insusurro | OPEN/MINGLE — SMASHING GARDENS

OPEN/MINGLE — SMASHING GARDENS

[ Meanwhile, in the middle of the desert......

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immoveable object? Who knows. This is more like two old, rusted Chevys trading flirting touches at low speeds. Galbadia Garden and Balamb Garden are careening into one another in a way that some of you might find all too familiar.

Maybe this happened years ago for you, maybe it hasn't happened yet, maybe you had no business being in these crazy hoverships in the first place, but regardless. You're here now and it's time to brace for impact. This one will be an even bigger problem, because there's no one at the helm of these ships. It's as if they've developed a will of their own and driven themselves into one another, sending both vessels careening into the boiling sands below.

Luckily, these things are as hardy as they are ancient. They'll both need new paint jobs and extracurricular activities will be out of the question for some time, but when the dust clears, everything is mostly intact. The Gardens will fly again. Someday.

Anyway, this is your chance to mingle somewhere that isn't Midgar. Both Gardens are smushed together, accessible through Galbadia Garden's basketball court. Maybe you want to organize a search and rescue. Or start doing damage assessment and making repairs. Maybe you wanna do some figure skating on the definitely not demon-infested hockey rink. Whatever you want, congrats, you're not in Midgar anymore. ]

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[ For all his outward resolve, Tseng's heart is racing in his chest. He's planned for this extensively, of course. There are exist strategies and auxillary routes. But this is new terrain, a new people he's never seen before. Anything could happen, maybe even something he's never seen before.

Which is exactly what happens. He steps out into the hall cautiously, slinging Seifer over his shoulders like he's carting home a drunk buddy. The moment he does, casting his gaze down the hall to ascertain whether people are going to come running up to demand an explanation, he hears a piercing scream. Several soldiers pass them by without sparing a glance their way.

Tseng wastes no time pressing the advantage. He spares a glance at the place where they're all gathered, around a door. Riotous shrieks are emanating from behind it. He sees several of the soldiers exchanging high fives.

It's very difficult to keep his eyes from rolling. ]

This way, sir.

[ He grunts under Seifer's formidable weight and leads them to the entrance. Still no guards. Tseng isn't about to shed caution now, though. ]

[Rufus slips the safety off on the gun as suddenly hears the scream. But the soldiers don't seem to even notice him which is strange to him. If Seifer is such a big deal as he claimed to be, surely someone would be concerned that he's being carried unconscious like a sack of potatoes.

Guess this guy wasn't as a big deal as he bragged he was or no one really gave a shit about him enough to see what was wrong with him now that he was knocked out. But he's still ready even though a rifle wasn't the best weapon in an enclosed space like a hallway so the faster they were out of here the better.]

I'm right behind you.

[ Rufus can't see it (Tseng makes sure), but that little affirmation puts a grin on his face. Of all the scenarios he thought they'd find themselves in along the way... this one isn't so farfetched, actually. It's just kind of intriguing to hear.

They're not stopped at the gate, either. It's not until they get to the Galbadian armored truck that someone passes by and glances up at Tseng curiously. Without waiting to be asked, Tseng says: ]

Drunk.

[ "He even old enough to drink?" the soldier asks him. Tseng shrugs, he shrugs, and the soldier keeps walking. ]

As you can see, sir...

[ he says, opening up the door, first for Rufus, and then to stuff Seifer into the back. ]

... operations are very lax under this regime. They are guided not by a centralized power, but by their fear of that power.

He mentioned something about a sorceress, he was going to take me to her later. I don't know if she's actually here though.

[He pulls himself into the truck easily after Tseng opens the door for him, slipping the safety back on the gun before resting it on his lap. They aren't free yet, he's not going to relax just yet.

He glances to the back seat to see Seifer stuffed there like a large stuffed toy. He hoped that if Seifer wakes up that he'll be in a great deal of pain.]

I notice the guards were scared of him but once he's unconscious, they don't seem to show any real concern or regard for his fate. I think you could dump him in a ditch and no one would even want to come looking for him.

[ Tseng starts up the truck and glances over his shoulder too. Seifer is slumped into a lean. He considers him for a second as he pulls out of the spot and drives for the vast expanse of the desert.

What Rufus says is perfectly on point. Seifer's people fear him, but they don't care for him. He is as powerful as he is erratic. Likely difficult to control, but this sorceress has managed somehow. For any power to deploy him would be a great risk.

Tseng is very interested in great risks. ]

No reason for him to uphold previous loyalties then, is there?

[ He casts a quick glance at Rufus. This is something that he is quickly learning that he cannot live without. Their collaborative efforts before their abrupt arrival in this place, it'd always felt like they were running out of time, like each moment brought them closer and closer to their last. But here, with Rufus's skin clean and clear and under control? At last, they are free of that looming threat to the one thing that makes all of this worth it, the one thing left fighting for when all they've ever known has been reduced to ash and rubble. ]

[Rufus looks back at Tseng at that comment, watching him carefully. The Tseng who had been here was a Tseng who was younger and hadn't endured everything they had been through the last two years.

But now- he saw a look from him that he hadn't seen in years. Not since before he reached a point where he couldn't hide his illness from Tseng. He had been living each moment as if it were the last for the last two years because there was a very real possibility that could be the case. Every cough, every time he threw up black bile, every seizure- he had held onto each second.

Looking at Tseng, he saw unspoken possibilities between the two of them.]

No one will be coming to rescue him.

[After all of Seifer's bravado and boasting, it was rather pathetic and actually sad but Rufus didn't pity him.]

Expendable.

[ Tseng agrees. However important Seifer thinks he is, however important he believes he is to the cause that he serves, he's little more than cannon fodder. Tseng himself has seen it a thousand times. It is one of the foundational tenets of the SOLDIER program, after all—a siren song of glory and renown that quickly crumbles away once their use to the company has been thoroughly expended.

He wonders if that puts himself and Rufus on par with Heidegger. Another look at Rufus and he cannot think anything of the sort. What they are, it is as solid as it is unique. ]

When he has been properly rebuked for his misconduct, perhaps we will see about redirecting his passions. Had it not been for the serum and a false sense of security, I believe your extraction would have been a sight more difficult.

[ Which. You know what. He's not going to be pissed about the fact that he had to come here alone. He'll let the glacial rage in his eyes simmer, breathe out the fog of frustration and disappointment. ]

We can utilize that difficulty.

I'm surprised Rude or one of the others didn't come with you. [Reno had left and vanished into thin air without warning after Tseng, he assumed there was a reason so he didn't send anyone to search for them. But that doesn't matter, what happened was that Tseng was able to extract him before things could get a lot worse.

He raises his eyebrows, curious.]

How so? At the very least, he can be a useful source of information whether he intends to be or not. He said his name was Seifer along with a whole bunch of other things I really didn't pay attention to.

[Since it had been clear that Seifer was just bragging for the sole sake of bragging and none of it had meant anything to Rufus.]

He asked me about being something called Seed-Seeds? I lied and told him I was Evan and that my brother Lazard was running the operation.

[Considering what happened with SOLDIER, he's pretty sure Lazard's capabilities of running any kind of operation was almost non-existent.]

He had no idea who I was.

Edited 2020-08-09 00:27 (UTC)

Hm.

[ That's Tseng's response to that. Let's not talk about how fed up he is with his men's shit right now. It's a project he's going to dive right back into the second he's free. And here he thought he'd be able to sleep off some of these fucking torture wounds. Oh well.

He'd rather listen to how Rufus played Seifer—under extreme duress, at that. Sure, he's been kidnapped and tortured enough times to not really be fazed by the whole process, but it's still something to hear it like this. It truly drives home for Tseng why he made that decision two years ago, when everyone thought him dead and he could very well have left that hospital bed for literally anywhere else.

But he'd come here. And this is why. ]

Excellent work, sir.

[ It's really the least he could do as far as affirmations go, but he's driving. He'll show Rufus how much he really appreciates him when he's not concerned with blowing out the tires on a stray cactus. ]

SeeD is the Garden's military force. As far as I have been able to understand it, they operate independent of any government. They are, essentially, a mobile army of mercenaries. You can imagine how that might prove valuable.

[Rufus knew he did good but he still gave Tseng a smirk, pleased with the performance review before he moved on. He could bask in that later when they aren't covered in dust in the middle of the desert.]

Since neither Lazard nor Evan seems to be in this world, we can use their identities for some time. We can let him believe SeeD is really here and pulling strings under Lazard's command.

[This is most likely the only useful thing his brother has done in his entire life and he wasn't even alive.]

He was trying to extract information from me but I'm sure we'll get far more use out of him in the end. It will be interesting to see how far he's willing to go to stop SeeD for this sorceress of his.

[ Tseng listens to these ideas that Rufus posits intently. He has barely as much information as Tseng does, and yet he's already working out every angle with which they can turn it all around on their enemies. And all of this, again, was devised during his capture and subsequent torture.

It is very difficult to keep his smile from spreading. ]

Sir. This organization: SeeD, Garden, the sorceress...

[ They're all related, even though they seem to be at war. All of it seems a frustrating mess to him. ]

Obviously, they've no idea the grievous error they've made in capturing the president. Have you given any thought as to how we will handle relations from here?

We don't tell them who they had the misfortune of capturing just yet. We extend an offer to friendship to the sorceress to see what she's willing to offer and the extent of her abilities. They don't need to meet President Shinra in person, after all, it's rumored I'm still in poor health.

[Rufus doesn't look at Tseng as he falls silent for a moment, putting together the pieces in his head. He didn't have all the information he wanted but he at least had something to work with.]

While we play nice with the sorceress, we use Lazard and my identity as Evan to gain information from SeeD. If they think we are either a part of their organization or willing to help then they may be willing to let into their operations.

[He glances at Seifer in the back seat before looking at Tseng with amusement]

And when sleeping beauty back there cooperates with our requests for further information we can put together the details. With the information we get from the sorceress and SeeD's cooperation, we take down the entire operation.

[ Again, Tseng is considering the prospects silently. These cards have all but fallen into their lap—thanks in no small part to Rufus's refusal to stay penned like a prized pony. He'd been bitter about the president's escape and subsequent capture, but even he has to admit that it worked out for the best in the end.

For the best... Considering the president was harmed. Not badly, no, but that anyone laid a hand on him at all—

Tseng takes a deep breath. It will not do to let his professional and personal opinions clash in this instance. Before, it'd been easier. Shinra was hardly an entity anymore. The relationship between them was allowed to slip into something more familiar.

Here, Tseng is not so sure. ]

What you are saying...

[ Professional or not, Tseng does not miss the implication here. ]

... is that you would like to continue to be involved in this operation. Under a false name.

[ Tseng spares another glance at him. ]

Sir.

[ Please don't do this to me. ]

[Rufus looks at Tseng and he's not going to force it, he knows he could just give the command but he's not going to. They worked better together when their relationship wasn't so clearly defined after all the years they had known each other.

He would always trust Tseng's judgment but he couldn't just sit and watch things play out since he had set everything in motion.]

I know it's not ideal but we may not have a choice eventually. I already identified myself as a SeeD operative with Evan's name. If we have someone else pose as Evan it could arouse suspicions that could endanger our plans.

[But he looks at Tseng, waiting for his reaction.]

I'm aware it's risky but I started this, I'm not going to sit by again if I can help it.

[He hated feeling helpless after being practically bound to a wheelchair and bedridden. He was still regaining a lot of his strength and endurance so sitting still was difficult for him.]

I see.

[ Tseng goes quiet. The issue is this x-factor, the sorceress. Much like Rufus purported that he would in the beginning, she rules by fear. There is no patriotism uniting her forces, no ideals, no ethical impetus. It is survivalism and that alone keeping her in power.

They have no idea the extent of that power. To put Rufus in her crosshairs is... And he's only just recovered... This is the first time in so long that Tseng has seen him so alive.

His fists clench around the steering wheel, audibly. Rufus is correct; there is nothing much that they can do now that he has already set all of this in motion. But that does not mean that he still can't be angry about it, even if his anger is just quiet and solemn and still. ]

[Rufus knows that he's not going to be able to mitigate much of Tseng's anger, he can't apologize for what's already happened now. For better or worse, now they have a new threat and even with all the resources of SEPC at the height of its power, he knew they had to approach this carefully.

So he let Tseng have his angry silence, not looking at him when he heard his fists clench on the steering wheel. Instead, he watches the desert pass by, he didn't remember the drive being so long when he had done it but circumstances had been different. He frowns to himself but winces when the movement pulls at the wound, apparently, Seifer had put more power into that hit than he had thought. He wondered who would win in a fistfight, Mütton or Seifer.

He would let Tseng break the silence first, slouching in the car seat to try to get comfortable.]

[ At first, Tseng hardly realizes that the silence is stretching on and on. He is so buried in his thoughts, in the sudden and overwhelming weight upon his shoulders. Responsibility is no foreign concept to him—he has been fielding as much of it as he can grab ever since his induction into Shinra's ranks—but every minute brings them closer to Midgar, where he realizes that so much awaits him. Despite his conferences with those iterations of himself, all he's truly managed to glean is the scope of how extraordinarily hard he is going to have to work to catch up, and all of this with an impending conflict with an alien military that has literally crash-landed on their shores, and...

And then he realizes what Rufus is doing. Not speaking, not looking. He has known his president for long enough to know for a fact that everything he does is deliberate. Which means that he is serving Tseng's silence right back to him, on purpose.

That's fine. Two can play at that game. Tseng slams on the brakes, hard. ]

[Rufus was lost in his own thoughts and he has no inkling of what awaits him when Tseng slams on the brakes. He doesn't have time to brace himself and since he's not wearing a seat belt, there is nothing stopping his head from slamming against the metal frame of the truck.]

What the fuck-

[His eyes almost water from the sharp pain just above his eye. He reaches up to feel blood there as well. Only then does he try to figure out why Tseng would have slammed on the brakes only to find nothing around them.

He turns towards him slowly, blue eyes narrowed.]

What the hell was that for?

[ Tseng keeps his eyes on the road. Don't want to have to slam on the brakes again, after all. ]

Cactus.

[ At least the president's talking now. Don't smile. Don't smile. Don't fucking smile. ]

You should put your seatbelt on, sir. Visibility is poor out here.

I don't see anything. Also, what do you mean visibility is poor?

[Rufus doesn't have a mirror to see how bad the cut on his head is, his head feels like it's splitting open.

But he glares at Tseng as he yanks his seatbelt and clicks it in place.]

You did that on purpose, didn't you?

[He had the answer to that already and he could practically feel Tseng's inward smile.]

Thank you.

[ He reaches into his jacket for his handkerchief, offering it to Rufus. A little blood never hurt anyone, he'll live. "Any concussion you can walk away from," as the old Turk adage goes. ]

Shouldn't be much longer, sir. I've taken the liberty of gathering our forces for your arrival. As you might imagine, I found it pertinent to assemble and take stock in the wake of your brief departure.

[ He's going to shake ranks the fuck down for failing so badly in his absence. ]

Nothing you need concern yourself with, but you are free to join if you so desire. I'm sure the Renos will be happy to see you.

[Rufus takes the handkerchief, not surprised that Tseng still has one even when undercover. There isn't as much blood as he had been expecting as he wipes the blood away- he'll live but he's still peeved at Tseng. They can work that out later though.]

I'll join you, I want to see what we're working with. [Rufus with one Reno had always been bad enough, multiple Renos make things even more interesting. He's sure Tseng is going to have words for at least a couple of them though.]

Just give me a chance to clean up when we get back.

You can make use of our facilities. I am going to impose a lockdown once we have settled in.

[ That's good. Tseng was worried for a second there. Not enough to not do it in the first place, but alas.

His gaze flickers, eyeing Rufus out of the corner of his periphery. ]

I assume you've nothing scheduled for the rest of the night.

No, aside from getting a shower and change of clothes my evening is free.

[He's sure that Tseng can arrange that easily enough as well as some time for them to catch up when things have calmed down later.

After what seems to be forever the desert is starting to be broken up small trees then buildings appearing in the distance. Rufus holds the handkerchief to his head, trying to get the bleeding to stop.]

I'm sure you have a suggestion on how to spend this free night off?

[ Finally, a break from the barren monotony of the desert. Midgar looms in the distance. It won't be long now.

Visibility must be improving, because Tseng is barely looking out the windshield anymore. He's got the steering wheel propped up against a knee to keep them coasting forward while he busies himself with something on his phone. Work shit, don't worry about it.

This time, he does smirk. Doesn't look up, but Rufus can plainly see the expression on his face. ]

I'm sure I do.

OPEN/MINGLE — SMASHING GARDENS

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