[She's a pretty girl, Aerith Gainsborough. Big green eyes full of wonder, set in a face that looks like it couldn't wear a mask if it tried. He's read her file by now, of course, but even before his ascension he'd known of her — the girl who was something to everyone. Hojo's experiment. Tseng's mission. The little girl who drew on the walls and heard voices, and his father coveted her for it.
The fact that Tseng shows his tell at all when Rufus details his bargain — having specifically mentioned her, specifically clarified that she was included in its terms — is more than proof enough of what he thinks of it, even before he makes his pronouncement. And in the grand scheme of things, none of his deliberations had taken Tseng's opinion on the matter into account, because there was no reason it should have been a factor at all, but —
It's strangely satisfying. He and Tseng are two of a kind when it comes to difficulties in gift-giving, the man who has everything and the one who wants nothing. But for all that it might not have been with Tseng in mind, he's oddly contented with the notion that he might just have given him a rare thing he actually wanted, with this.]
They seem inclined. Why shouldn't they; they'd be reaping an added benefit on something I expect they intended to do anyway. All the more reason to have them doing it for me.
[Now, at last, he downs the last mouthful of his liquor, setting the glass down onto the countertop — on a napkin, because he's not a classless stooge.]
As for Cloud, let's assume his inaction is because he doesn't remember it. It wouldn't be the first time our little SOLDIER failed to have his facts straight.
[He pauses, his eyes going briefly distant — a tell of his own, the way he always does when he's the one thinking. Like he's trying to see the future, focused so hard he can almost glimpse it.]
He'll follow the lead of the girls. If either of them turn up again, then we'll work to ensure a...favorable opinion. Until then, let him be. So long as we can put them on a collision course, he doesn't need much supervision.
no subject
The fact that Tseng shows his tell at all when Rufus details his bargain — having specifically mentioned her, specifically clarified that she was included in its terms — is more than proof enough of what he thinks of it, even before he makes his pronouncement. And in the grand scheme of things, none of his deliberations had taken Tseng's opinion on the matter into account, because there was no reason it should have been a factor at all, but —
It's strangely satisfying. He and Tseng are two of a kind when it comes to difficulties in gift-giving, the man who has everything and the one who wants nothing. But for all that it might not have been with Tseng in mind, he's oddly contented with the notion that he might just have given him a rare thing he actually wanted, with this.]
They seem inclined. Why shouldn't they; they'd be reaping an added benefit on something I expect they intended to do anyway. All the more reason to have them doing it for me.
[Now, at last, he downs the last mouthful of his liquor, setting the glass down onto the countertop — on a napkin, because he's not a classless stooge.]
As for Cloud, let's assume his inaction is because he doesn't remember it. It wouldn't be the first time our little SOLDIER failed to have his facts straight.
[He pauses, his eyes going briefly distant — a tell of his own, the way he always does when he's the one thinking. Like he's trying to see the future, focused so hard he can almost glimpse it.]
He'll follow the lead of the girls. If either of them turn up again, then we'll work to ensure a...favorable opinion. Until then, let him be. So long as we can put them on a collision course, he doesn't need much supervision.