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Book Haven, Tuesday

Rufus was in a foul mood as he restocked shelves at Book Haven. The store itself wasn't the cause of it, and Dark Nation wasn't either--though Rufus did spare a baleful glance at where his dog was making friends with the dust bunnies--no, the problem was that he'd had terrible dreams where the most interesting thing had been a virtual reality fishing game.

And he'd woken up feeling off-balance and obscurely disappointed by the appearance of a strange person in a super hero outfit at the end of it all.

Ugh.

None of it made any sense and that left him cranky. Maybe plotting would help soothe his irritation away.

Book Haven is Open.

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Away from the cranky would-be world dictator?

If you want to.

It just so happened that, during his lunch break, Zack had decided to go looking for something. If that something happened to be a book about dog training, well...

He still wasn't going to be bringing a puppy home. Ino would kill him. But he figured it couldn't hurt to give the dogs at the shelter a few of the fundamentals before adopting them out.

He hadn't quite noticed who was behind the counter of the bookstore on his way in, no. But he was kind of giving the place a sort of quiet, perplexed once-over as he stepped inside.

Rufus had been midway through a diatribe on his PHS--incompetence irritated him at the best of times and today was not the best--when the SOLDIER walked in.

Oh, he wasn't dressed like one, but he had the eyes, the walk, and a giant sword only a SOLDIER could lift.

"I'll call you back later," Rufus said shortly, cutting off stammered apologies. "Have better results for me."

Then he hung up and waited.

It was that tone that caught Zack's attention, really. He'd only been a couple of steps in, glancing around for the pets section, when that clipped closing to the PHS call grabbed his ear.

A pair of suddenly alert, too-blue eyes turned in Rufus' direction.

"Mr. Shinra."

Was it a greeting, an acknowledgment, or an unspoken warning? The world might never know.

Rufus was probably going to find out long before the rest of the world did.

"That's generally my father," Rufus noted idly, "if they're being informal and have a death wish."

Dark Nation looked up from his dust bunny pals, tail wagging a little.

"Can I help you, SOLDIER?"

Zack spared a glance toward the Hound, his mouth pulling into a small quirk of a smile.

"Nice dog," he said, ignoring Rufus' comment about death wishes. Ignoring his question, too. "What's his name?"

Zack had killed so many Hounds just like him.

Oh! Oh, stranger was talking to him! That meant Dark Nation had to tumble over to him, still not quite steady on paws and legs that were still growing.

He was getting to be a big boy now, but he wasn't quite there yet. Taller than the screechy green thing Rufus spent time with sometimes though.

His tail was wagging. Hi, person! Hi!

"Dark Nation," Rufus said simply, raising one eyebrow.

It was funny how much easier it was for Zack to crouch down and offer a hand to the monster than it was for him to really acknowledge Rufus. The hound was friendly, at least. And Rufus was...

Well. He was a Shinra.

"Dark Nation, huh?" He gave the puppy a small grin. "I'm pretty sure I've met some of your family, boy."

And he had to wonder if the breed had been named after this hound in particular, or vice-versa. This Rufus had to be years younger than he was in Zack's own reality.

You know what? Fine. Normally Rufus would be more offended but today of all days he didn't give a damn if a SOLDIER wanted to ignore him.

He turned back to his computer, which was still running calculations meant to find the other Peridot... amongst other things.

Dark Nation, on the other hand, was going to turn himself into a squirmy, wriggly ball of puppy joy and then run off and come back a moment later with a ball, which he dropped at Zack's feet hopefully.

Absolutely shameless.

Completely shameless! Zack actually smiled a little bit more, crouching down to pick up that ball and then raising an eyebrow down at the dog.

"You want me to throw this, huh?" He waved the ball around a little. "Do ya do ya do ya?"

For dogs, he could be a puppy. Even if they were monster dogs that he'd killed dozens of before.

You know. For Shin-Ra.

Dark Nation was absolutely going to prance about like a lunatic there. Throw it, throw it, throwitthrowit!

Rufus gave a quiet sigh.

Honestly.

Zack smirked, and then he wound back and flung that ball right across the room with no effort at all before pulling himself to his feet again.

Perhaps miraculously, he didn't break anything.

Finally, he looked back at Rufus, his open smile shuttering into a closed, somewhat more flat expression.

"Pet section?"

He didn't answer to Rufus. He answered to Lazard.

Whatever that was worth, now that Lazard was Angeal?

Life was confusing.

Dark Nation went careening after the ball.

Rufus deliberately finished the sentence he was writing out before even giving a sign that he'd heard the SOLDIER.

He didn't like to admit it, but it was getting to him, the way he was being treated. Oh, not the disdain or even being ignored--that was normal, from SOLDIER, if not always as obvious as it was now.

But it felt... off... this time around.

"Fourth aisle, on the left."

It would give him time to think.

Zack gave a small nod of acknowledgement, something almost like thanks, as he turned to make his way toward aisle four. Of course he kept an eye open for the hound as he went, just in case Dark Nation - and that name amused him so much, though he didn't let it show - came back with the ball.

It didn't take him long before he'd found a few books on animal training- a few for dogs in particular, but some for pets in general. Nothing there for training a chicken, though. So, he was still going to have to deal with that on his own.

It was a few minutes before he came back out again with an armload of books, heading for the counter. He'd been almost back to his usual 'easygoing casual' for a minute there, but when he saw Rufus, his expression closed off and went icy all over again.

Yes. Great.

Rufus had run through his options.

He could continue to ignore the SOLDIER. He could carry on the transaction mildly and get out of this with a minimum of fuss.

Or--

"What is your problem with me?"

Well. So much for in and out. Zack paused, clearly caught off-guard by that direct question, and frowned at Rufus, setting his armload of books down on the counter.

"Maybe I'll tell you when you're older."

Maybe Rufus would be able to figure it out himself, by then.

"Bullshit," Rufus said.

You know, since being direct had worked thus far.

And that reply actually dragged a bark of a laugh out of Zack, sudden and harsh and not completely convinced that Rufus' reply had actually just happened, for a moment.

"Okay then," he said, a little more easily, giving his head a little shake. "Maybe I won't even tell you then."

It wasn't like he'd ever known Rufus personally before. Otherwise it might not have been such a surprise.

"That's more honest at least," Rufus drawled. He watched as Dark Nation came bounding back, ball in his jaws, to wiggle at Zack.

Zack just watched Rufus for a few more moments, that almost-smile toying at his lips with a sort of ferocity behind it that he hadn't felt in years.

Finally, he looked down at the dog, and held his hand down to take the ball again.

"Good boy," he muttered. Because of course he wasn't going to hold his grudge against the puppy.

And, in that, Rufus saw his chance to take that opening and grab it.

It would be a roundabout method, but he didn't mind even as Dark Nation gave the ball up and yipped hopefully.

"I'm going away for a few days over the weekend," he said, unruffled and like he hadn't just made up his mind about this. "Would you be willing to look after Dark Nation?"

Zack blinked.

Zack blinked again.

"What?" Honestly, he was too confused by the question (or the fact that Rufus was asking it of him) to really resume being hostile at the kid. Now he was just staring at him in a sort of quiet bemusement.

Don't laugh, Rufus.

"Would you be willing to look after Dark Nation?" he repeated, keeping his voice level and doing his best to look at least vaguely earnest and trustworthy.

Zack blinked between Rufus and the pup, looking more perplexed by the moment.

"... I mean, I guess it's my job..."

WHAT WAS HAPPENING HERE?

It was all according to plan.

"You'd be paid, of course," Rufus said mildly. "And it would be appreciated. He already likes you."

To be fair, he liked Peridot who most definitely did not like him. Dark Nation was a terrible judge of character.

She'd probably like him more if he wasn't a rotten little finger-stealer.

"I guess so?"

Zack was now holding the ball, staring down in confusion at the hound. Okay. Oookay. Right.

"Sure. I'll watch your dog."

So much for not answering to another Shinra.

But fingers were fun!

Dark Nation wriggled impatiently. Ball? He wanted ball! Didn't person know what to do with the ball?

Rufus could be gracious in victory.

"I appreciate it," he said, inclining his head and reaching for the books to ring them through. Sure, he could give them away but... dogsitting and book buying were two different things. "My thanks."

His thanks meant absolutely nothing, Zack. He was just being polite since he'd gotten what he wanted.

"Your name?" he asked.

Zack eyed Rufus in silence for a long moment before he heaved a sigh.

Man oh man.

"It's Zack," he said, finally. "SOLDIER 1st Class, Zack Fair."

And whatever the hell else was going on, he'd earned that rank. Maybe he wasn't in uniform, but he had his honor.

More than most, apparently.

Anne had never been much of a reader, but that was in large part because she'd never had a ton of down-time. But more than a month on the island had been enough time for her body to slowly adjust to the pace of things, and catch up on years of much-needed sleep, and now she was finding herself without much to do sometimes.

So, sure, why not try out the whole book thing and see if that helped?

"Hello?" she called hesitantly as she strode into the shop, not even sure where to start looking.

Ah. It was one of those days. Rufus should have known after the way he'd woken up.

"Hello," he said, tone civil and not much more than that. Ugh. This was the downside to running a shop. Customers. Still a business got nowhere without them.

Rufus knew how to be polite.

"How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for a book," Anne answered. Then she realized how stupid that sounded.

"Or perhaps a couple of them? Something to keep me occupied in the evenings?"

Sigh.

"We can help with that," Rufus said, leaving his laptop running on an innocuous page as he stood. "Anything in particular you'd care to read?"

"That's a good question." Anne shrugged, the motion still a little awkward in the way it emphasized that one of her sleeves hung empty. "I've never really been much of a reader, so I guess I'm kind of new to this."

Rufus squinted at her.

...

... Right then.

Her missing arm was less important than the fact she apparently barely read anything. "Okay," he said. "What do you like to do for fun?"

Anne blinked.

"Um."

That was a good question.

"I really haven't had a lot of time to relax or anything in... a while?"

Saving the world took a lot of time, it turned out. And Anne had done it more than once.

...

...

... right.

"Okay," he said even more slowly. No, this wasn't okay. "What sort of job were you in? Do you want something similar to read in tone to that or completely different?"

"Military." Sort of. Close enough, anyway.

"And, honestly, I think I'd like something different." There was a reason she wasn't still in the military, after all.

"I don't know. Something relaxing, I guess?" She was tired of always feeling so tense.

Rufus could feel a headache coming on. He was the wrong sort of person for this.

He doubted she wanted a book on relaxation techniques.

"What relaxes us depends on the person," he said, still doing his level best to stay in customer service mode instead of demanding to know if she was making his life difficult on purpose. It felt like that. "Would romance appeal? Or something whimsical? Some people enjoy mysteries to relax."

She wasn't doing it on purpose, and would probably even feel guilty if he suggested it.

As it was, she could only shrug helplessly. "I honestly don't know."

"Um. Maybe I should get a couple of different things? Figure out what I like that way?"

I was maybe not impressed by Sony's reveals at E3.

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Book Haven, Tuesday

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OOC