Have A Hair Of The Dog That Bit Someone Else. (COMPLETE)

[silver_soldier]

Sephiroth stepped into the First District cafe with a genuine sigh of relief. Not only was he grateful to be away from the hotel, swarming as it was with strange people - and Dante, whom Sephiroth had his doubts qualified as a person, exactly, he seemed more of a creature - but he was simply glad to be somewhere warm. He didn't have enough munny to

Comments

[grumpy_lion]

The lion was indeed grumpy. In fact, Leon looked more than grumpy. He looked irritated and strained, gloved fingertips rubbing at his temple to indicate that he was clearly nursing a headache that only appeared to be getting worse by the minute.

When Sephiroth settled down on the seat across from him, Leon paused, his features clearing slightly. Obviously, Sephiroth's tardiness was the least of the causes for his current state, and he waved off the apology, shaking his head. "It's fine," he muttered, picking up his empty cup and peering into it before setting it aside wearily.

"You got here just in time to miss the idiot I was talking to. Consider yourself lucky."

[silver_soldier]

Sephiroth wasn't particularly surprised, upon closer observation of Leon, that his lateness - which was relative anyway; they hadn't exactly agreed on a specific time to meet - wasn't the real cause of the man's irritation. He hadn't been late enough to justify that much of a headache on the other man's part, yet Leon looked...well, he looked rather like how Sephiroth had been feeling since after his reunion with Zack, Cloud, and Aerith, a look as if things had been going steadily downhill for hours and there wasn't any sign of fortunes changing on the horizon.

"I've talked to my share of idiots today myself," he said, somewhat drily. He charitably decided not to include Zack in that category for the moment, despite some of the evidence he'd been given. "That I've managed to dodge one actually comes as a surprise."

[grumpy_lion]

"... Flypaper for idiots," he muttered under his breath, lowering his fingers from his temple in defeat. It wasn't helping his headache at all. He doubted anything short of a day's -- or night's? -- worth of sleep could remedy that, and he was determined to lay off the booze for as long as he could take it.

Leon shook his head at Sephiroth, somehow feeling oddly relieved that there was someone in this damn town who understood. "Perhaps not for long. Goes by the name Dante. From what he's told me, it appears he plans on setting up some kind of shop here." Gods, what a depressing thought.

The waitress finally came by again to refill his cup, shooting both men an odd look before asking Sephiroth if he would like anything.

[silver_soldier]

Sephiroth couldn't help snorting at Leon's rather apt description of himself, a description he might have to borrow someday; apparently Sephiroth wasn't the only one who attracted annoyance attention from a number of people he'd rather avoid.

He couldn't help grimacing, however, when he heard the name of Leon's tormentor. "Dante? I've met him. He fell through the roof of the hotel just a little while ago." His expression was...somewhat dubious at best as he went on to add, "Not that he's much the worse for wear despite that, suspicious as that is. He doesn't seem to have made much of a better impression on you than he did on me." Leon's irritation made much more sense now; the nicknames that Dante threw around alone were enough to inspire teeth-grinding aggravation. "Unfortunately, you'll probably be seeing more of him - he can't pay for the damage he did to the hotel, at least not in munny, so Zack and I got him to agree to repair the damage personally

[grumpy_lion]

"What?"

The lion's exclamation startled the waitress, who nodded at Sephiroth and hurried away to fetch the former General his drink. Leon rarely lost his cool. His aggravation was usually the passive I'm-not-taking-this-shit sort.

"That son of a bitch fell through the roof?" Leon sat back -- he needed to -- and ran a hand over his face, swearing under his breath. It was bad enough that the hotel had turned into a nuthouse, but now people were destroying it?

"Hyne," he sighed, struggling to calm down. He heartilly wished Dante had suffered for it. Leon doubted the man was capable of doing anything other than causing the place more damage, and it didn't help that he would probably be running into the idiot pretty often while he was making repairs.

[silver_soldier]

"Unfortunately, yes." Sephiroth gave Leon a sympathetic, if helpless, shrug in response. "The hallway is as cold as the outside now. Hopefully he doesn't waste too much time before settling down to fix it, although given his attitude I don't think that's likely. I wouldn't be surprised if he skipped town, to be honest, except that he seems like a new arrival - he didn't even know what munny was - so he's probably stranded here until he can find a ship."

Eyeing Leon, Sephiroth decided he'd better give the man all the bad news now, rather than dragging it out. "The hotel's really filled up, too. I think Zack and I have lost our room already; I don't know if you'll have a room to yourself when you get back." His expression darkened a bit. "Hell knows I don't."

[grumpy_lion]

Leon lowered his hand from his face, making sound of annoyance. He reached for his cup of coffee and began to add more sugar than was probably healthy, but the old lion didn't appear to notice. He was making an effort to calm himself down. Losing his cool in front of the formal general just wasn't dignified.

The waitress returned with Sephiroth's brandy and quickly made herself scarce again. Meanwhile, Leon's aggravation deepened as Sephiroth plied him with more bad news. He made an helpless, irritated gesture and sighed, lifting the cup to his lips. "I wouldn't be surprised," he muttered over the rim, but at least it appeared that Leon had gotten some of his anger under control.

Leon took a sip and suppressed a grimace. Too sweet. "I'm supposed to be rooming with Zell, but he plans on leaving Traverse to head for the Colisuem soon." If he hadn't already. The last time Leon saw the blond, he was still passed out drunk on the bed. "If it's still available, you and Zack are welcome to stay."

[silver_soldier]

Sephiroth picked up his drink, taking a healthy (or unhealthy, depending on one's views of liquor) swallow and almost sighing with pleasure as it burned its way down his throat. The day, if any period of time in Traverse could be called day, hadn't exactly been a good one - more like a long, confusing, and occasionally outright aggravating one - but sane company and a drink he could at least steep his troubles in, if not actually drown them, were improving matters a bit.

"I appreciate the offer," he said when Leon made his offer, inclining his head slightly in the other man's direction. "I don't know whether or not it will be necessary to take you up on it, or even if I'll be here long enough to do so. An utter bastard - " He couldn't keep the bitter annoyance out of his voice, and didn't make much of an effort to try anyway, " - stole my coat, which among other things had all my munny in it. I'll need to return to the Coliseum soon to earn more."

[grumpy_lion]

Leon shrugged at the thanks, and forced himself to take another sip of too sweet coffee.

Ugh. Thinking about the Coliseum still made Leon squirm with shame -- among other uncomfortable things. Naturally, he hadn't stopped kicking himself over that lapse of sheer stupidity. What on earth had compelled him to fly a gummi ship there drunk off his ass and actually challenge someone? What was worse, the thought of going there right now would have been immensely appealing with the things he had to put with tonight, but he was more than unwilling to show his face there just yet.

But Leon didn't want to think about that. Leon raised a brow at Sephiroth. "Who's the utter bastard?" he asked. Surely not Dante. The man hadn't been here when Sephiroth first "misplaced" the coat. How surprising that someone would go ahead and steal it.

[silver_soldier]

Sephiroth ran a hand over his face, not that this hid the grimace that crossed his features. Just as the Coliseum was an uncomfortable topic for Leon, Axel was an uncomfortable topic for Sephiroth. He'd never thought just one man could grate on his nerves so much.

"I don't know if you've met Zack," he said heavily, "but he's a friend of mine. He was - abducted and experimented on by a redhead named Axel - he's got marks under his eyes, you can't miss him. I saw Axel earlier today, and I dropped my coat so I could have both hands free to fight him, kill him if I could - and then Zack himself stopped me. I've no idea why. Either way, I left my coat there for about ten minutes, and when I came back it was gone...and then Zack told me, just a little while ago, that he saw Axel wearing it." Sephiroth abruptly picked up his glass and drained half of it before giving Leon a wry smile. "It's been a long day."

[grumpy_lion]

Leon stared at Sephiroth with a look of disbelief. Aerith had informed him of recent events -- including Zack's abduction -- which had been precisely why he'd retreated to the café in the first place. Leon knew about Axel, and from what Aerith told him, this man was clearly up to something dangerous.

"That man was here?" he demanded. "And Zack stopped --" Leon stopped to shake his head. He set the cup down on the table with a look of disgust. "That doesn't make any sense," he sighed. Why would Zack protect the man who had kidnapped, imprisoned and experimented on him?

Nice. Not only was Zack annoying, he was a lunatic, too. Perfect. Leon wondered if he should bother apologizing to him at all.

"Too long," he agreed after a pause. Leon sighed. "I'll buy you another drink. I could go for one myself."

[silver_soldier]

"Apparently he comes and goes as he pleases." Sephiroth grimaced again. He didn't like the thought of Axel being able to show up wherever and whenever he liked, especially not given what they knew he was capable of. "And yes, I know it doesn't make any sense, but when you're friends with Zack...you can get used to just about anything after awhile. I admit that this is out there even for him, but - "

Sephiroth glanced up at Leon. He was certainly in no position to turn down charity, or in a mood to refuse a drink. "Thanks," he said with a slight nod. "If I could, I'd offer to reciprocate - after dealing with Dante, I'm sure you could use one. Or five."

[grumpy_lion]

Leon scowled darkly. From what both Sephiroth and Aerith had told him, Leon had no doubt that if he ever came across this Axel, he would have no reservations about fighting and injuring the man severely. He may have owed Zack an apology, but he would be damned if he let that fucking idiot keep him from dealing with someone who posed a potential threat to all theyw ere working to undo.

These were thoughts Leon kept to hismelf, however. Zack was Sephiroth's friend, even if he didn't understand how that was possible, and it would probably make a bad impression on the formal general to speak ill of him.

Leon snorted softly. "You've said it," he muttered darkly, but otherwise the lion appeared to have calmed down slightly. "You're welcome to return the favor next time." He glanced to the side and caught the waitress's eye. The young woman made her way over, vaguely nervous. Who could blame her? They were formidable and agitated. "Another brandy and a shot of bourbon," he said, as he fished munny out of his pockets.