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[general_affairs]

 [ Looks like there's a redhead enjoying a nice dinner for himself. Nothing too fancy, just a partially eaten burger is visible on the screen, and the booth seat behind him.

That he found some way to lounge in with an arm stretched across the back. ]

So, free housing, huh? Not bad, but I'm not sold on the kitchen appliances in 'em just yet. I mean, I've had MREs, but that's just a whole new level, yo. How do they really taste?

Anyway, name's Reno, and accordin' to everyone else, guess I'm stuck here too.

Please tell me I can buy alcohol here..

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[shinraheir]

[Again with the gambit of emotional reactions from the redhead, it prompted even more questions, though as before he said nothing in response to it, merely nodding briefly in response to the words before shutting the feed down on his end to wait for Reno's arrival.

While he sat and waited, Rufus considered what he's observed in the redhead, he considered the questions it raised, which were plenty.

When Reno had arrived, he'd risen to let him inside and had been walking toward a table where Reno could set the food down. At the lack of footsteps following him, he stopped to turn around to question that only to observe yet more questionable behavior. The surprise expressed followed by the words finally pulled something akin to confusion from him as he eyeballed the redhead silently for a good minute despite the question asked.]

I'm fine. Are you though?

[He gestured toward the table and chairs beyond him.]

Set your food down and we can get things cleared up between us.

[Because it was becoming blindingly obvious something was off.. it was just a matter of getting to the bottom of what that something was.]

On the plus side, rufus can rest assured there won't be any unauthorized doubles???? :D;;

[general_affairs]

[ He just kinda. Watched Rufus move around with utmost ease. No effort to mask it and make it look perfect to the point of being mechanical, no borders of foundation or concealer, no exhaustion, nothing. He was just there.

When Rufus spoke, Reno gave his head a small shake and a brief, hard blink to snap himself out of it, and he let himself in, closing the door behind him with a small kick and bump of his hip. The food was placed on the table, and with his arms then free, they folded across his chest while his head bobbed to gesture at his boss. ]

Yeah I see that. I must be losin it though, cause you we're just in the other room.

[ He freed one hand to poke a finger towards Rufus, brows raised, but his tone flat with irritated concern. ]

I just left to get you somethin' to drink, and poof! Here I am. And you're not only fit as a fiddle, but you've been here two months, somehow, without any of us noticin'?

Boss. [ Reno was born at night...probably. But not last night. There was a subtle shift in his weight, his stance was a little wider, and ready to move. His hands, crossed like this over his chest, could easily get to his mag rod pretty quickly, and now that he had this guy in closed quarters, he was confident in being able to block off the main exit. ]

I think I need a better explanation, yo. Startin' with your old VP clearance password.

[shinraheir]

[The first part of what Reno says makes absolutely no sense at all to him, given when he left, he'd already set orders for the Turks to tail the small group which had invaded the Building and then fled it after his duel and making a mockery out of Heidegger's attempt to capture them. Therefore Reno certainly hadn't been in the next room getting him a drink and he most certainly had not been sick.

At the stressed title, he noticed the shift in stance and knew exactly what it entailed and the threat it was establishing without a word needing to be said. His eyes briefly shifted to look sideways off toward the counter where the holstered gun lay, his own stance shifting toward being ready to move at a moment's notice in response to that threat. While it'd be a toss up as to if he could get to it in time to use it as a shield, he'd really rather not risk harm coming to him, Reno or his gun.

Therefore if he wanted that password as proof of his identity, so be it. The numbers came easily and were given just as simply.]

Satisfied? If so, sit your ass down and let's talk like civilized men so I can explain what I suspect might be going on.

[There could really only be one thing responsible for this and he doubted that there was any way to 'fix' this like he'd fixed his suit. They would just have to deal with it.]

[general_affairs]

[ He waits, sharp eyes scrutinizing the string of numbers. Reno had been kindly invited in to this home--into private quarters with him, making confrontation so much easier than it had any right being, meaning he could dig down to the bottom of this rabbit hole by whatever means he needed to, and nip the threat of possible security breaches in the bud.

It was an old, defunct password that he'd asked for. No one with the wherewithall would have any idea that password once existed, let alone have the means to get it, so he figured it was a good place to start. However, Rufus didn't falter, and spit out the string of numbers with casual ease. He really hadn't expected that at all, and was ready to start circling like a one-man wolf pack, putting pressure on him more and more steadily until he cracked and spilled his secrets.

A corner of his lips pulled back as he scrutinized the situation with a displeased leer down his nose, but with another click of his teeth, he resigned that this. This man had to be Rufus. Maybe one of his old comrades, but it was just too elaborate at this point for them to have not come clean if such was the case. The silent tension came to it's peak after Reno's little pouting-tantrum, and his finally posture relaxed. He was still leery, but Reno's agitation was less like a snake ready to pounce, and more akin to a stubborn husky. ]

Alright..alright. [ He unfolded his arms and held his hands up, palms towards Rufus as his head ducked down a bit in submission to the situation. ] Sorry, Rufus. Can't be too careful, though. [ He tapped the side of his head with a finger, trusting Rufus to understand he was a keeper of many delicate secrets.

He pulled out a chair for Rufus, though, and one for himself before sitting. A small apology from the Turk. ]

'Dunno if you've had anything, so I brought you lunch. I was gonna eat it later if you turned out to be an imposter, but it's all yours now.

So, what's going on?

[shinraheir]

[He took the proffered seat across from Reno, accepting the offered lunch. He hadn't actually had lunch yet so he was silently grateful for the forethought given to the action.]

I'll assume you're apparently from a time ahead of my own, much as I am ahead time wise of both Cloud Strife and Sephiroth here, to give two examples.

[He deliberately paused there to turn part of his attention to the meal, trying a bite of it as he kept the remainder of his attention on the redhead waiting to see how he took that revelation, especially the second name.]

[general_affairs]

[ Things were going better. He'd made himself comfortable in the chair. Got back to his seasoned fries. He thought he was ready for the wild ride the explanation was going to be.

He just. Took his time chewing, and raised a brow silently at Rufus. ]

Okay, so the gods here can pull us from different places. And times? Might as well, while we're at it.

But then that's why you're walkin' around just fine--you don't have Geostigma yet.

[ A beat. Then both of his brows raised. ]

Sephiroth!?

He's fuckin' gone--I mean. He's gone for me.

[ Reno seemed to relax in his chair again. Stuffed a few more fries in his mouth, and swallowed those down before continuing with what he knew. ]

Jeez, where do I start..

[ He ran a hand through his hair and tilted his head back, craning his neck to do so as he stared at the ceiling, sorting his thoughts. ]

Alright, so. We find the temple of the Ancients, and get the key we need to get in. Reeve got Cait to steal it, gave it to Tseng. Chief goes into the temple with it, tried to get the black materia before anyone else. We got his distress call when he ran into Sephiroth. It didn't end well, but he survived.

Apparently the temple itself was the black materia, and reeve told us Sephiroth's plan to use meteor to cause a planetary wound so deep, it makes the lifestream appear. He planned to absorb the lifestream, become god, that whole complex we know and love.

Oh, and all the Sephiroths we were chasin were just clones. Cloud became one of them during the Nibelheim incident cause the mako baths he used had S cells in 'em. Zack didn't take to the S cells. That's apparently how he escaped death--he was just recovering underground, and all the versions we saw were clones, like with Genesis and Angeal, they just didn't degrade.

Cloud heads up through the forgotten capital towards what we presumed the Promised Land, Aerith goes missing--turns out Sephiroth Sephiroth killed her, presumably cause he knew she knew how to stop him. That one's still conjecture, but the evidence is solid, he disappeared into the lifestream before all of this.

[ He pauses again for a bite of his burger, making a mental checklist. He went over Sephiroth being a sociopathic, unkillable cockroach, did he mention Hojo jerking himself yet? Ah, no. That's right. How could he forget? ]

The clones we're all headed to the real Sephiroth in the Northern Crater, Cloud included, and Hojo's havin' a good time with his own god complex since Sephiroth is about to end the world and released the Weapons--you remember them. From the Zirconiaide incident.

The Diamond weapon, now awake, goes after Midgar. We fire the Sister Ray, it takes out the fuckin' barrier Sephiroth made over the North Crater, but the Diamond weapon destroys HQ, and you're declared dead. It was a sad day, but you got better. There's a secret passage there we didn't know you took, and I never wanted to punch your face in more in my life.

Yadda yadda, Scarlet and Heidegger take over, Reeve is declared traitor and taken into custody, Cloud helps Reeve out, Hojo wants to fire the Sister Ray again cause he pulled the big reveal of being Sephiroth's father--oh, Cloud's gang kill Scarlet and Heidegger, which was nice. I loved it. Hojo, too. It was good times.

Cloud goes into the North Crater to deal with Sephiroth, meanwhile Meteor is barrelin' towards the planet. We're all rushing to evacuate everyone we can from Midgar cause the meteor is way too close. Apparently when Aerith died at the Capital, she summoned Holy, so Holy is tryin', but can't protect the planet.

So instead, the Lifestream comes from the planet to push back the meteor while we're evacuatin' everyone--it was a reunion, we got all the Turks back on board, boss. They send their regards. Anyway, the Lifestream was givin' Holy enough time to deal with the Meteor.

After that calmed down and Sephiroth was dealt with, we all stopped usin' Mako energy. We got you out of the wreckage, but you were messed up pretty bad. We got you out to Kalm to recover, but someone got wind of your location and after getting you back from 'em, that's when Edge got founded. You and Reeve funded the World Regenesis Organization, and you bankrolled it while survivors started rebuildin' their lives.

[ Please don't make him submit that story in writing. Telling it was bad enough. He'd do it, but detailing that whole mess would be a pain. ]

You ended up getting kidnapped again by one of Hojo's acolytes while still recovering. You end up a bargaining chip so the guy can get more SOLDIER stimulants to help stave off the pain of Geostigma, and contracted the disease from there before we could get you back. Unfortunately it's a hundred percent fatality rate, so we've been burnin' the candle at both ends to get you fixed up.

[ And with that! He was going to finish his god damn burger and let Rufus do the talking! ]

[shinraheir]

[He had definitely not expected that info dump as a result of his reveal. After a fashion the rundown of events that had occurred for the redhead largely served to further confuse, though it did illuminate the reason why Reno had been so insistent that he was ill.

He ends up finishing his own meal in silence as he mulls things over, though it feels like there's something missing because he has no idea what the 'temple of ancients' that is mentioned has to do with anything beyond being something rather nasty that should have been left well enough alone. Though from the sound of it, that hadn't exactly been an option.

Perhaps it was best he just shove all of that off to the side for now, after all none of that had come to pass yet for him and depending on what happened here, it was entirely possible none of it ever would come to pass.

Of course he wasn't so preoccupied that he didn't notice Reno stealing fries from the meal he'd been given. After the second time, he waited for the redhead to try it a third time and abruptly reached out to grab Reno's hand as he attempted to claim the fry.]

I'll assume you've heard of what's expected of us while we're here.

[He continued to keep claim of Reno's hand, holding it snug in his own, not too tight though. If he decided to shift his hand around the younger man's hand, he could even turn this into a mock hand hold which could be beneficial to them both in a financial sense.]

In fact they want us to do it so badly that they centered their entire economy around it. Their dora can be best earned simply by what we're doing here.

Interesting is it not, that such an innocent action can apparently provide them with the power they need and desire.

[As he finished speaking, he slid his hand around to line their hands up palm to palm and linked his fingers through Reno's.]

We could earn a tidy sum of money simply by continuing our conversation holding hands like this if you can believe it.

[general_affairs]

[ He really wasn't sure what he expected--actually, he was, and he expected nothing.

The point of regaling the culmination of decades' worth of events, and dumping so much information at Rufus' feet was to make sure his boss had as much information at his disposal as possible when making decisions. To give him the best possible chance with everything going on here, and make sure Rufus succeeded in whatever endeavor he chose to pursue. And if that meant taking advantage of foresight, then he'd make what accommodations he could.

The relative silence after he finished talking was rather heavy, and he could feel the currents as they churned, and when they began to settle. Throughout it, Reno felt no such need or want to fill it with idle chatter, and just left Rufus to his thoughts--besides, it was nice seeing his boss healthy again. And also, the time spent in consideration meant he could snitch more fries.

Or. Well. He got away with two, which was nowhere near his previous records.

His brows raised, and his stare raised lazily to Rufus when he was caught, but he made no real move to pull away. Even if this Rufus was from his past, it just did not register for him that Rufus might not be as tolerant of his casual teasing. There had been a solid foundation of trust between them for many, many years. So he just casually smirked. ]

Huh, is that what they're callin' it here?

[ He was not prepared for the way their fingers laced together, though. That was a little past what he ever expected, and for a moment, Reno missed a few beats. He stared down at their hands like a pleasantly curious cat, letting the motions happen until his brain caught up with the situation.

When finally it did, he was fine to keep holding Rufus' hand, happy to earn himself some extra cash to play with, but he also leaned forward and put his other elbow on the table, and held his chin in his palm with a coy smile. ]

Jeez, boss, lunch and holdin' hands? All you had to do was ask me to take you out on a date.

[ He looked so satisfied with himself while waiting to devour Rufus' response. ]

I mean, it's possible. Weird, but I'll bet my next paycheck there's more to it than just this. Can't say I'm keen on them knowin' whenever we're up to shit to pay us for it.

[shinraheir]

[Two months of getting used to casual touching such as this had helped to get him used to the continued contact. Though it wasn't that often when he actually initiated it. It tracked that Reno responded to the action with humor and teasing in this situation.

If Reno expected a blush or protest from the blond, he was about to be sorely disappointed. This wasn't the first time someone had thrown such suggestive words his way, though this would the first time he didn't express immediate disinterest or disgust at the implications that lay within them.

In a way this could easily become a game of cat and mouse, but it would be the first time he'd indulged in such games outside of the business scene.]

No doubt that there is more to it, we're still trying to figure out what's actually going on here.

[He picked up the fry that Reno had been after and offered it to Reno with his free hand, still keeping his other laced with Reno's. His next words were meant to tease the other man using the younger man's own teased suggestion.]

If I did ask for a date though...

[He'd let himself enjoy the moment before returning to more serious subjects, where he could tell the Turk about when he was from, who all he knew was here and just what he'd been up to as well as his small goals, perhaps Reno could help him figure out something else to do outside of his business venture with Verstael.]

[general_affairs]

[ Ugh, he was so disappointed. He was hoping to at least make Rufus hesitate or blow a raspberry at him for being ridiculous.

He did have to admit the gesture was..odd. After laying down his life so many times for Rufus, and him and the other three Turks scrambling and worrying themselves ragged to stave off Geostigma, one might think this kind of closeness between them wouldn't feel so different. ]

Yeah, I was chattin' with a one Verstael on the way here. Figure I'd get caught up with the resources he offered, and start getting to the bottom of this.

[ He raised a brow at the offered fry, but once Rufus went with the taunt, he barked with a haughty laugh and leaned in to take it. ]

Hey hey, you just want to hold my hand more. But I'd say sure, and dinner's on you next time.

[shinraheir]

[Reno would have to try a different tactic if he wanted to fluster him, that particular tactic was far too used to prompt any such thing.]

Ah. I've been working with him.

[In a manner of speaking anyway, the man currently could be said to be his main source of income here.]

What did he tell you? You can give me the shorthand version, I know he likes to talk.

[Which was great when it came to getting information out of the man, but he didn't want another long debriefing from Reno just yet, when he suspected he knew most of what Verstael no doubt had told Reno.]

[general_affairs]

[ Don't challenge him, Rufus. That's just tempting disaster.

After swallowing down the fry, he snorted with a laugh and leaned back in his chair again, hanging one arm over the back of it while still getting cozy with the bossman and holding hands. ]

Mostly whereabout to look for information, and to ask you about the fee. Afterwards, we talked shop about the machines around here--he did mention something about trying to make his own SOLDIERs, though. That one was pretty interesting.

[shinraheir]

[But he loves to occasionally tempt disaster though, Reno. You should know that by now.]

Ah. We can waive the fee in your case. I established that for him so he would get some actual income from the business he set up.

And yes, he also seemed rather interested in Dark when I mentioned her earlier, and he's fascinated by materia. If he finds out you have any, he's apt to pester you to examine it.

So far he seems to lean more toward being akin to what I've heard of Gast, rather than a certain other scientist we have the misfortune to know.

[general_affairs]

[ This is true. Reno does love that about his boss. Makes working for him fun. ]

ShinRa really know how to spoil me.

Oh yeah, I agreed to meet up with him to let him check mine out this evening. Can't fine my Comet or Cure materia, but I still got Thunder for my mag rod. I figure it won't hurt to let him play around with it.

Mmm--shame Vince went AWOL, he'd know more about Gast personally. [ An absolutely venomous snort came from him. ] Fuck him and Hollander--but speakin' of those two, any contingency plans ready in case of Sephiroth?

[shinraheir]

I also came here with one of those, so if something happens to yours you can have it.

[He considers the question and really the only plans he had currently concerning Sephiroth was 'don't poke the sleeping dragon'. Hopefully, if that worked out for them, they wouldn't need an actual contingency plan for the former General.]

Don't poke the man. As long as he remains sane and unaware of his origins and future, we should be fine. We'll deal with him should he snap, but until then... don't poke the sleeping dragon.

[general_affairs]

Aw, Boss. I'm touched. [ His head lolled to a side as he cooed. ]

My lips are sealed as ever--I'd rather stay in one piece, thanks. But. I mean, Cloud's here, and the guy kicked Seph's shit in once, so it's making sure we're not caught in the crosshairs is all.

[ He propped his chin on the heel of his free palm. ]

And since this is how I'm gettin' paid now, and it's cold as shit outside, I'm gonna need to go shoppin'.