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Book Haven, Tuesday

One of these days Tseng was going to catch on to the fact that Rufus wasn't on the island all the times he said he was.

But, if he'd noticed already, he hadn't said anything.

Which was half the battle.

In the spirit of a fickle whim, Rufus wandered into his shop today to actually work. Dark Nation, of course, went barrelling after the dust bunnies.

Rufus didn't actually want to know how many there were these days.

Book Haven is Open!

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If you'd like. Mind the tentacle dog.

You poor, unfortunate soul.

Zack's conversation with Seivarden last week had kind of gotten him thinking about the possibility of maybe being ready to bring Girl home. Which was good. Excellent, even. Except that he was terrified he was going to somehow mess it up. And so...

Well. The bookstore. Zack was stepping into the bookstore during his afternoon break, today. Because...

Books. About dogs. That seemed like as good a first step as any.

"Oh," Rufus said, glancing up from his book long enough to see who'd just come in before going back to it. Sure, it wasn't the most interesting of books, but it was more interesting than what had walked in his door.

(No it wasn't.)

"It's you."

Zack raised his own eyebrows a little, and then shrugged and made his way by Rufus to poke at one of the shelves nearby.

"Yeah," he agreed. "It's me."

Rufus just sighed as Dark Nation lifted his head up from his paws, from where he'd been napping in front of Rufus' chair (and on Rufus' feet but, well, that happened with dogs).

His tail gave a tentative thump.

"And hi to you too, boy," Zack added, smiling a little in Dark Nation's direction. "Hey, buddy, I don't suppose you know any good books about dog training, do you? Huh?"

It was way easier to be social with the puppy, okay?

Well. That was all it took for Dark Nation to scramble up to his feet and bound over to Zack, yes it was.

Rufus rolled his eyes heavenward.

His dog had terrible taste in people.

"Aisle six," he said shortly. "On the left."

Zack, meanwhile, was giving a delighted little laugh and reaching down to scratch Dark Nation behind the ears.

"Aisle six," he echoed. "Thanks."

... He said, mostly to the dog.

"Have fun," Rufus said, which might have come out indifferently but mostly he was talking to his dog. Who he really did hope had fun.

Dark Nation wiggled and squirmed tail and tentacle flopped as much as he could. Yes, yes he was going to stick to Zack like glue, yes he was.

Zack smiled at the wiggly dog and made his way toward the aisle in question. He was quite happy to take his time over there with the dog, but after a little while, he made his way back out with a few books in hand. Completely unironically from the 'For Dummies' selection.

"Do you know if these are any good?"

He wasn't asking the dog this time.

Yeah. Rufus got that. It was tempting to take the easy insult the chance provided him with, but... SOLDIER.

Rufus was reckless. He wasn't stupid.

"They're generally well reviewed," he said, giving up on his book for now. "I haven't read them myself, however."

"I'll take that as a good sign," Zack decided, and thumped the books down on the counter. "I'll take these ones, then."

"If you want," Rufus said, looking at the titles of the books. "Nothing for you?"

That wasn't, well. Dog related.

Zack shrugged his shoulders a little.

"I mean, I thought about it," he confessed. "Something to pass the time, or maybe some kind of how-to. But then I figured... maybe another time."

Or maybe he was just wary of letting Rufus have too many insights about the way his mind worked. He'd get books about PTSD from the library instead.

Rufus gave the kind of chilly smile he used when he knew what someone wasn't saying.

He didn't know what the SOLDIER was hiding from him but--that he was? Obvious. As for why.... well, Rufus could make a guess.

"Of course," he said. "Wouldn't want to get overwhelmed."

"Yeah," Zack replied, a little dryly himself. "Being overwhelmed. Wouldn't want that."

Rufus wasn't making great strides toward making Zack actually like him.

.... he was supposed to be? Shit, Rufus wasn't entirely sure why Peridot liked him and he actually enjoyed her company.

Rufus was Bad at friends.

"Though I hear physical exertion is a good way to help with that," Rufus mused.

"What, with being overwhelmed?"

"Sure," Rufus said, without batting an eye. "It's scientifically proven to release stress, which is part of being overwhelmed. Are you doing anything to push your limits?"

"... Uh."

This was not a conversation he'd ever thought he'd be having with Rufus Shinra.

"Around here?"

There weren't exactly monsters around here.

"Oh, good!" Rufus said cheerfully as Dark Nation flopped down beside him. "I'm heading to Wutai this weekend. You may come."

It was... not... quite... an order.

"... I." Zack blnked. And then kind of squinted a little at Rufus, trying to figure out what the hell he was even thinking. "What's the mission?"

He'd already helped win the war against Wutai, once. And he'd made more than a few enemies in the process. He missed action, but he didn't exactly relish the idea of a repeat experience.

"I've narrowed down the location where three SOLDIER 3rd Class went missing," Rufus said, studying Zack coolly. "There is no sign they are dead, no indications of them going AWOL, and they have not surfaced in three months. I wish to look in the area, which is, unfortunately, in the combat zone."

Rufus was better than he let on but war-zone ready was... a different thing entirely.

And now Zack was tilting his head thoughtfully at Rufus, trying to place him in the timeline.

Maybe he didn't actually want to know. Maybe those SOLDIERs were before his time. Maybe maybe maybe...

"And the Director isn't sending more SOLDIERs in to investigate? Or the Turks?"

"This is an independent investigation," Rufus said dryly. "I have the Turks doing something else around my father's orders."

And the idea of him commanding SOLDIERs to do anything while Lazard was in charge...

"So... the President doesn't know," Zack noted, frowning thoughtfully. "Then why are you investigating?"

It wasn't like ShinRa to actually care about their missing SOLDIERs, after all. They were clearly expendable.

Rufus didn't care about the individuals. He did care about the effort that had gone into making them.

"Death happens," Rufus said bluntly. "In a war, it happens even more often. This isn't death and there are no indications that this is desertion. There are no signs that Wutai itself has kidnapped SOLDIERs for study--not that they could replicate the research quickly in any case. This is an anomaly and I will know why it is happening."

He had ideas. He suspected Deepground. But to actually be out there, to see where they'd last been seen... Rufus hadn't done that yet.

Zack frowned. He knew this was all business. And he knew the sort of business that ShinRa did. But those were SOLDIERs out there, unaccounted for, and he'd seen too many ugly things happen to good SOLDIERs over the year to just... not.

"This weekend?"

"Yes."

Rufus finished bagging the books.

"You in?"

"In uniform?"

He was thinking.

The answer was already yes.

"Up to you," he said, feeling generous. "But it would cut down on the odds of friendly fire."

And increase the questions, if they were caught, but Rufus wasn't intending on that.

Zack's jaw clenched a little, but he nodded, just once, briefly.

"Just let me know when and where to meet you."

"4am, Saturday, at the Causeway."

Rufus offered Zack his bag.

"I'll have everything else handled. If you need anything, let me know and I'll obtain it."

"I've got everything I need," Zack replied, taking his back and frowning faintly. "I'll be there."

"I'll see you then," Rufus said. "My thanks."

"Yeah," Zack replied, and then, a little more dubiously, "you're welcome."

Well. That had happened. It was an easier pill to swallow when Rufus was only asking him to dogsit.

Just wait until Zack realized that Rufus just gave him those books for free.

Rufus was maybe going to keep mental track of those books until Zack did, yes.

And the dog-sitting had been the test run, Zack. Honestly.

Look, Ma, I posted!

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Book Haven, Tuesday

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OOC