Riku watched Reno go--if a blind man could be said to watch--and then snorted quietly. Now that the drunkard was out of range, he began to relax a little, letting tense muscles unknit and his clenched jaw smooth out.
"Friend of yours?" he asked dryly, tilting his head in Sephiroth's direction. As much as the General had annoyed him on their first meeting, he was beginning to warm up to the man, just a little. They seemed to have similar views on stupidity.
While striking up the conversation with Sephiroth, Riku turned his body a little so that Naminé was included in the small circle of conversation rather than being hidden protectively behind him. He gave her a brief, encouraging smile, as if to show that things were all right now. It was a mark of respect to Sephiroth that Riku would allow this; he still trusted himself to be able to intervene in time if the mage tried anything funny, but at the moment, it didn't seem like Sephiroth was interested in that. The glimmer of thought in the back of his mind told him that maybe, just maybe, he and the General had gotten off on the wrong foot.
With the redhead wandering off, the peace of Traverse Town seemed to have been restored. Naminé was sure that she wasn't the only one glad for it, but things seemed to only get stranger when Riku actually started up a conversation with the other man... what was he called... Sephiroth? Naminé thought Riku referred to him as dangerous. Maybe he meant the other one?
Riku visibly relaxed, a sign that things were well. Naminé had to wonder though... did they know each other? Even she could see the slight similarities in appearance, although it probably didn't mean anything.
Still... she just had to wonder.
Her mouth opened and closed, as if she wanted to say something, but decided against it. Oh well, what did she have to lose?
"Um... are you two... friends?" Naminé hesitantly asked, although she wasn't sure 'friend' could be the right term.
Two inquiries of friendship in the space of a minute, in relation to two different people. Sephiroth elected to answer Riku first, as he'd been the first to ask. "Reno is someone I know from my homeworld," he explained. "We're not what you'd call...fond of each other, but he can be a decent fighter when he's sober - however rare an occasion that is - and it'd be a shame if he wasted his talent getting himself killed over something stupid." He shook his head. "Unfortunately, he worked for a...different organization than the one I belonged to, so I've no authority over him."
Turning his attention to Namine, he shook his head - she, at least, could see the body language. "I met Riku earlier, when he was...helping a friend of mine. I wouldn't call us friends, but I at least know who he is."
Riku snorted softly at the description of his relationship to the taller man. "Naminé, this is Sephiroth. He's a friend of Zack's. I met him when I, ah, returned his friend." Then he turned to Sephiroth. "This is Naminé's first time in Traverse Town," he explained. The undercurrent in his voice clearly said, So don't fuck it up.
"Sorry about that," Riku continued, turning to Naminé. "This place tends towards unpleasant people, especially in this district." His light contempt for Traverse Town as a whole was plain in both his tone and the pursing of his lips.
Helping a friend... Naminé could only guess it was Zack, and Riku confirmed it. No wonder the two looked like they knew each other. The mention of Zack, naturally, made her think of Axel, and thinking of Axel made her wonder how he was doing.
Hopefully, he still wasn't sick...
"Mmhmm," Naminé nodded when Riku said this was her first time here. And oh, what an adventure this visit had been so far. She wondered with a mix of horror and fascination what (or whom) they would encounter next.
"It's OK. I'm actually enjoying myself," Naminé assured Riku truthfully, idly gripping her sketchbook thoughtfully. Maybe when they got back she could draw this out...
He didn't miss the unspoken warning in Riku's voice, and wasn't particularly appreciative of it. What the hell did Riku think he was going to do, anyway? "If this is your first time here, I suppose it was simply your bad luck to run into someone like Reno," he said, directing the comment at Naminé. "The town isn't bad, if you don't mind eternal night." He glanced between her and Riku. He didn't sense a speck of darkness in her, and she appeared at the very least to be a surprisingly nice girl...
What the hell was she doing with Riku, who dripped darkness and oozed suspicion?
"Be careful," he warned her. "There are a lot of Heartless in this district, and the Second." He'd sensed a lot of power and darkness from Riku, but he wasn't sure he'd trust a blind man to fight Heartless - if Riku was her escort, Sephiroth hoped the man knew what he was doing.
Naminé smiled at his warnings, not to offend Sephiroth, but to let him know that she didn't mind the little encounter with the funny redhaired man... Reno?
"It's OK, I actually live with someone like that named Axe-" Naminé halted herself just in time, suddenly casting a fearful glance over to him. Axel was the one who kidnapped his friend... she wasn't sure if Sephiroth knew it was him or not, but if he did, she just pretty much threw herself into a very, very bad situation.
"Um... yeah, it's always night in my world too," She quickly changed the subject, trying to hide her reddened cheeks as she blushed furiously at her slip-up.
It wasn't Naminé's fault, and Riku knew it, but it did make for a very awkward situation when she mentioned Axel's name. Riku heard her trying to salvage the conversation, but if Sephiroth was sharp, the damage had already been done. His only hope was to try to get them out of there before the General made the connection and had time to call them on it. He and Sephiroth hadn't come to blows last time, and the man had known that Riku and Axel were housemates (castlemates?). With any luck, he could keep up the trend of nonviolence.
"We should head on," he said to Naminé, starting to usher her towards the second district while giving Sephiroth a curt nod of politeness and farewell. "You'll want to be back home before too long." It was partially an excuse to get them away from the unpredictable mage, but Riku also worried privately about how DiZ would take it if he happened to go looking for Naminé and find her missing. In all honesty, Riku didn't want to know.
Outwardly, Sephiroth's expression didn't change - he knew better than that. Obviously Naminé had tried to catch herself before the name slipped out, and Riku seemed similarly tense; they hadn't wanted him to catch what the girl had said, and so it was wisest to pretend that he hadn't.
But there weren't a hell of a lot of names that began with 'Axe'.
That at least explains how Riku found Zack...if the girl lives with him, and Riku knows her...
"Where is your home?" he asked after the two retreating figures, directing the question mostly at Naminé. If they thought he hadn't caught on, the question seemed fairly innocent. He doubted they'd be fooled, much less give him a location, but he'd be damned if he didn't at least make an attempt...and maybe, in the interests of giving him some sort of diplomatic answer, they'd reveal more than they intended.
Naminé didn't say anything when Riku suggested they should go, but she nodded and got the message anyway. She did do a polite curtsy to Sephiroth before they left, but still kept her silence. She didn't want to mess up even more than she already had...
But Sephiroth didn't seem to be wanting to let them go so easily when he asked his question. It didn't look like he caught on, and it seemed natural he'd want to know where she lived. This was a refugee world, right?
But... she couldn't answer that, could she?
Naminé gave a curious look towards Riku, although she wasn't sure he could see it. Were they going to answer that or not?
Riku put a discreet hand on Naminé's elbow; not a tight grip, but enough to either fling her out of the way of danger or guide her towards safety if necessary. He couldn't see the younger girl's expression, but he could hear the very slight change in her breathing, could smell the difference in the quality of her light, faintly vanilla scent. Even without those clues, he knew that the situation was in his hands.
"Nowhere you could get to," Riku replied, turning his head just enough so that the blindfold would be just visible to Sephiroth past the hanging locks of Riku's hair. He turned away again and kept walking, lightly steering Naminé with him.
"Ask Zack about it sometime if you really want to know."
And there it was - all the confirmation Sephiroth needed. Somewhere a man whose name began with 'Axe' lived, that Zack had been to and knew something about; that narrowed down the options to the point where there really was only one.
It didn't tell him how to get there himself, of course(and he'd be damned if he'd take Riku's word on whether or not getting there was possible), but maybe Zack could help on that front.
No matter what, though, there was no way he was just going to let these kids walk off.
"Wherever you're from," he said, voice deceptively calm, "I expect you do things differently there...but where I come from, we don't generally protect kidnappers." His eyes flickered back and forth between Naminé and Riku, measuring their expressions. "And you can't reasonably expect me to simply chalk it up to cultural differences and let it slide."
His hand was on the hilt of Masamune. To hell with Zack's judgment, people who tried to defend a man duplicating Ansem's experiments were - what was that term? Accessories? In any case, they were hardly innocent. He wasn't attacking, not yet - but if Riku struck first, and that now seemed more than likely...
"Friend of yours?" he asked dryly, tilting his head in Sephiroth's direction. As much as the General had annoyed him on their first meeting, he was beginning to warm up to the man, just a little. They seemed to have similar views on stupidity.
While striking up the conversation with Sephiroth, Riku turned his body a little so that Naminé was included in the small circle of conversation rather than being hidden protectively behind him. He gave her a brief, encouraging smile, as if to show that things were all right now. It was a mark of respect to Sephiroth that Riku would allow this; he still trusted himself to be able to intervene in time if the mage tried anything funny, but at the moment, it didn't seem like Sephiroth was interested in that. The glimmer of thought in the back of his mind told him that maybe, just maybe, he and the General had gotten off on the wrong foot.
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Riku visibly relaxed, a sign that things were well. Naminé had to wonder though... did they know each other? Even she could see the slight similarities in appearance, although it probably didn't mean anything.
Still... she just had to wonder.
Her mouth opened and closed, as if she wanted to say something, but decided against it. Oh well, what did she have to lose?
"Um... are you two... friends?" Naminé hesitantly asked, although she wasn't sure 'friend' could be the right term.
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Turning his attention to Namine, he shook his head - she, at least, could see the body language. "I met Riku earlier, when he was...helping a friend of mine. I wouldn't call us friends, but I at least know who he is."
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"Sorry about that," Riku continued, turning to Naminé. "This place tends towards unpleasant people, especially in this district." His light contempt for Traverse Town as a whole was plain in both his tone and the pursing of his lips.
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Hopefully, he still wasn't sick...
"Mmhmm," Naminé nodded when Riku said this was her first time here. And oh, what an adventure this visit had been so far. She wondered with a mix of horror and fascination what (or whom) they would encounter next.
"It's OK. I'm actually enjoying myself," Naminé assured Riku truthfully, idly gripping her sketchbook thoughtfully. Maybe when they got back she could draw this out...
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He didn't miss the unspoken warning in Riku's voice, and wasn't particularly appreciative of it. What the hell did Riku think he was going to do, anyway? "If this is your first time here, I suppose it was simply your bad luck to run into someone like Reno," he said, directing the comment at Naminé. "The town isn't bad, if you don't mind eternal night." He glanced between her and Riku. He didn't sense a speck of darkness in her, and she appeared at the very least to be a surprisingly nice girl...
What the hell was she doing with Riku, who dripped darkness and oozed suspicion?
"Be careful," he warned her. "There are a lot of Heartless in this district, and the Second." He'd sensed a lot of power and darkness from Riku, but he wasn't sure he'd trust a blind man to fight Heartless - if Riku was her escort, Sephiroth hoped the man knew what he was doing.
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"It's OK, I actually live with someone like that named Axe-" Naminé halted herself just in time, suddenly casting a fearful glance over to him. Axel was the one who kidnapped his friend... she wasn't sure if Sephiroth knew it was him or not, but if he did, she just pretty much threw herself into a very, very bad situation.
"Um... yeah, it's always night in my world too," She quickly changed the subject, trying to hide her reddened cheeks as she blushed furiously at her slip-up.
Leave it to her to mess things up...
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It wasn't Naminé's fault, and Riku knew it, but it did make for a very awkward situation when she mentioned Axel's name. Riku heard her trying to salvage the conversation, but if Sephiroth was sharp, the damage had already been done. His only hope was to try to get them out of there before the General made the connection and had time to call them on it. He and Sephiroth hadn't come to blows last time, and the man had known that Riku and Axel were housemates (castlemates?). With any luck, he could keep up the trend of nonviolence.
"We should head on," he said to Naminé, starting to usher her towards the second district while giving Sephiroth a curt nod of politeness and farewell. "You'll want to be back home before too long." It was partially an excuse to get them away from the unpredictable mage, but Riku also worried privately about how DiZ would take it if he happened to go looking for Naminé and find her missing. In all honesty, Riku didn't want to know.
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But there weren't a hell of a lot of names that began with 'Axe'.
That at least explains how Riku found Zack...if the girl lives with him, and Riku knows her...
"Where is your home?" he asked after the two retreating figures, directing the question mostly at Naminé. If they thought he hadn't caught on, the question seemed fairly innocent. He doubted they'd be fooled, much less give him a location, but he'd be damned if he didn't at least make an attempt...and maybe, in the interests of giving him some sort of diplomatic answer, they'd reveal more than they intended.
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But Sephiroth didn't seem to be wanting to let them go so easily when he asked his question. It didn't look like he caught on, and it seemed natural he'd want to know where she lived. This was a refugee world, right?
But... she couldn't answer that, could she?
Naminé gave a curious look towards Riku, although she wasn't sure he could see it. Were they going to answer that or not?
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"Nowhere you could get to," Riku replied, turning his head just enough so that the blindfold would be just visible to Sephiroth past the hanging locks of Riku's hair. He turned away again and kept walking, lightly steering Naminé with him.
"Ask Zack about it sometime if you really want to know."
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It didn't tell him how to get there himself, of course(and he'd be damned if he'd take Riku's word on whether or not getting there was possible), but maybe Zack could help on that front.
No matter what, though, there was no way he was just going to let these kids walk off.
"Wherever you're from," he said, voice deceptively calm, "I expect you do things differently there...but where I come from, we don't generally protect kidnappers." His eyes flickered back and forth between Naminé and Riku, measuring their expressions. "And you can't reasonably expect me to simply chalk it up to cultural differences and let it slide."
His hand was on the hilt of Masamune. To hell with Zack's judgment, people who tried to defend a man duplicating Ansem's experiments were - what was that term? Accessories? In any case, they were hardly innocent. He wasn't attacking, not yet - but if Riku struck first, and that now seemed more than likely...
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