Day 28: Main Street

[hajike_tobiume]

[ from hereMomo headed down what she suspected was the center street for the town. She noted the various businesses as she walked, as well as the increased staff presence, and kept to herself. If she was going to be wandering around lost in her own thoughts, she might as well get a feel for the town

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[gald_digger]

[from here, if it's okay?]

Main Street looked like a good place to start. Anise could make out a number of signs indicating various shops down the road. With that many specialty stores, Doyleton appeared to be a little more developed than a lot of the towns she was used to seeing on Auldrant. It also seemed more active, but perhaps that was just because of the presence of the Landel's staff and patients today.

If there was a post office, it would probably be on a street like this one, right? She just had to learn who the nation's authorities were, send a plea by carrier pigeon, and help would be on the way! ...Maybe. It was worth a try!

As she walked, Anise caught a glimpse of a pile of books in a window just out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head to get a better look. Was there a library here? Without realizing, she had walked right past it! If any place had information, that would have to be it.

But as she was thinking this, she had been neglecting to watch where she was going, and absently walked headfirst into a much taller man who had been standing in front of her. The collision made the tiny girl stumble back a few steps before she regained her balance. "A-ah! I'm sorry!"

[theheirshinra]

Rufus flinched at someone impacting with him, the Shin-Ra president steadying himself quickly and gazing down at the girl with a quirked eyebrow. This wasn't what he had been expected. Another attack by Farfarello perhaps, but not this.

His vision dipped and swayed on him before righting, whatever mild flu he had still insisting on hanging on. It was the flu. It had to be. It couldn't be something more sinister or terrible. That thought was quickly put away before he let himself get more than a glimpse of it.

"Are you all right?" he asked, polite when circumstances called for it.

[gald_digger]

Bumping into people was something Anise did a lot. It didn't help that she was a head or two shorter than the average person, making it difficult for anyone to even see her.

She smiled all-too-brightly at him. "I'm fine! I just got a little distracted..." She cast a glance back at the bookstore, then looked back up at the man. He had a fairly handsome face, and some good manners, at least. He had to be a patient, right? Good-looking men usually didn't live in backwater towns like this, she thought.

Well! That bookstore wasn't going anywhere. Might as well see what she could get out of this guy in the meantime!

"Um... have you seen a post office or anything like that around here?" Probably not, but it was worth asking! If she was really lucky, then maybe she could rope him into helping her out.

[theheirshinra]

Rufus eyed the girl with a fair amount of wariness. In his experience, if it looked cute and fuzzy, it was probably armed with sharp teeth, claws, or in the case of Tifa, hard fists. None of those were enjoyable and tended to inflict pain on delicate parts of himself, especially the last.

"So I see," he said, sidling a step back. "I can't say that I have seen any sort of post office. I don't even know if this town has one. Interesting though, however."

That too happy smile was probably what worried him the most. Way too adorable for his good. There was probably a horrible demon inside just waiting to spring out and eat someone. Preferrably not him. Maybe he could sic it on Kadaj.

"I did hear a man talking about a post office. He had white hair down to just a bit past his shoulder with green eyes. Went by the name of Kadaj. I bet he could tell you exactly where it was."

[gald_digger]

That answer confirmed it: he was definitely a patient. This meant she wouldn't have to watch her mouth for fear of sounding too weird. ...Which didn't exactly mean that she wouldn't be watching her mouth for other reasons, but it was a start.

"Kadaj..." she mused, committing the name and description to memory. She cocked her head to the side, and with wide doe eyes glanced around the man and down the street. There wasn't anyone matching that description in sight. "Where did you see him?" Booo. She wasn't expected to search the whole town for him, was she? And more importantly...

Was this guy trying to get rid of her? Anise easily recognized (from experience, she hated to admit) the body language indicating a rejection. But even if he was trying to shove her away in a graceful manner, she wasn't done with him yet! There was something she needed to find out before going off to find Kadaj or the post office: who to write.

Casually, she gave a sigh. "Ooh... Since we can't run away, I was hoping we could get help from the outside... even though I don't know who I would try to contact..." She appeared to be fighting feelings of discouragement when she abruptly turned those doe eyes back on him. "Do you know anything about the outside? Anything at all."

[theheirshinra]

A little known fact about Rufus Shinra was that he did not like kids. That was a flat out unvarnished truth. He didn't like children, didn't trust them, didn't find them cute, and didn't want one within thirty feet of himself. They drooled, demanded, had dirty little hands they always wanted to put on his white clothing, and a whole load of other inconvenient or nasty things. And they cost money, a lot of it. That was nigh unforgivable.

Thus he felt little to no guilt at sending this one off on a wild goose-chase that led her far away from him. Pointing back towards Main Street, he gave her a small smile.

"He went that way back towards the buses. I'm sure that if you look there you'll find him. He said something about sitting down there to write a few letters since it was the one quiet place."

Rufus shook head slow to her last thoughts, keeping back a bit from her still. Some might have seen cute doe eyes. Rufus saw someone trying to lure him in for some reason.

"Maybe you should try a mother, father, family member, or something. I don't know people on the outside on this world."

[gald_digger]

Ack! The doe eyes weren't working! No matter how much cuteness she threw at him, he didn't seem to warm up to her at all.

Anise whirled her head around to look behind her. Back there? She hated running around in circles, but if somebody had gotten the same idea as her and was acting on it... she had to find him!

She frowned just slightly at the reply to her last question, while inwardly she seethed at being treated like a child. "Boooo. If I knew anyone who knew anything about this world, I would have asked them already!" So it definitely looked like she wasn't going to get any answers from this guy. Fine!

"I better find him before he moves again," she decided aloud, in a voice that was nearly a grumble. Then she brightened again. "Thanks for the help! Bye-bye!" With a smile and a cheerful wave in direct contradiction of her demeanor of just moments ago, she turned and ran back towards the buses.

[Moving back here you bastard :(]

[theheirshinra]

Rufus felt a brand of relief as the girl left him be. Some things were simply too good to be true. For his part, he was getting while the getting was good. He'd suspected there was a monster hiding inside that brat, and she was proving him right. Catching sight of a park, he headed for there. Surely there were enough people ot lose her there if she came back.

((Rufus manfully fled went here))