several moments before he seemed capable of rousing himself to speak. "Well?" he asked softly, smiling up at the other silver-haired man a little eagerly. "Now what do you think?"

Sephiroth watched this lightshow with a bit of scrutiny and more than a little boredom. When it was finally over, he smirked. "Nice hologram. Hojo has been busy, I see."

Folding his arms across his chest, he scowled at the shorter, younger-looking silver-haired man. "You have two minutes left. After that, I'm going to my meeting - over, around, or through you."

Judging by the slight intinsification of the glow around his eyes, Sephiroth was most definitely not kidding around...

Kadaj gritted his teeth, his hands curling into fists. Hologram?! Did the man know nothing? Utterly furious now and without any way to vent it, he ground out, "A hologram? I have nothing electronic on me-- look." He held out his arms out, turning on the spot. It really was impossible for him to be carrying anything on leather that tight, except for maybe his journal, which he dug out again and offered for Sephiroth's inspection. "Here-- this is all I have. Think it's possible to project a hologram with this? Especially one so powerful? Besides, I don't know if you could tell, but that energy was anything but electricity or whatever else would power a hologram. Face it, Sephiroth: that was real."

His vehemence left him abruptly, and he looked down to the journal in his hand with an almost forlorn expression. "Won't you join us?" he asked quietly, frozen in place for the moment. "Mother is waiting, you know-- she'd want her favorite son to attend the Reunion. It'd be much more meaningful if it were you instead of me. Even though I work so hard for her, it's you she wants."

He looked back up again, tilting his head slightly as he thought of something. "Why don't we go together? Not to the Reunion just yet, but to the President. We're both going to go see him anyway, so we might as well save some time. He's a very busy man after all." Quite the opposite, really. Kadaj knew for a fact that all Rufus had preoccupying him at the moment were his rather troublesome Turks and making his way to Sephiroth before he did. Judging by the fact that the President was nowhere to be seen and Sephiroth was right in front of him... this was just another victory for Mother. He smiled widely, unable to keep his pleasure at these thoughts off of his expression.

"So, how much time do I have now? We can move this conversation if you like-- I wouldn't dare keep someone like you away from his work... not for too long, at least." He'd bother with trying to figure out more ways to convince Sephiroth after he was completely sure the man wouldn't leave without him. Anything else would constitute failure.

Sephiroth fixed Kadaj with an appraising eye. The younger-looking man had shown a range of emotions that didn't particularly please him; Sephiroth had particularly noted the sudden burst of anger, and now that he was paying attention, there were obvious cues that, despite his words, the man would dearly love to be anywhere else.

"Let's do this. You come with me as far as the station. You DO NOT come in with me. If you try, I -will- show you why my name is spoken with respect and fear, even in ShinRa's ranks. I don't believe a word you've told me, but Shinra's words don't ring particularly true either."

And, without waiting for his reply, Sephiroth resumed his walk toward the train station.

As if Kadaj didn't already know why Sephiroth was respected and feared. He knew the man better than he did himself, as far as he was concerned. The fact that the other refused to acknowledge it and insisted on ordering him around only infuriated him again, but his indignant expression was thankfully hidden as the general stepped past him and made his way to the train station.

Shaking his head furiously to himself, he started after him again, resisting the urge to glare and pout in the other direction. Mother would fix everything. Sephiroth's ignorance would only be temporary; he had to remember that. There was nothing to be worried about. He repeated those words in his mind until he was calm enough to reply without betraying his feelings again, a hint of anger still in his voice as he asked, "Just to the station? You're forgetting that I'm going to be speaking with him too, sir. It would be much faster if we both went. I'll leave you two in relative solitude while you speak, though, if that makes you feel more comfortable."

It didn't seem like anything he was saying was filtering through. Kadaj doubted addressing the man the way he was and speaking in that tone would really help matters, but he was not going to be brushed off so easily. He should probably start genuinely calling Sephiroth "sir," then, if only to make things run more smoothly. Ugh.

Tseng had parted with Rafe and Reno as previously decided, and was now waiting for Sephiroth just outside the train station. Admittedly, since the man had nearly killed him once, had killed Aeris, not to mention nearly destroyed the planet, this wasn't exactly the business meeting he was most looking forward to. However, what was necessary, was necessary, and Rufus appeared to deem that his recruiting Sephiroth was necessary, so Tseng would have to abide by that.

Well. Sort of. The idea of Rufus meeting him the first time was idiotic; Sephiroth had been a famed SOLDIER, sure, but he was still a staff member, just like the Turks. The President turning out himself to meet a SOLDIER, even a famous one, would seem somewhat strange - particularly a potentially-dangerous soldier who is known to, at least in his personal future, go insane and commit atrocious acts of violence. So Tseng, as Head of the Turks, was perfectly able to greet him in Rufus' stead. It would be easy to excuse the President, particularly if Sephiroth was more rational in place of ... well. The way they knew him.

From his position, he could see Sephiroth approaching; it appeared, however, as if he had an escort. Not a muscle moved on Tseng's face; ah, this could be a particularly interesting meeting. Thankfully, he had already loaded his gun, just in case (not that it would do any good. However, it made Tseng feel better.)

And, he waited.

Sephiroth shrugged at Kadaj's declaration that he was to meet with Shinra as well. "Be that as it may, I do not wish you to come in with me."

As they neared the station, Sephiroth could almost feel the tension in the air; it was as if just getting nearer the station was increasing the stress by several orders of magnitude.

He had his suspicions as to why, and most of them centered around Kadaj. He didn't trust the guy as far as he could throw him. And did he ever shut up?!

Why was he so determined to make this difficult?! Kadaj honestly couldn't see what the problem was here. They could just board the train together, then he would leave the older man alone. Simple. Easy. Flawless. So, why was he against it? Was there more to it that Kadaj just wasn't seeing..?

He was in the middle of posing these questions to Sephiroth when he caught sight of the Turk ahead of them. It seemed like they hadn't been all that delayed after all, but judging by the fact that there was only one of them, he supposed Larxene must have at least gotten some of them... the red had to be the ones delaying the President, then.

Keeping a confident smile on his face, he started walking faster, determined to meet up with him before Sephiroth did. He didn't think the Turk would be stupid enough to try misleading the other man when Kadaj was right there, but he couldn't be too sure. Really, if it were up to him, he'd kill Tseng right now and see if he could delay the meeting any longer, but at this point, it seemed that all he could really do was try and manage the damage.

Stopping a short distance away, he gave the Turk an appraising look and said, "And you would be... Tseng, right? How interesting running into you here. We were expecting the President after all." The absurdity of that statement made him laugh; Sephiroth might have been expecting him, but Kadaj knew better. He didn't have any problems with letting Tseng know that either. "How much longer do you think it will take him to get here~? You can't keep us from meeting forever, you know."

Tseng raised a mild eyebrow at the laughter - apparently, Kadaj couldn't control his childishness in person, either - and raised a hand, sweeping it in an encompassing, but altogether dismissive, gesture. The President would be as long as Tseng wanted him to be in coming, if the Turks were doing their jobs correctly; this was the situation as he knew it, and exactly as he would not tell it.

No point in giving all of one's secrets away before the game even begins, after all.

"The President will be some time," He said calmly, "I believe there has been a mechanical failure with his train... he was somewhat unhappy about it, this much I know, and sends his apologies to Sephiroth." Pointedly left out were any apologies to Kadaj; Tseng hadn't known that Kadaj would be there, and while somewhat set off his stride by this (while he didn't like to admit it, he was only human, and the man had quite brutally tortured both Tseng and Elena) Tseng was sure he would be able to work around this. He had been given a functional brain for a reason, after all - something that one of the two silver-haired men approaching him had apparently been born lacking.

Although, of course, he could not quite say this for sure. Kadaj was infantile, but any power came with wisdom enough to be able to use it - it was just using it wisely that the other fell down on. As for Sephiroth, well. Tseng had quite literally placed his life on his the judgement of the President, which was an interesting thing to do, all things considered.

He stepped forward, addressing Sephiroth directly, ignoring Kadaj. He wasn't meant to be there. Tseng bowed his head slightly in respect for the SOLDIER, and then continued:

"While President Rufus cannot be with us, I as Head of the Turks will greet you in his stead, if that is acceptable to you. I believe we can begin business now, and a meeting for you with the President can be arranged at a later date."

This was, after Tseng had ascertained whether Sephiroth was insane.

Sephiroth nodded in return to Tseng, not missing the complete dismissal of Kadaj nor the implications of Rufus' late arrival.

"I see; his apologies are accepted. Is there somewhere we can conduct this meeting in private? There are things I wish to know, and as my attention has already been occupied by Kadaj for quite some time on the way here, I feel it only fair to lend my full attention now to you. Kadaj will wait outside, if he wishes to speak to me again without steel between us."

As he looked toward Kadaj, it was quite clear that he meant what he said. If Kadaj interrupted, it would be at his own peril.

He had, over the course of the past half hour, been subjected to quite a bit of information. Admittedly, most of it made no sense to him. Jenova, his mother, not dead? Not only not dead, but something not human? That was... alarming in the extreme. He'd always known he was different, but -alien-?

That did not make sense. But then, neither did Hojo making three insane copies of him, and incomplete ones at that. True, the man was twisted, but something about that rung false.

Sephiroth wanted to hear both sides of this story, and then draw his own conclusions. And if anyone tried to force him...

Well, now that would just be unfortunate. Not that he would kill anyone; he was too professional for that. But there are worse things than death, and a man does not become a general without knowing some of those things...

Needless to say, Kadaj was not pleased by this turn of events. He hated being ignored, for any reason,and the fact that Tseng was being so blatant about it didn't help matters. Scowling to himself, he brought out his journal again and began to fiddle with it, trying to appear anything but the sulking child he really was right then. He just needed to wait, that was all. He would have his Reunion and Sephiroth would be there. Even if that annoying Turk was in the way now, he wouldn't be forever. Kadaj may have agreed not to threaten any of the Turks, but he had made no such agreements about not hurting them.

At this point that would be just as inadvisable, though. As much as he hated it, Tseng was completely free from harm right now and the absolute worst he could do to him was give him dirty looks. How pathetic was that? He hated having to restrain himself like this. It just wasn't fair. Sephiroth could threaten him anyway, and what was the logic behind that? As far as Kadaj was concerned, there was none.

He snorted softly at the statement that mechanical failure was the reason behind the President's delayed arrival. More like mechanical failure and a Turk or two. Who did Tseng think he was fooling? Maybe Sephiroth, but Kadaj wasn't buying it. Ha. His scowl transformed back into his usual smirk and he relaxed slightly, still playing with his journal. The situation wasn't hopeless yet. All he had to do was wait through this little meeting, then he could go back to convincing Sephiroth. The President was far more dangerous as far as subverting the man was concerned, so maybe he really was lucky.

Mimicking Tseng's earlier dismissive gesture with his own added flare, he smiled at the two of them and said, "That's fine with me~ Try not to have too much fun without me, all right?" He laughed again, doing his best to come off as carefree. He had the truth on his side after all. What could possibly go wrong?

"I am glad," Tseng answered, bowing his head slightly at the acceptance of the apologies Rufus had not, in fact, given; he was quite sure his boss would have much preferred for there to be no requirement of apologies, but it was not in Tseng's nature to jeopardise the President's safety for any reason. This fell into that category.

With that thought aside, he addressed Sephiroth's wishes regarding Kadaj - the fact that Sephiroth appeared to dislike Kadaj somewhat was interesting, and perhaps greatly fortuitious to whatever Rufus' cause might be regarding Sephiroth. It went without saying that whatever Kadaj was planning to do was likely at a counterpoint to Rufus' point of view, and Tseng had to be seen to work to his superior's objectives.

"I am sure there is somewhere within the station within which we can discuss matters," He answered, a slight smile turning at his lips; there was no sword at his throat, and Sephiroth appeared fairly sane, which meant that Tseng was at least in control of the situation for the time being. "If you'd follow me...?"

Upon saying that, he turned, giving Kadaj an amused look as he did so. The remnant had appeared, for a moment, to be rather angry; but he seemed to have regained control of himself quite quickly. Hrm, attempting to irk Kadaj again, as fun a pursuit as it might be, seemed unadvisable in person. Tseng was no coward, but he was intelligent to know when goading a person would end only in a significant amount of pain - besides, this was a professional situation. Thus, he just continued heading back into the station - looking left and right, to see if there was any kind of room that could be used. Finding nothing in particular that was helpful, he glanced back, seeming somewhat sorry for the lack of organisation. That was because he was sorry for it; it was uncomfortable to be conducting negotiations which may well prevent a second coming of Sephiroth in a new world without so much as a place to discuss matters in.

"I'm afraid we have not yet found our feet here," He said in excuse, "It appears as if we shall have to merely find a quiet corner."

This was probably a new low for the ShinRa Company, when he thought about it, but Tseng couldn't find much within him to care. Probably due to the company he was in, now he thought about it.

Sephiroth scanned the station, looking for a suitably quiet place to have his discussion with Tseng. "We should really look into opening an office in this place. If for no other reason than to have a rallying point," he observed, following the black-haired man.

Tseng was quite right in guessing that Sephiroth was at very least annoyed by Kadaj. The guy was a chatterbox, something one rarely saw in all but the rawest troops, and quite frankly it irked Sephiroth to have someone talking to him constantly, especially when he was trying to think.

There was something -off- about him, too, that Sephiroth could not quite put his finger on. A sense of non-being, as if there was -power- within him, but fragmented. What was more off-setting was that it was a -familiar- power.

Then again, if what Rufus and Tseng had said was true, there was a very good reason for that.

Finally, he spotted a shady corner; there were no people near it, and it had a good, defensible vantage point in case more of the creatures showed up. Or Kadaj tried something.

Kadaj stayed where he was, still playing with his journal and trying not to appear too interested in just where the two of them would be heading off to. This was so unfair. He realized he had made that complaint before, but it really was. He hadn't even really been given the chance to fill in all the gaps-- he hadn't been able to tell Sephiroth about Cloud, the Black Materia, how that Cetra had gotten in the way, everything about the Reunion-- there was just so much. But Tseng got to tell him, right off the bat, no time limits, and nothing else like that?

He wanted to kill something. And soon.

Realizing by the sudden cracking noise that he had been gripping his journal far too hard, he forced himself to try and relax, grimacing as he began to assess the damage. Nothing too bad, although really the fate of his journal could mean less to him. It would just be annoying to have to go and replace it.

Casually glancing over at them, he was rather disappointed to see that no real conversation had taken place yet. He was impatient to see things happen already. The sooner they got this out of the way, the sooner he'd be able to tell the real truth behind it all. They just needed to finish their little meaning so the real work could begin.

Coming upon the quieter area which was just about suitable, Tseng had to concur with Sephiroth; an office was definitely needed. He was almost missing the security of any sort of office, in fact; there was procedure, and definite ways and methods of doing things there. However, he hadn't failed to notice the 'we' as opposed to the 'you' in that sentence; perhaps Rufus really was right, not that he intended to eat any kind of humble pie on this matter.

"It certainly is a good idea," He concurred, "We haven't had an awful lot of time to think of such things yet. But, I'm sure we'll get organised quite rapidly on that front."

He smiled, then; it was a smile that was more professional than friendly. Tseng was very good at professionalism, and it showed.

"Whil I should expect that the President wants to brief you on certain matters himself, you said you had questions?" He nodded at this, "It would be just as easy to address those to me."

Here was a man, Sephiroth mused to himself, who both knew and liked his job. No false pretenses, at least not on the surface, and not a visible shred of truth either.

"Okay. First question: What exactly are Kadaj and his brothers? I'm not sure whether I buy the whole failed, insane clone bit."

As he asked this, Sephiroth checked to make certain Kadaj was nowhere near earshot.

Within earshot? Ha, like that was going to be an issue any longer. Kadaj was staring at his journal with a conflicted expression on his face, apparently having just read something he didn't like at all but couldn't help being intrigued by. While the two of them chatted, he continued to converse with whoever it was, a myriad of different emotions flitting their way across his face before he finally settled on one of eager anticipation.

Putting the journal away (though he soon intended to take it out again, just to entertain himself), he called to the other two in an exaggeratedly loud tone of voice, "No need to worry about me~ I'll just be leaving the two of you to go about your business." He quickly hid a giggle, then said in a much more natural voice that nonetheless carried well, "Do keep in touch, won't you, Sephiroth? Mother can't be kept waiting much longer~"

Giving Tseng a nasty little grin, he turned and began to head off in another direction. Now that he was certain the president wouldn't begrudge him this little visit, it was safe to go. Sephiroth would be fine alone with Tseng anyway-- the only man who could truly turn him against Kadaj was the very one he was going to. And, last but not least... he'd finally be able to see the truth behind this cure.

Now all he had to do was maneuver past who knew how many Turks without harming or threatening them. Great. Shaking his head and resolving to cross that bridge when he came to it, Kadaj left.

Tseng didn't know exactly what Rufus intended to tell Sephiroth regarding Kadaj and company, so he decided to opt for what seemed to him to be the smoothest and easiest course of action - deny that they were anything to do with Sephiroth, and merely say that they were crazy. That was usually the best way to get someone to believe you, especially when you said it in the most professional, detachedly sympathetic voice that one could muster - and oh, Tseng had said this line many times before. It was a useful one, when gaining people's trust.

But he was aware, however, that Sephiroth was a little more intelligent than that.

"Kadaj and his gaggle are exactly that - insane." He answered, nodding; "They've caused a lot of trouble in the past, and they rarely talk any form of sense. Although you aren't obligated to take my advice, I would suggest that you attempt to ignore them if possible - Kadaj in particular seems to have quite an obsession with you and your..." Tseng paused for a moment to find the correct word, before finishing smoothly with: "... legend."

Sephiroth fixed Tseng with a bit of a stare for a moment, then nodded. "I'll grant that they - at least Kadaj - are insane. And yes, he does seem rather obsessed with me. Especially this... Reunion, wasn't it? I'm not even sure I want to know at this point. All I really want to know is, is the president planning to open a branch here, and does he want - or need - my help to do it?"

That was, of course, not -all- he wanted to know. But it was all he was going to get with a reasonable measure of certainty out of this man. Sephiroth was familiar with his type, if not the man himself; cool, calculating, slick. A salesman-slash-security worker who just happened to be a gunman on the side, and loved his job to boot. A very dangerous man, indeed.

(OOC: Gah, I'm sorry it took me so long to do this. I thought I had posted, but it didn't go through apparently.)

Tseng gave Sephiroth a slow, assessing look. Would Rufus be wanting Sephiroth's help? Most certainly. Did Tseng want Rufus to have Sephiroth's help? ... For the moment, it appeared as if he had no objections. If Sephiroth showed any signs of going crazy, however, then things would be different. Yet, for now...

"Yes, I believe he is considering it; and he will certainly need your help, if you choose to offer it." He answered courteously. "If you prefer, you may come with me to find him now, or we can do as planned and arrange a meeting at a later date."

Sephiroth nodded, and stepped away from the wall. "I would prefer to find temporary lodgings first. Since, as you say, President Rufus has been delayed, it would be best for a later appointment to be arranged. One where more of our people can be there."

Glancing toward the direction of the exit, he was surprised to see people milling about like they had been when he first arrived. "You don't suppose those creatures have stopped their attack, do you?"

"I suppose they must have," Tseng, having been unconcerned by the white creatures in the first place, was not entirely bothered by the idea of them either stopping or starting an attack. He extended a hand in the typical offer of a handshake, common to those doing business:

"Feel free to contact us via these miniature computers when you are prepared to meet with the President." He added, a slight smile curving his lips. This hadn't been the ordeal he'd thought it would be.

Sephiroth shook Tseng's hand (a firm grip, always a good sign) and nodded. "Alright. It will likely be a day or two at least, but I'll definitely be in touch." Extracting his computer, he brought up the map of the city, and pointed in the direction of Niflheim. "I'll be in this area, if anyone needs to find me."

With that said, he tucked the device away and turned to leave, most likely leaving a very bewildered Tseng in his wake. Or at least a confused one.

All the better. It was best to keep people like him on their toes...

(And this thread is FINISHED. After how many months?)

(Far too many, hee. Sorry about the delay on that last post; I set LJ to send me a message, but it didn't actually send me one. >>; So I assumed you hadn't posted.)

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Gotta catch a train [Completed]

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