http://estaunsinterius.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] estaunsinterius.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] paixaorpg2008-03-03 06:52 pm

In which All of Hell's considerable Fury may in fact break Loose... [Active]

Character(s): Sephiroth, Cid, the majority of ShinRa...
Content: The past confronts the future. ...Or something.
Setting: Cid's Shop
Time: Early afternoon
Warnings: ...I think the only potential warning I -don't- have to make is about sexual content, actually.

Although everything in Sephiroth's considerable training told him he should be walking into this situation with weapons drawn, he stood across the street from the shop empty handed, having left everything - including his materia and armor - in his hotel room. He felt strangely naked, without his equipment; all he carried was a set of potions.

Not like he needed much else if the situation called for it, though, as Zack had so poignantly reminded him. He rather hoped it would not.

The arrival of Rufus Shinra had been unexpected, and he wasn't really sure how he felt about it. He'd spoken to the man before, of course. Both as he was now and his childhood self. This place had an odd way of playing with one's perception of time.

At least the Remnants were not here. That was a can of worms he prefered to leave dead and buried, if at all possible. Kadaj -still- annoyed him, just through the memory of their meetings.

Steeling himself and uttering a short prayer to whatever deities chose to watch this event, he made his way across the street, and knocked on the door of a man who dearly wanted to see him dead.

[identity profile] limitbreakpilot.livejournal.com 2008-03-04 07:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Between talking to (or at, more accurately) Rufus Shinra over the journals earlier and having to meet with a man who should have been dead twice over, Cid was not at all in a good mood. On the other hand, the shop was at least clean if smelling vaguely of cigarette-smoke, and he'd managed to scrounge up both a teapot and some tea as well as what he'd hoped would be enough cups.

He'd even managed to convince himself that having Venus Gospel in his hand when he went to answer the door wasn't particularly likely to get things off to a good start - or whatever passed for 'good' when he was going to be meeting with the two people he'd most wanted to never have to deal with again. And try though he might he couldn't quite keep the scowl off of his face upon answering the door only to see Sephiroth standing there.

"Well, don't just stand there."

[identity profile] mustcatchme1st.livejournal.com 2008-03-04 07:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"You ever heard of being hospitable and actually inviting people in, old man?" Zack teased with a tone as light as he could manage at the moment, as he came up alongside the doorway with a Cloud possibly in tow. He wasn't defending Sephiroth, he wasn't, he convinced himself. Just stating a fact that the other man's guest relations skills were slightly lacking. By a lot.

Zack shifted his shoulder, looking as if he was readjusting his Buster sword to a more comfortably holstered position, more intent on emphasizing the fact that the blade was there. Temporarily avoiding Sephiroth's eyes, he was thinking that this might be harder than he had thought. D@mmit, should have been equipped with a summon when he'd died. At the very least, it would have bought them time to hightail it out of there if things went pear shaped.

But as Angeal used to say, all things avoided tend to turn around and bite him in the @ss, Zack's particularly. Sometimes even literally. Nodding tightly at the slightly taller man, Zack couldn't help but keep his distance and stare. After the intial perusal to ensure that Sephiroth wasn't carrying his blade (and honestly, Zack doubted the man - as ingenious as he was - could even come up with a place to hide that weapon in his clothes), Zack continued to stare. The man looked, well, normal, as relative as that term could be affixed to a man like Sephiroth. No fanatical insane gleam in his eyes, no incoherent mumblings. Just...Sephiroth as he looked before everything went to Hel.

"I see your taste in fashion hasn't changed much."

[identity profile] whatsajailbait.livejournal.com 2008-03-04 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Feeling his heart thud hard against his ribs, Cloud kept his gaze lowered, glad to have crammed his helmet before they'd turned the last corner. He halted beside and a little behind Zack, glad for his smaller size that allowed him minimum to little visibility. Sephiroth, of all people, was here.

Swallowing, he peered up and looked at both his current keeper - Zack could be construed as such, and Cloud could imagine him claiming that already - and the General, stopping at the man's face before lowering his eyes again. He wasn't oblivious to the tension between the two men, or the way all three seemed tense, openly hostile towards... Sephiroth? That didn't make sense.


Turning his attention towards the gruff-looking man who owned the shop - Cid, if the name on the shop was anything to go by - Cloud tilted his head and hoped that something sane and not too embarrassing would pop out of his mouth. Or something that would diffuse some of the tension. "Er... hello, may I get my PHS fixed?"

Safer but not saner, given the circumstances.

[identity profile] limitbreakpilot.livejournal.com 2008-03-13 04:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"They'll manage," he grumbled in response to Sephiroth's comment. After all, this wasn't going to be much fun for him either - and would probably only get worse once Rufus showed up with that Turk of his.

Well, with any luck they'd get here soon and the meeting wouldn't end up being too long. He wasn't particularly sure he could manage anyhing much past short with his temper going all to hell - not that it was great right now. For now he'd ignore the fact that he'd be talking to a rather younger version of Cloud (at least, that's who he thought it was and a guy who he was pretty sure had been both dead and responsible for most of the problems Cloud had had when he first met him.

"Maybe afterwards, kid. Not now." Right now he'd just follow he strange little gathering inside.

[identity profile] mustcatchme1st.livejournal.com 2008-04-09 06:56 am (UTC)(link)
Zack blinked in baffled surprise at the smile before blinking again at the words. Being that the smile raised all kinds of complicated issues for Zack too closely related to betrayal and anger, he immediately latched onto the possibly blithe comment instead.

"Hey, wait a minute! Are you insulting my skills at handling a sword? I'll have you know, I owned those people in my Class! I even owned those who weren't in my-- Hey!" Zack trailed off, not from lacking any comeback or reasoning, but from reluctance of talking to Sephiroth's quickly disappearing back, for the man was already proceeding inside. Not that that would stop him for long.

After all, it was his business to keep an eye on Sephiroth. He wasn't going to fail this time, not when he knew how much suffering stemmed from Sephiroth's insanity.

Zack threw a puzzled look at Cloud before walking into the Shop. "You didn't break your PHS already, did you Spike?" he called over his shoulder, knowing that aside from being unable to connect to outside networks, his unit was still working fine. Of course, lacking the potential access to the outside world said lots for this place, the first being that someone was intentionally cutting them off from outside assistance.

They were trying to isolate them.

Then again, Zack hadn't really had time to test that theory yet, but his experiences, though not as vast as Angeal's or Sephiroth's, told him to trust his gut feelings. And his gut feelings screamed loudly and with pizazz that there were too many weird shenanigans going on in this place.

Stopping a good way inside the place but far enough from Sephiroth to compensate for reaction time, Zack leaned back on his heels, crossed his arms and whistled. "Nice digs, old man. You haven't got any engines about the place, have you?" So what if Zack was procrastinating with inane questions? He was acutely aware that the moment Sephiroth started talking, the atmosphere would grow sharp again.

[identity profile] whatsajailbait.livejournal.com 2008-04-11 04:24 pm (UTC)(link)
If anything, Zack's glib words - things Cloud would have laughed at or at least had given the brunet odd looks for only made him tense and feel quite twitchy. Something was really wrong here. Even if he didn't know Zack very well and Sephiroth only by what was reported in newspapers, Cloud had thought that SOLDIERs were a close community and while animosity towards the General was very common it was mostly due to jealousy and pride.

Zack's reaction to Sephiroth spoke of something far, far deeper. Far more complex. All of it merely raised his estimation for both men; Zack for his strength of character and Sephiroth for not balking under it.

There was bad blood there, but he hoped that they could at least pretend to be civil. Cloud had always been pegged as a dreamer.

He nodded quickly at Cid's answer, unwilling to catch his attention much longer than necessary. Not that Cid seemed interested in someone as unassuming as Cloud, but he had hoped that he could have done something. Anything, really, he wasn't picky so long as there wasn't anything close to fighting.

"It doesn't work, Zack." He answered, calming down as he trailed after the taller man, pulling out the device and pressed a few buttons. Still snow. "When I arrived here, there was no signal at all. It doesn't pick up anything from the outside and I wasn't sure if this was only because of the servers or if it was damaged during my fall..."

If it wasn't broken, maybe it could be rewired to act like the computers they were given.

He turned his head, looking around. It wasn't dusty, though it showed signs of recent stirrings, probably from Cid - Doctor Cid?! - moving in. It didn't seem that long ago that he started staying in the shop. He paused beside Zack easily, removing his helmet to get a better look around.

It wouldn't hurt to locate all possible exits, entrances and escape routes if the awkward conversations turned for the worst.

[identity profile] theansweris4.livejournal.com 2008-04-11 06:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, so maybe they were a little late to the meeting, but it wasn't like it was his fault if everyone else had gotten started early. Maybe their watches were just faster than the watch he only sometimes wore anyway. But still, he couldn't exactly do anything about it - and to be fair he couldn't exactly remember there having been any real precise time set for this meeting.

Not that... he was going to mention that - he was pretty sure that Rufus was more than willing to bring it up, and besides it wasn't really his fault if they got there a little late.


Okay, so maybe it was, but he was hoping that Rufus wouldn't bring that up if he didn't mention it - presumably everyone else hadn't actually gotten started just yet.

Hopefully.

[identity profile] son-of-a-boss.livejournal.com 2008-04-11 06:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Rufus Shinra was never late. He arrived precisely on time.

It was better when others had arrived before him. Not that he wasn't a patient man by any means, having been forced to lay low for those couple years he spent recuperating his losses and rebuilding his empire. Even back when he had been a far-reaching teenager, laying the foundation to undermine his father had forced patience to be ingrained into his manner.

Of course, slip-ups were bound to happen now and then.

And Reno tended to happen during the others.

Rufus glanced at the other man out of the corner of his eye, keeping his leisurely pace down the avenue. So far, Reno had proven his usefulness (not that Rufus expected otherwise), procuring them adequate lodgings and potentially advantageous information. If his hair wasn't so glaringly red, Rufus would have thought that Tseng was here.

Smirk quirking his lips in satisfaction, Rufus walked straight up to the door of Cid's shop, trusting his subordinate to follow through as he pushed the door open with one hand.

Rufus continued into the store, eyes taking in the detail of each person-- a stare fixed a little longer on Zack, an eyebrow raised at the sight of Cloud, and a smirk deepened at the sight of Sephiroth.

"All here, I see."

[identity profile] limitbreakpilot.livejournal.com 2008-04-14 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, great. Everyone but the one person he would have sort-of tolerated (although he wouldn't admit to such in this company at least, and possibly not ever). Needless to say, he couldn't keep from scowling as Rufus and his Turk entered the shop. People he never wanted to see again, people he wanted to kill and people who he was pretty sure were dead - or should have been. Why in the names of all nine hells plus a few extra had he agreed to this?

Oh right, because he thought it was just going to be him and 'The General' at first. And then it turned out that wasn't going to be the case. Yeah. This was going to be damned painful, even if it turned out Sephiroth wasn't lying about not being insane.

"And why the hell should we believe any damned word out of your mouth?" Let it never be said that he believed in censoring himself even if the presence of relatively young people.

[identity profile] mustcatchme1st.livejournal.com 2008-04-14 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
"Hmmm. Those things usually take quite a beating." Partially since they were built for SOLDIERs, Turks, and army units, all of which tend to be rough on gear. It wouldn't make sense that a fall would just take the unit out. "I don't think your butt managed to send it to the grave, Cloud. It's probably this place." Zack leaves it at that, considering that Rufus Shinra of all people had just burst through the door. A very non-teenagery Rufus. So that's where Reno went.

...

He'll deal with that later.

Sephiroth being abrupt, he can take. After all, he doubted that Sephiroth knew of any other way than to be blunt and to the point. At least until Cloud baiting had come along as the 'new in-thing', Sephiroth hadn't been one to play games.

So down to business it was. "Scruffy's got a point," Zack allowed his distrust to show, voice taking on a quieter and deeper tone. "While what you're reporting sounds all fine and dandy now, we've got no guarantees that you won't flip your top once we start working with you again. And intentions only count so far until you're staring down the wrong end of Masamune." Which, to be fair (no pun intended), stems from personal experience for Zack.

Zack shook his head, arms crossing as he thought more on the matter. "You just don't understand, Sephiroth. Let's say for time's sake that you're as you say. What the Hel do you propose we do to restrain you? What measures do you honestly think would work?"

[identity profile] whatsajailbait.livejournal.com 2008-04-16 10:47 am (UTC)(link)
He opened his mouth to reply - honestly, he thought that his PHS was meant to be resistant to most anything, but it was made by ShinRa and as much as it pained him to admit it when he worked for the company, the quality of the equipment they were given were mostly sub-par - and for the record, it wasn't his butt that broke it. His eyes were drawn to the door and he paled, closing his mouth again as he drew up into a salute.

When he found that he wasn't paid any attention to, Cloud lowered his arm and sat back, intending to remain as inconspicuous as possible. There were so many powerful men here that he never expected to meet in his lifetime and it was overwhelming just to be in the same room.

He was really sure he didn't have the clearance or the former knowledge of just what was going on- Sephiroth, insane? in the future tense? Restraining measures and probable insanity... against Sephiroth?!

Was it really so important to talk about that now, instead of whatever it was that was troubling the city - this city, now?

"Wouldn't it be better," he began, hoping he wasn't speaking out of turn, "that instead of thinking about what will happen if he becomes i-insane, we should just... eliminate whatever it is that does imbalance him?" 'Inconspicuous'? He was starting to think he was incapable of it.

[identity profile] theansweris4.livejournal.com 2008-04-18 07:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe not entirely unnoticed, that salute of Cloud's. After all, it was Reno's job to notice things, and in a situation like this, he was going to do his best to keep an eye on as many people as he possibly could. Well, with the possible exception of the kid - he looked a bit over-awed as it was.

Not that he wouldn't keep an eye on him too, of course. It was just that he'd put him at a lower priority than say, Sephiroth.

"Last time, it took a pretty damn sizable force to keep you down, if I remember right. An' we ain't got quite what we had before, yo." At least not entirely - and he'd rather not see the destruction that would likely be caused if the man lost his grip on sanity again.

"An' it's a little hard to eliminate whatever imbalanced him if we ain't got a clue what did the trick the last time, yo."

[identity profile] son-of-a-boss.livejournal.com 2008-04-18 11:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Rufus found himself staring at Cloud for a moment, trying to draw incongruities between the former (first one?) and this newest model (the past one?). It was interesting, to say the least. Another thing he'll have to ask Reno about later.

The side of Rufus that still longed for the days of fear and power lamented the fact that Sephiroth hadn't eliminated his father yet. The newly acquired side of Rufus, the wiser side, pushed it down with the stern thought that if he was meant for power and the Presidency, he would gain both regardless of whether Sephiroth sped up the process or not. And if they prevented Sephiroth from going insane, he might even be able to keep a firmer grasp on his company in Sephiroth's world.

After all, Rufus rarely, if ever, saw anyone with the will-power Sephiroth possessed.

It was beginning to look like helping Sephiroth in this particular case might be beneficial after all.

"I believe we may have an inkling of what did it," Rufus supplied coolly. Or should I say 'who', he thought internally, still unsure whether all the information regarding Jenova was well known among their party. Either way, Rufus hadn't the resources at his disposal that were at his fingertips before. Knowledge was his leverage now and he was not willing to part with it unless it became extremely necessary.

And while Rufus was very interested to hear what these other 'pressing issues' were, he wanted reassurance that Sephiroth was trustworthy first.

[identity profile] limitbreakpilot.livejournal.com 2008-04-22 04:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"An' while destroyin' that bit ain't a bad idea what the fuck does it have to do with now. We ain't tryin' to fix then, we're tryin' to deal with the goddamned present!"

And the present wasn't looking too good at the moment. Or at the very least, not pleasant and those were almost the same.

"An' what the hell do I want your weapons for! Can't wield a single one of the Ifrit-damned things, and I've got all the materia I want. Give to someone else, if you want, I ain't takin' them."

[identity profile] mustcatchme1st.livejournal.com 2008-04-26 07:41 am (UTC)(link)
"No Hojo," Zack's voice cut in harshly, eyes lighting up sharp blue with his words. "That f**king bastard can rot in Hel or roast in the sun at Costa del Sol for all I care, he's not laying another finger on us. Any of us." He gestured towards Sephiroth, hand clenching into a fist before dropping to his side.

He couldn't help the reflexive glance he shot Cloud's way and sincerely hoped a moment later that no one caught onto it. The last thing he needed was more questions from the short cadet on top of dealing with Sephiroth and his memories.

"Damn you for suggesting that, Sephiroth." Though the last words were harsh, Zack's tone held more resignation and sadness that he tried to control and hide.

Zack sighed after Cid said his piece, ignoring for a moment that he shouldn't be showing weakness to the Turks and starting to feel as if they were just going in circles.

"Look, I won't object to the trained guards and the tranqs," Zack admitted reluctantly, knowing that foreknowledge oftentimes led to successful preemptive strikes. Or in this case, detouring all of them widely from the previous path that Sephiroth had taken. "But we've got to have countermeasures and balances. Taking away all of your materia, melee, and weaponry won't help us out if we're being attacked in this place. Which I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict is what you're gonna say to us. Not that you can't tear things apart with your hands but..." But Sephiroth was much more effective with a weapon in his hands. The root of their problem in the first place. Hn.

"We'll be taking all your fire materia, though. Just sayin'." And...possibly all the summons.

[identity profile] whatsajailbait.livejournal.com 2008-04-26 12:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Hojo? Professor Hojo from the science department? Cloud stared at the brunet with no little worry. He'd heard that the man was nigh immoral - rumors, yes, but nothing too concrete, but gruesome and hushed up. No one spoke his name in barracks and while he thought it was merely paranoia, Zack's outburst only made him wonder how much of those were real and how much of it was an exaggeration.

Huh. He was using Zack as a barometer for possible sticky situations.

He looked towards Sephiroth for his reaction that he missed the look Zack gave him, and wondered if they were going to fight.

... Shinra and SOLDIER were... very complicated. And so was Cid, apparently. He was getting a headache.

He wasn't sure if this would solve the problem here but it might help the situation wherever Sephiroth came from. Soothing the waters here, however... that might take more than just this.

He hoped not.

[identity profile] theansweris4.livejournal.com 2008-04-28 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, of course they were complicated - if Cloud had been from later in the timeline, he'd know just how complicated. After all, seeing the world nearly destroyed and then watching more-or-less helplessly as your boss slowly died of a fatal, incurable disease'll do that.

Okay, so that last might be rather him-specific, but the general idea was still the same.

"And in any case we ain't got a Hojo here, if you hadn't noticed. Also, last I checked the man was just a bit dead - and he ain't got a thing for coming back from that, like some I could name. What we got is what you see, yo."

At least for now anyway, and that was what was the most important thing right now.

[identity profile] son-of-a-boss.livejournal.com 2008-04-28 08:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"Are we forgetting about your little friend, Reno?" Rufus asked, glancing momentarily at the over-emotional ex-SOLDIER. Interesting. It seemed that Fair had a weak point after all, just as much as Highwind did, a fact that Rufus filed away for later examination.

After all, Zack had been truly dead according to the filed report that Rufus had received from Tseng, body riddled with enough metal bullets to make another Buster sword. If Fair was able to appear in this place after that, Rufus had no doubts that Hojo could as well.

"And just out of curiosity, has anyone checked on the presence of Jenova?"

What they needed were contingency plans, a concept Rufus was very well acquainted with.

"Sephiroth," Rufus continued in a neutral tone, one hand waving in a lazy arc in front of him, "if those two object, I have no qualms with...keeping your materia and equipment in a safe place. Now if you all will consent, I believe I'd rather leave the discussion of 'countermeasures and balances' and recriminations for afterwards." For whether Sephiroth was sincere or not in his proclamations to prevent Crisis, there was little they could do about it other than band together to take him down. Again. Without Cloud. How absolutely thrilling. "I'm interested in the pressing issues you've brought up, Sephiroth. Feel free to enlighten us."
Edited 2008-04-28 20:14 (UTC)

[identity profile] limitbreakpilot.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 05:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"Now where've I heard that sort of specialty before?" Cid asked, with a rather pointed glance in the direction of Rufus and his Turk. Sure, ShinRa might claim to be turning over a new leaf but he'd believe that when he saw it. Unless he didn't. Either way it didn't at all bode well, as far as he was concerned - one ShinRa'd been bad enough, no need to have another one lurking around the place.

Besides, no one'd ever said he couldn't use Rufus a sink for his growing anger, and it was better then some of the other options at the moment.

[identity profile] mustcatchme1st.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 06:46 pm (UTC)(link)
"And if he comes back..." Zack allowed the threat to trail off, more than sure that everyone in the room knew what he would do to the professor if he ever showed his conniving face to Zack again. Five years he had to watch helplessly as the man first bent, then broke Cloud. Five years he spent suspended in mako mixtures, thinking of his failure towards Sephiroth, thinking of his inability to protect Aerith, thinking of his sin in dragging Cloud into this in the first place.

He wouldn't mind taking the man apart.

Like father, like son, Zack thought with a little contempt as Rufus spoke up. It seemed the man was still trying to control things around him, turning the conversation in the direction he wanted. Zack had to agree grudgingly that some of these issues were better left to be hashed out in private but it galled him all the same. I don't consent, Zack was prepared to say but didn't once Sephiroth, seeming almost relieved at the chance to move away from discussion of his potential insanity, started informing them of the issues.

...This...was beginning to sound extremely familiar. Well, f*ck a duck. "You're kidding me. A ShinRa wannabe?" Zack made a face at Reno from across the room. His dark mood receded somewhat as he focused on info of this new organization. "So where're all these people? The ones that were kidnapped and experimented on, if they haven't been killed yet?"

[identity profile] whatsajailbait.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 07:50 am (UTC)(link)
He grimaced, frowning at what they were facing here. The Organization, for all of its small number of members - or rather, because of what they could do with just eight to thirteen members made it very, very formidable and dangerous.

Something about the description was nagging at him as Sephiroth spoke and looking around the room told him that it wasn't just him. He couldn't deny the sheer similarities between the Organization and the company they all worked for and somehow, the thought was a bit... daunting.

"No one hasn't... done anything yet?" He sat back on a stool conveniently located behind him, pulling up a leg and tucking it under his chin.

Somehow this, to him, felt like something close to a hypocrite's mission.

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