onepassingnight | 001; Wutai

On the mountain of Da Chao sits a lone girl, her legs swinging off the ledge as she contemplates the town below.

It's her home - Wutai, a once proud nation that has been reduced to nothing more than a cheesy tourist attraction. By none other than her father, a man she doesn't exactly get along with in the best of times.

Something's off though.

Yuffie squints as she studies the town, telling herself her eyes must be deceiving her.

Usually there are people strolling through the town, children playing tag in the streets. The ones who had recently been infected with Geostigma are recovering, and there is a jovial air about the town. Now, though, there is no sign of life. Not even a stray dog roaming through, begging for scraps.

This just isn't right, and Yuffie has to investigate.

Standing up, she brushes the dirt off her legs, then plants her fists at her hips.

"Only one person can get to this bottom of this mess!"

She pauses without looking back, shifting her weight as if she wants to fidget.

"You can come too. Having an extra pair of eyes wouldn't hurt," she says this with a little hesitation. The truth is, she's a little bit worried at the absence of people, and could use a little support as she tries to find them.

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Sephiroth is slightly taken aback, for once, at this introduction, and even a little amused, though he hides his amusement. "I hadn't realized I was in the presence of such an impressive personage. It's an honor." He has to admire her confidence. He likes confidence.

"You already know who I am." She seems to, so he assumes she does. Most people do, in his experience. "Is this your hometown?"

"Everyone knows who you are," Yuffie gave him a Look before turning around to start down the trail again. "But yeah, Wutai's my town, the people are my people. As much as Sir Godo the Demented wished I wasn't his heir, I am."

She spreads her arms, the sweeping motion covering the location of the town in front of them. "I'll bring this place back to how it should be. And require offering of materia every holiday."

"True enough." In his time, too, he doesn't meet anyone who doesn't know who he is. The famous Silver SOLDIER. He recognizes her father's name and nods. "I see. I'm familiar with your father." If the age of Godo's daughter seems off to him somehow, but he doesn't comment on it. This whole scenario is odd enough.

"I wish you luck in your endeavor." He says this wryly, but at the moment, he doesn't care about Shinra maintaining control of Wutai. Again, he scans the town ahead of them with a faint frown. He could descend the mountain in moments himself, but he sees no need for haste in this situation, so he remains behind her.

Yuffie heaves the heaviest of sighs. "Seems like everyone's familiar with my father. I'm sure you know he's halfway to senile and mean as hell." This is said with a little bit of affection - as much as she didn't get along with the man, they were too much alike for her not to feel a certain fondness for him.

"Anyway, people should be here. There were all kinds of plans made for festivals, since everyone was cured a few months ago." The sickness that had taken some of the people in Wutai still haunts her, as did their accusations. It'd felt like a kind of betrayal, but that was over and done with.

"I don't exactly know him personally." Having lead the army that conquered Wutai had brought them into contact, but not of the most friendly kind. That said, he bears the ruler and people of Wutai no ill will. "Yes, it's odd for any town to be abandoned like this." There are few reasons he can see for such a complete absence of human life. It makes him wary, yet there's no sign of an enemy, either. He stays on alert, as if this were wartime.

"Cured of what?"

"Oh you know, Geostigma and all that," she hand waves this a bit, assuming he would know and not realizing he's honestly asking her a question. Yuffie's mind is on a one track train ride to her village.

"If they were running from something, I'm pretty sure things would be destroyed..." she mumbles this until she catches sight of one lone building, its roof partially caved in. Snapping her fingers sharply, she points. "Destruction! I bet all answers are in that building. The bathhouse. Or whatever, nobody bathed there anyway they just stood around and gossiped."

She leaves out the part these people were naked because...just because. A traumatizing experience at the place at the tender age of eight was enough to scar her mind into never mentioning it again.

"Geostigma? That's not an illness I'm familiar with."

He nods. "I've seen abandoned villages before. Usually there's some sign of the abandonment itself, whether the inhabitants left in haste or planned it out beforehand." He nods as she mentions the bathhouse. He knows enough about bathhouses to assume that the people would have been naked, but it makes no difference to him.

"Would you like me to scout ahead?"

001; Wutai

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