[ Report I ] Hearts and Stars

[plotdeviceturk.livejournal.com]

Tseng smiled thinly as he watched the surprisingly large group gathered in one of Shin-Ra's ballrooms, he'd never realized quite how many people considered him family whether they were actually related or not. There was a smattering of brothers and sisters along with their kids, people he couldn't remember seeing but were somehow actually related to him and had come to congratulate him. Turks were there, of course, new ones who were just beginning to learn how to tie their ties and old ones who'd retired before his time.

He'd given a speech; speaking of loyalty and camaraderie, that they'd only need to call and he'd put his tie back on and be out the door for them. Once a Turk, always a Turk and he'd never abandon them or the tiny group of relatives he'd recently been informed of still having.

He knew he should talk to them, approach them and say something but he didn't know a thing about any of them these days. Family had been the company for nearly twenty years now, and while blood was thicker than water he'd shed an awful lot of it alongside the Turks.

It was awkward.

[OOC: Tseng's dreaming of his retirement party, and there's newly discovered family in attendance.]

Comments

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

"Congratulations." There wasn't much warmth to her smile, but that seemed to just be her way; there was no lurking resentment, either. No, what mattered here tonight was the pride of the family - and retiring honorably after a long, full career counted towards that pride.

She was one of the faceless relatives, a distant cousin or something (it always seemed to take awhile to work out how those relationships went). Though young, perhaps late teens or early twenties, she was dressed professionally and carried herself as such.

[plotdeviceturk.livejournal.com]

"Thank you." Tseng nodded, returning her lukewarm smile, "I'm sorry I didn't catch your name earlier, Miss...?"

He had a feeling they hadn't been completely informed as to what his job had actually entailed, they probably wouldn't have come if they had.

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

He might be surprised. She hadn't always been a doctor; and it's not all she is even now.

"Mizuno Ami," she introduces herself. "Doctor Mizuno." The correction is more a statement of formality and reserve than pride in the title, but of course she's also proud of the results of her own hard work.

[tasercopter.livejournal.com]

She hadn't expected to find herself at a Shin-Ra shindig, especially not one that has to do with Tseng's retirement. Retirement? Who needs it? She's not big on any kind of party that involves speeches and family members, but the purpose of the affair makes it even worse.

But since it was a formal occasion, Reno had decided to wear a dress. It was slinky and black and far from being the world's most modest garment, yet she was still carrying weapons hidden somewhere on her person. (Of course, she doesn't realize that Tseng might think it odd to see her as a female, regardless of what she was wearing.)

She listens to the speech, but afterward, she only has one word for Tseng: "Bullshit."

[plotdeviceturk.livejournal.com]

Tseng heaved a sigh, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. He really didn't think he wanted to know why Reno was in drag at a rather important event.

"Reno, we've been over this. You're better prepared than I was when Veld... stepped down, and things have changed. You aren't going to be ordered to take care of me because I know too much, and if another apocalypse happens you have my number. Rude and Elena will be there for you, as well as the rookies."

He'd been a Turk for over two decades and Director for almost eight years, and at nearly fourty he'd surpassed the usual Turk life expectancy just like Veld had.

"You'll be fine Reno."

[tasercopter.livejournal.com]

"I'm not worried about me. Of course I'll do fine." When does she not do fine? Great, even. She has complete confidence in her abilities. And she's always got Rude to get her back.

She shakes her head. "I'm thinking about you. What are you even gonna do now? Besides, this ain't nothing like when Veld left. There's no reason for it. Turks aren't supposed to retire." She folds her arms, stubbornly.

[yuffiekisaragi]

Yuffie is bored.

Granted, she can get bored fairly quickly. Nothing against Tseng - she knew families were always expected at these shindigs and blah blah. Their newly learned relation is still a strange thing to accept, but Godo had harped on her so much about attending she gave in to shut the old man up.

It is an uptight atmosphere, and she has to wear a dress. It is one of the most inconceivable things ever, and she has made a determined effort to avoid any people she may recognize. She is pretty sure if some of her friends saw her like this, she wouldn't hear the end of it.

Hanging out in a corner by herself, Yuffie fumes and plots. This would be way more entertaining if she had one of those free glasses of champagne. At least, she assumes it is free. She could just snatch it, but it is hard to move in this dress, and though she had on flats they weren't exactly what she was used to. It made sliding across the floor easier, anyway.

Figuring it was better to be direct, she went up to Tseng and tugged hard on his arm. "Hey. Do me a favor. Get me some alcohol?"

[plotdeviceturk.livejournal.com]

This was one of the many family members he hadn't exactly been looking forward to, there was definitely something of an awkward history between them and he wasn't counting the fact that he'd basically betrayed Wutai durning the war.

"Only if you promise to remind y--" He stopped, swallowed, "Our father that I have no intention of attempting to claim anything. I was shuffled off to a temple when I was old enough to walk because my mother wasn't-" He stopped again and just shook his head. Godo may have donated genetic material to him but Veld had been the one to be his father.

"Sorry, it's not your fault. What do you want to drink?"

[yuffiekisaragi]

In a way, Yuffie is glad to see him be a little off. It was different, considering Tseng was usually so collected and calm about most things. Professional fit him to a T, and to know he was part of her family, born to Godo no less, made her want to have chuckle fits.

Now wasn't the time - she was definitely going to take advantage of this alcohol offer. No telling how long it would last.

"Whatever's available I'm not picky," she declares, even though the truth is she doesn't know enough about drinks to be picky.

"Besides, I'm sure Godo's just happy to have a kid who isn't a total circus. At least he knows it isn't his DNA that made me the kickass ninja I am today."

She was still leery of the Turks in general, but she wasn't going to show it. Wutai wasn't fully recovered, and there was no telling if it would ever recover. It was something she still held close to her, that resentment to the whole of Shinra for what happened.

[sixthsefira.livejournal.com]

It didn't take long to realize where he was when he stumbled into the dream so to speak, and the fact he didn't belong also came quickly on recognition's heels. Despite actually being dressed in a black formal suit and having what remained of his silver hair pulled back into a neat ponytail; Sephiroth did his best to remain on the fringes of the dream.

He wasn't entirely certain how to leave it and he was unable to just wake up and escape things that way, so he would seek to remain an unnoticed party haunting the edges until the man who's dream this belonged to, woke up.

The irony that he was unable to escape a company party even in his dreams was not lost on him.

Threadjack~

[rhapsody-onfire.livejournal.com]

Someone reached over and tugged that neat ponytail gently. "Well, well, looks like even in our dreams, we simply cannot escape these little balls, hm~?"

Genesis stood just behind Sephiroth in a red, flowing dress (http://image.dhgate.com/albu_169918078_00/1.0x0.jpg), matching shoes (http://i.imgur.com/fr459.jpg), and her growing hair was curled (http://www.hrpromhair.com/IceSandraBullockmedium.jpg). While she was rather glad she was here looking as beautiful as she was, she still didn't like the fact that she was here.

[sixthsefira.livejournal.com]

Sephiroth turned his attention from the milling crowd before them to the redhead currently beside him. At least the dream had dressed them in decent outfits, his eyes silently took in the red dress briefly before they met Genesis's own eyes. "That would seem to be the case... unfortunately."

[plotdeviceturk.livejournal.com]

It was a good try, Tseng almost hadn't noticed the silver haired man lurking in the party. There was a grim set tho his mouth as he approached. He was armed, but... gunshots would be obvious and cause a stir.

"It seems a Turk's Retirement is rare enough to bring the dead back. If you're here to take me back can we at least wait until Reno's induction tomorrow?" He said, hand twitching at his side as he wanted to desperately go for his gun.

[sixthsefira.livejournal.com]

"I assure you, your actions had nothing to do with my revival and I've no interest in taking you anywhere." The ex-general replied, keeping his expression impassive as he spoke. Likewise, his body language bespoke only boredom with their setting. He understood the Turk's reaction, considering the fact he was in part responsible for working the man over not just once, but twice after a fashion, it was only natural that Tseng would lean toward violence upon seeing him.

"You can go back to your guests and I'll content myself with my friend here until one of us wakes and this farce is ended."

[whitesuited]

When he'd realized just where he was, Rufus briefly wondered just why he was thinking of the past, the ballroom they were in was now in ruins. It was soon answered that he was just a player in this dream and not the cause as he heard the man speak. After events in Kalm and afterward, he hadn't actually really given much thought to any of the Turks retiring so early in their lives.. so early in his life even. So, needless to say, he was unsettled not only by the bygone scenery but also by the events taking place within it.

He had never much cared for the parties thrown here before, most of them had been boring affairs thrown to show off or influence new friends with displayed wealth. If he could have figured out just how he'd found himself in the dream, he might have left it. Considering the hours of work he'd put in before laying down, there certainly wasn't much chance of him waking up from it without outside aid.

Thus he settled for staying apart from the strangers and observing the few people here he actually recognized. He was dressed as formally as the rest, though the color of his suit caused him to stand apart from the rest of the crowd, being as it was white instead of the black favored by the rest of the men currently attending.

[plotdeviceturk.livejournal.com]

Tseng held a glass for Rufus, a peace offering more than anything really. If the white clad man hadn't been his father's son he'd have been inducted as a Turk and after all these years he counted as one as far as they cared.

"I'm not abandoning you Rufus; I'll still be around to fetch coffee and prioritize paperwork." He said quietly. How could he explain that he was doing this so he'd stay alive? One more impending apocalypse would probably be his end if he stayed active, this way he could come in and help when the time came and not be on his last leg.

"Reno will do fine."

[whitesuited]

Rufus accepted the glass from the older man silently. He knew that the Turks liked to think themselves a separate entity from the company, but after the company had collapsed in upon itself, they had become something other than what they had been. They might try hiring others and training them to fight or spy under his name, but they would never be like their predecessors. They wouldn't be asked to do the dark and bloody things the Turks had become known for in the time before Meteorfall.

And he would never actually trust them as much as he did the four that he actually half-ass considered family, dysfunctional as it might be, it was a closer relationship than he'd ever held with his actual family. He'd offered them a chance to leave already once and they'd turned him down.

"I don't recall ever firing you." He committed a moment afterward, paraphrasing Reno's quip after he'd given them their chance to distance themselves from him and the company.

[rhapsody-onfire.livejournal.com]

Genesis made her way over to the refreshments, requesting only some water and picking up a plate of whatever dessert was on the table. Shin-Ra gatherings were always so boring, even in her dreams, apparently. At least she was wearing a lovely dress, she supposed.

[plotdeviceturk.livejournal.com]

The party wouldn't really pick up until more of the family left and it was just Turks left, stories got passed around along with bottles and a freshly opened pack of playing cards sprawled on a table they would drag in from another room.

"Just water? I figured you'd take advantage of the company footing a bill." He said, taking a few cookies.

[rhapsody-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Alcohol does nothing for me," Genesis replied. "The mako burns it out of my system before I can feel even the slightest of buzzes. It makes drinking it quite boring. I'll be content with the water."

She sipped it and looked up at Tseng. "Since when do Turks retire?"

[no-hometown.livejournal.com]

Somehow, there's more than one Sephiroth at this party, though this one makes no effort to remain unnoticed. That said, he doesn't particularly enjoy this kind of affair. He'd much rather be at home reading a book or training with his fellow SOLDIERs, but he makes an effort to be polite and social. Yet he notices that he's not particularly welcome here, and that people draw away from him. He can't quite say why that would be.

Unfortunately, he can't find Angeal and Genesis, at least not at first, and they're the ones he usually spends time with at such gatherings (for the moment, the dream is kindly sparing him his memory of the Genesis War).

He nods at Tseng when he makes eye contact with him. "Congratulations on your retirement."

[plotdeviceturk.livejournal.com]

Now Tseng knew something was off, it was one thing to have Sephiroth back from the dead but two Sephiroths?

"Thank you." He said, guard up as he tried and failed to keep an eye on the two of them. "I suppose this is some sort of test or something." He frowned, between them and Reno and Genesis looking a bit too convincingly female there was far too much strangeness going on for his comfort.

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

Not a Turk or a blood relative. Not comfortable in Shinra either, so Aerith isn't there. But as Tseng looks among his relatives, there's a young girl, only ten or so, holding pink carnations and asters out for him. They're surprisingly fresh for a city where flowers supposedly don't grow, and they signify gratitude and contentment.

[plotdeviceturk.livejournal.com]

Tseng knelt to receive the flowers, hands careful not to smash the blooms. "Thank you." He smiled, "Are these from you?" He asked, flowers weren't common enough to be given freely and were usually a bit lackluster looking after being imported from outside Midgar's wasteland.

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

The girl shook her head, briefly looking over to the ballroom's windows. If one were to look out of them, there would be a flower girl standing in the street below, seemingly preoccupied hawking her blooms.

"A lady gave them to me," she answered. "She said they were a special order to celebrate." There was a brief pause as she considered before continuing; her expression growing a bit shy at saying this to a previously-unknown relative, but also amused at the memory of hearing it and how it had been said. "She also said...it's the only time you'll get them for free, and that you should make your own garden."

Aerith had never been completely comfortable with having Turks around, and even when there had been some trust established--enough for her to pass letters for a special someone on to Tseng--any interest shown for the flowers had gotten the most ridiculous, exorbitant prices quoted. While it's still a bit of a tease at Tseng, she also feels that taking care of a garden could be good for Tseng. Message delivered, the girl smiles shyly at Tseng and edges toward a teenager, likely a big sister.