Day 48: Courtyard

[thatdamnedninja]

"I could tell you some stories," Yuffie suggested brightly, "of unquestionable legality." Illegality, that was. Petty little things like the law didn't usually mean very much to her, except for the times when she had to uphold it. Always fun for the breaking, though, the law, and messy for the clean-up. Just the way she liked it

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[zack_fair]

If Aidou didn't have anywhere specific that he wanted to go, then Zack was content with just taking a stroll as they talked. It would allow him to get a good idea of the scope of this courtyard, and what he was quickly realizing was that it wasn't all that big. Enough to allow them to stretch their legs, but that was about it. An illusion of freedom, but he knew better. No one was going to find their wings here.

It was still preferable to a mako-filled tube, though. So long as he kept that in mind, he would never be able to get too downtrodden. It was like that was his style, anyway.

When Aidou pointed, Zack couldn't help staring down in mild awe. So there was a basement here? This was the first he'd heard of it, but he wasn't surprised to discover that that was the place to be. The Shin-Ra mansion had been the same way. Down in that basement was where four years of his life had been wasted, and yet Zack felt no trepidation at the prospect of venturing into this one. They needed to get to the bottom of this!

"All right," he said as he looked up again. He was still unclear about how Aidou knew that multiple people were necessary, but he'd leave it alone for now. "So who's our third man gonna be?" he asked. Or, err, third woman, if that's the case," he clarified with a grin. Zack wasn't one to discount someone's skills because of gender. He knew some women out there were tough as nails. Cissnei was proof enough of that.

Speaking of which, where was the Turk? He'd have to check up on her if he could. Or leave a note for her, at the very least.

[blood_and_pocky]

Ah, yes, one variable always involved in picking teams were temperaments. And the fact that Zack seemed the type to accept some things as they came without distracting Aidou with a bunch of pointless questions or outbursts or other mental fits was fine by him. He eyed the human, assigning a few more ‘like’ points to him. The basement had been chalk full of messy and somewhat rough plans from the beginning, Aidou knew this, but the lack of proper preparation would be much easier if the people he had to work with could just deal with things instead of getting on the noble’s nerves.

A part of this was the willingness to follow Aidou’s words without second-guessing him, but that went without saying.

“Someone I’ve been cooperating with regarding the basement for a while. His name is Sasuke and he‘s already in,” Aidou answered. He didn’t hold prejudice against females, either, considering the balanced scales of the vampire world, but most of the women he’d had dealings with in the Institute were all deficient for the job in some way. Anise was the latest example of that. If Aidou happened to be hurt again in front of someone like her…

Well, he couldn’t necessarily trust Zack in that regard, either. He’d just have to ensure there was no reason to reveal his nature if it came down to working together.

[zack_fair]

So Aidou already had someone else in mind, huh? It looked like he would be the third piece of the puzzle, then. Zack was going to feel even worse if he had to decline, in that case. It sounded like Aidou was more or less ready to put his plan into action, and Zack would be holding him back if he had to devote his time to something else.

As for having to work with a third person who he didn't know, that wasn't something that concerned Zack much. He didn't have issues when it came to teaming up with strangers, since it didn't take long for them to not be strangers anymore. He was sure he'd get along with this Sasuke guy just fine.

"If not tonight, then tomorrow night for sure," he said decidedly. Zack was sure he could coordinate that with his friends. While he would have liked to work together with them as well (Cloud specifically), he was sure they'd have all sorts of time for that. He felt bad about ZEX, too, but he'd technically made this promise to Aidou first -- not to mention he got the feeling that Aidou's issue was a bit more urgent than ZEX's.

Then, the intercom went off and Zack paused in his walking. He glanced over toward the doors that led back into the building and watched as more nurses piled out to come round them all up. "Guess our time's up," he said with a small shrug. "I'll get a hold of you over that board, okay?"

[blood_and_pocky]

That would work. If Sasuke had his other business to attend to then, well, Aidou would figure something else out to round out a three-person group. Almost any other fighter-type would be preferable to cooperating with an ex-human again; if he looked at things that way, he had a hell of a lot more choices. There was always the option of helping Sasuke in order for Sasuke to be free later…

Outwardly, Aidou just nodded and gave an acknowledging, “Okay,” while inwardly suppressing a scowl at Landel’s routine interruption. It was exceptionally infuriating that afternoon, though. Ugh, that fool! What he wouldn’t give to end that life once and for all.

At least his morning hadn’t been a total waste. This’d been something resembling progress.