Where Can I Find A Woman Like That? Who: Rufus and Maria~ When: Love at First Sight Day Where: Emptiness Rating: PG for now Warnings: TBA. Faint angst and tl;dr in the opening post for Ru. >.< Summary: Rufus and Maria spot one another in Emptiness on Love at First Sight Day. Because what this whole situation needed was to get more screwed up.
Light bruises under his eyes were the only evidence of another sleepless night. Rufus had been out since just before dawn, early enough to watch the winter stars, bright on the horizon, fade into the first silver line of daybreak. Dressed more plainly than usual (though still all in white, including his scarf and gloves and bulky coat,) he wandered with no destination in mind. The familiarity of the urban setting drew him to Emptiness. The city's eerie silence and stillness was no longer unfamiliar— was barely even eerie, any more —and he was as well acquainted with its streets as he had once been with Junon's and Midgar's.
Aerith and her mother were here. Somehow that felt like his fault. Then there was Veld, Valentine and Legend— a whole other can of worms. Tseng had been lecturing Rufus on the fact that he was no longer President, but why the surfeit of Turks, if not for him to use them? What else was he good for, here and now? As ridiculous as it was to take this "war" seriously, it was that, or go mad. He did not even have the vague hope of something to return to if he ever left this place. So, this was his life now. Eternally cast as the villain, and already the Ancients were chafing as he fulfilled the role. But he was not a fighter, he had no powers, no stealth nor speed. He could only direct the men who did have those things, command their loyalty and pull from them their fullest potential. Now Belle wanted to meet and plan an attack on Asgard, and Rufus was not sure he had anything to bring to the table. Besides being humiliating and ruining his chance of ever earning the demon's respect, that also meant Belle would likely unleash some sort of plague upon the other team. The thought of widespread illness made Rufus shiver.
On the topic of Asgard, Yako would return tomorrow, provided Cuthbert had not taken her hostage and/or shot her. Whatever the case, the gunslinger had doubtless been plying her for information. He would be particularly interested in Rufus as a topic, and Yako had information to give. How often Rufus wandered alone, like he was now (almost constantly, these days) or just how many of the people in Niflheim were Turks. Rufus was almost certain he'd at least managed to keep Tseng a secret. Would Yako pull that ace out of his sleeve? Or perhaps she would tell Cuthbert what she had learned from her time spent "as his wife:" the scars, the tattoo, and whatever else she might remember about him personally. Little things that shouldn't be important, but were. He didn't know if she was aware of his blind left eye, and hesitated to ask in case she was not. But if she did know, and Cuthbert found out... it shrieked across his nerves, the idea of what a skilled fighter could do to him using such an advantage. Whatever the case, however, Rufus had been unable to locate them with the Peng Eye, so his only option was to wait and see.
The Eye itself was another problem. To use it was to use mana, the innate magical ability every Gaian had. Should he ever use the Eye so much that his mana was completely drained the Eye would return to Lucifer, and Rufus would be forced to pay if he wanted it back. Rufus had no intention of paying. Fortunately, mana regenerated naturally over a period of time, replenished, as with all natural systems, by sleep and food. Unfortunately, it was not a quick regeneration. To make matters worse Rufus did not sleep much or eat much to begin with, and lately he'd been doing less and less of both. So he rationed his use of the Eye carefully, aiming to never use more mana than he could replenish in a single day, but his levels were low, and he could feel the toll it was taking on his body. He was tired and hungry, but could not stomach food or sleep.
A migraine threatened, looming at the back of his skull like a dark smudge of storm clouds on a horizon.
Reno was watching over Yako and Bert, so Rufus needn't worry too much about that— didn't need to use the Eye to find them. Probably. Supposing Reno hadn't simply been placating Rufus by saying he would, though Rufus was rather certain Reno liked Yako and would have acted to protect her even without Rufus' interference. The ShinRa hadn't even realized he was doling out orders to the Turk until after the fact. He wondered if Reno had noticed at the time, or if he, too, had simply been running on instinct.
At some point the sun had risen and Rufus had settled onto a bench, hands clasped between his knees, eyes on the brick building across the way. The red facade was unmarred by graffiti or fliers or pollution. Rufus did not notice.