( open ) experience has made me rich and now they're after me

[unionized]

WHO: Rufus Shinra (unionized) and various (including YOU)!
WHEN: April
WHERE: All around Etraya!
WHAT: Open top-levels for various prompts including dreamshare, general interaction, and potentially mission-related things once those become available.
NOTES\WARNINGS: The usuals for FF7: potential discussion of shitty parenting, parental death, mass murder, unethical human experimentation, less mass-y but still severe murder, ecoterrorism (both ways) etc. etc.

Comments

[cesspit]

Whoah there.

[ Jason backs up a step, raising his hands up in immediate surrender. My... what big teeth you have. Baffled by the sudden appearance of what looks like one of Damian's strays, it takes him a hot second to link owner and... pet? He looks at the guard dog from hell, taking note of the very big paws. ]

You wouldn't happen to know Goliath, would you?

[ That sure is directed at the very unhappy demon ready to pounce on him, and he sure is taking another step closer to that open window back there. If he makes an escape, he'll have to drop the eggs which he debates for all of two seconds. With his League of Assassins Dagger tucked in his boots, he'll have to jump through the window, take the dagger out, and hope he's still got his head attached by the end of it. At the very least, he'd put up a fight if she-- She?!

His eyes briefly flick back to Rufus in a silent - are you kidding me?! - look before promptly returning to the unhappy girl, growling menacingly at him. This is what you get for skipping out on the diner to avoid the bats. ]

Maybe I can tap down on our surprise run-ins. How about three per month?

[ No change. Jason takes another step back. ]

Okay. I'm good with two, also. What do you say?

[unionized]

[He lets the tension linger just a little bit longer, mostly because he's Rufus Shinra and he's Like That™, before moving one hand down to signal his pet; what's impressive, maybe, is that for all that she's very clearly aggressive and spoiling for a fight, it doesn't take anything more than a single gesture out of Rufus to have her visibly standing down. Whatever else she might be, she's well-trained.]

How about you watch your step next time, and we avoid these little misunderstandings altogether.

[Still — with the initial startle reaction past, Rufus is quick to tamp down on outward appearances, back to projecting a look of generally unruffled calm despite the fact that he doesn't generally let people get so close, and certainly not without warning.]

Monsieur le Comte de Monte Cristo. Wherever are you off to in such a hurry?

[cesspit]

[ Oh, he notices just how long it takes the bastard to signal her to stand down. Are you trying to teach him a lesson? Lesson learned. Don't dance in the rain. The easy transition from murdering demon dog to trained murdering demon dog isn't lost on him either. ]

You don't have more of her, do you? You look like a monogamous kind of guy.

[ He says hopefully. One he can deal with. Two? Two dozen? Not so much. Already, he's making contingency plans. If he has to run into her as Red Hood... well... at least, he won't shoot to kill. If bullets even work on that hide. It looks thick. Maybe a grenade launcher? Is that too much?

Monsieur? Oh, crap. ]

Me?

[ He rips his eyes away from Goliath #2 to look at Rufus. You sure do look calm about all of this. Okay, stop ogling the man's dog and pay attention. ]

Uhh... I left the oven on.

[ That sounds plausible, right? Right? ]

[unionized]

I don't need more of her. When you already have the best, you don't settle for imitations.

[He rests a hand lightly on her head, and she settles further still. The alertness is still there, to be sure, but her bared teeth are settling back into a slighter pull-back of her lips, and Rufus seems to be taking her down incrementally — though whether that's necessary or just his preference is impossible to say.]

Sounds like you've met an imitation, though. Who's Goliath?

[cesspit]

[ Monogamous, then. Good. He can deal with one.

Knowing she's trained settles some of his initial flightiness. He's no longer trying to inch his way to that open window, at least. That's an improvement. He's encountered all sorts of curiosities including aliens, supernatural beings, and genetically modified disasters.So, which one is she? ]

Not quite an imitation but the closest I've met to -- Uh, what's her name?

[unionized]

Darkstar. It's not a "Star Wars" reference.

[Little by little he is picking up on The Culture Things™ via osmosis, and this just so happens to be one of them.]

And if this Goliath has a name, then it must also have an owner.

[cesspit]

[ It takes Jason a minute to connect the dots. Huh, I guess it is. Wait a minute- ]

Do they have Star Wars where you’re from?

[ A parallel universe with an Earth close to his timeline give or take a few decades. ]

As for Goliath, [ he smirks ] his owner is a Demon Spawn.

[unionized]

No. Just a little something I picked up around here.

[That's what he gets for hanging out with pop culture reference people, really.]

...Literal or figurative?

[cesspit]

What does it mean if it's not a Star Wars reference? I'm guessing a guy like you doesn't name their [ his eyes slide over to Darkside ] guard dog without forethought.

[ He shrugs. ]

You know, I'm not sure anymore.

[unionized]

I'll be on the lookout for both kinds of demon spawn, then. Just in case.

[He glances down at Darkstar, shifting his hold on her just a little to scratch behind her ears. Whether it's a wordless "stand down" or not, she seems reasonably pacified by it.]

It suits her. It's not any more complicated than that.

[cesspit]

[ Goliath's owner is off-limits.

The threat lingers on the tip of his tongue. It would tip his hand and make a target out of nothing if issued. Then, there was his gut feeling. Despite the hellhound, Rufus didn't set off his alarms, not like Black Mask did and he kept it together with him.

Relaxing, his eyes fix on the pair. Oddly, they seem to suit each other. The obedient hellhound and the unruffled corporate suit. Sounds like a match made in Heaven. ]

Nothing complicated about a guy and his best friend.

[ He shrugs, taking a step under the awning and slicking back his soaked hair. You should've listened to the cashier. ]

Out for a walk then? Getting in your daily exercise? Or just bored?

[unionized]

Mm. Looking at the trees, actually.

[Which, he realizes, is something of an odd thing to say — or at least, he imagines it would be for most people, given that very few of the residents of Etraya have come off as preoccupied with the sprawling flora as he's been, and he's certain that most of them are a lot worse at concealing their thoughts and feelings than he is, besides.]

The ones with the pink flowers. I've seen pictures of them before, but I don't know that I've ever gotten close enough to one to catch the petals in my hand.

[cesspit]

The trees?

[ There's no way to hide his surprise, nor reason to. Jason cocks his head in silent contemplation. ]

You mean the Sakura trees?

[unionized]

That's right. The ones scattered around.

[He raises his eyebrows, curious.]

You find that strange?

[cesspit]

Not strange, interesting.

[unionized]

Oh? And why might that be?

[cesspit]

There's not that many people who stop and smell the roses.

It's a certain kind of mindset. The monks always talked about listening to nature to reach inner peace, but it's hard to listen sometimes.

[unionized]

"The monks". Which ones might those be?

[cesspit]

They don't have monks where you're from?