Meet and Greet [Open]

[lifetogain]

Characters: Rufus and anyone who wants to say hello
Content: A bit of exploring and introductions
Setting: Here and there on the Silvana
Time: Shortly after Rufus's first journal post

Comments

Somewhere between the engine room and living quarters

[flyfrommyself]

A small, lithe figure made its way through the halls, aiming for the common showers on the level of the living quarters. Fresh from the repairs in the engine room, the young man was dressed simply in a work shirt, jeans, steel-toed boots . . . and a great deal of dirt and grime. Oil had dripped into distinctive red-black hair, matting a section of the thick, unruly locks and staining a length of lightning-blond bangs. Grease smeared his face here and there and coated his hands and arms to the elbows like uneven, patchwork ladies' evening gloves. He'd been exceedingly clumsy, much to his chagrin, but it could hardly be helped - he was on only light duty for the time being, his dominant arm still healing from the fractures he'd taken fighting the ghost, and he was not ambidextrous. Still, it felt good to be back to work, to be doing something again, so he little begrudged the mess he'd made of himself, taking it as proof of his productivity.

But he still had his pride, and part of him really did kind of hope he could manage to get properly cleaned up before encountering any of his crewmates.

[lifetogain]

Rufus almost managed to pass the crewman by - it had been a long day, and he was more than ready to return to his room and finally sit down. All of the standing and walking he'd been doing was starting to make his knees act up. Something about the smaller man's appearance seemed familiar, though, and he slowed slightly as he approached him, frowning slightly in concentration as he tried to dig up the memory.

And then it clicked - how could he ever forget that crazy hair, even if it was splattered with grease right now? Still, he was supposed to be dead - that alone was enough to put a note of reserved caution in his voice. "...Atem?"

(OOC: Cool for Rufus to know him by his actual name, I hope?)

[flyfrommyself]

(OOC: Yep, cool! It's the only name he'd know yet, so... XD)

Yami froze, stiff with alarm at the unexpected sound of his given name. Who-?! He looked up to meet light blue eyes in a pale face, and he took a step back. "R-rufus?! Rufus Shinra?" Though he didn't really mean it quite so, his tone of voice was a fairly clear 'what the hell are you doing here?'.

Perhaps he shouldn't have been so surprised - the Silvana did take passengers of all kinds - but it had been a long day.

[lifetogain]

Well, looked like he had been right. Very interesting. He was looking forward to hearing the explanation behind this. "That would be my name, yes," Rufus replied evenly. "I must say, I hadn't expected to see you here." From Atem's expression, he hadn't either. Well, surprises weren't always a bad thing.

*digging self out of the FAIL!corner to play catch-up* TT~TT

[flyfrommyself]

((OOC: F-feel free to ignore if you want to let this go. 9,9;;;))

It took him another precious few seconds, but Yami managed to regain some measure of recovery. His head tilted slightly, locks flopping a little more than usual with the movement (being, as they were, weighted with grime) as he regarded the taller man with a small, wry grin. "Needless to say at this point, I'm sure, but . . . neither had I. What are you doing here?" It wasn't a challenge, merely a question of curiosity . . . though he couldn't help wondering what repercussions might come of this.

It's fine~ I will probably keep it going because their interaction is fun :o

[lifetogain]

Rufus returned the smile with one of his own - and for once, it was an honest one. Atem was...not quite a friend, really; but someone he knew where he stood with, knew how far the limits of his trust went. "Vacation, more or less," he replied with a shrug. "Needed a break from the city and the ten-hour work days." It was the truth, if not the whole truth. He glanced over the smaller man and took in the grease stains with a raised eyebrow. "I take it the rest of the ship doesn't know of your social status?" His family was rich enough that there should be no need for him to do physical labour - that in combination with the rumors suggested that there was something bigger underlying this. Very interesting indeed.

\o/ XDDD

[flyfrommyself]

Yami crossed his arms with a low laugh and shrugged. "What can I say? I like the feeling of accomplishment from doing something myself." He sobered a bit as he shook his head, though careful to keep his tone light still, as though it were really no big deal. "No, they don't. My social status is of no consequence here. I'm registered under the name 'Yami'. All they know is that I'm a mechanic. And a mage . . . of some kind," he added with a bit of a grimace. "But only insofar as that I can summon a few tulpas, which any Shadow Mage can do." Not that there were so many around, really, but all who were could do it.

He studied the man for another second. "A vacation . . . 'more or less'?" he ventured at length, in a tone that said he'd like to know more but wasn't going to press it.

And then my final ate me, ugh

[lifetogain]

Rufus nodded politely as Atem - or rather, Yami - spoke. "Am I correct in assuming you'd prefer your old identity not to be known, here?" It was easy enough to put two and two together, even if Yami was trying to play it down. There was definitely a story worth hearing there, but the hallway was perhaps not the best place to have it told. Particularly with his knees complaining about all the walking around he'd been doing today.

Yami's question made his heart race a little - he knew there had been a rumor or two about his illness circulating, despite his best efforts to squash them - but he merely gave the other man a polite smile as he shrugged. "Well, I can't sit around and do nothing - I can get a certain amount done via transmissions." He shifted slightly, and then added, "Perhaps we should continue this after you get cleaned up? My room is just down the hall, on the left." He indicated with a gesture.

(OOC: Feel free to time-skip to Rufus's room~)

S'okie...Christmas and a cold ate me 9,9;;;

[flyfrommyself]

"Yes, that'd be correct," Yami murmured at the first question. He suppressed a small frown at the faint reaction in Rufus, and wondered if the rumors he'd heard of late had any bearing . . . or truth. Not that it was truly any of his business, but he couldn't help the curiosity.

At the last, he nodded, his small grin turning a bit . . . sheepish. "That sounds like a plan. I'll see you in about an hour then?" At Rufus's agreement, he took his leave, slipping carefully by to avoid brushing the man and risk staining his clothes inadvertently.

In the shower room, Yami took a moment to ponder the situation. No doubt Rufus had heard things about the . . . incident at NFI, and of his own "death"/disappearance. He wondered if Rufus's presence would undermine what he had managed to work out over the past few months.

And what of Rufus's own rumors? Vacation, huh? Frankly, he doubted that. Yami didn't get the impression that Rufus Shinra was the kind to take vacation, at least not unless forced to by doctors to avoid something like a stroke or heart attack, and Rufus was too young for that. He reminded Yami of his old business associate, Seto Kaiba, in that respect. So, why the vacation . . . unless the rumors were true, at least in some part. Yami thought about that as he wrapped a towel around his hips and headed back for his own room to dress. He wondered if he'd need to know . . . in case he needed a bargaining chip to keep his own secrets buried.

He smacked his palm to his forehead at that. What was he thinking?! That route smacked of blackmail, and Yami - Atem Sanesu Faro - would not stoop to such dishonorable conduct. It was not something his father would have done, and it wasn't how he himself had been raised. End of story!

There was always an honorable way to handle a situation, even if the opponent played without honor. He just hoped Rufus wasn't one of those.

Soon enough, dressed and hair combed (and tamed as much as it was going to be), he knocked on the door Rufus had indicated was his.

No worries~!

[lifetogain]

At the knock, Rufus rose from the small writing desk in the corner of the room, carefully stowing the papers he'd been going through back in their folder. Nothing particularly sensitive - business accounts, mostly - but it helped to keep things organized. Particularly given that the room was on the small side - even if it was completely tidy at the moment. He glanced at his pocket watch - that would be Yami, most likely. A little early, but no matter. Having had some time to himself had put him in a more agreeable mood, and he found himself looking forward to the prospect of catching up with an old acquaintance.

He held the door open, and gestured for the younger man to come inside with a smile. "Take a seat where you can find one - there isn't a whole lot of space to go around."

LOL meant to say sorry for the TL;DR too btw. XD

[flyfrommyself]

As this was essentially somewhere between a casual "hang out" and something of a business meeting (in a sense), Yami had dressed up a bit - dress shirt and black slacks over nicer boots (still black leather, though). The black choker at his throat was decidedly undressy but, as he was never without it, it wouldn't seem overly out-of-place, nor would the small, black-and-purple leather belt pouch at his hip. He also wore his pendent a little more openly. Again, Rufus already knew who he really was, so . . .

Yami nodded as he stepped in, heading for the bed with a small, wry grin. "Thank you. Good thing I don't take up much of it myself." He was skinny and short and he knew it, and he didn't allow it to bother him, choosing jests over annoyance. Besides, his stature certainly had its own advantages. He sat with one ankle crossed over the other knee and leaned forward on his calf. "Well . . . I suspect we both have our stories to tell. Do we flip a coin for who goes first?" For himself, a big part of his secret was already known - his true identity - so it was actually to his advantage to be level with the man about the rest, at least to a point. Having him here and speaking with him directly, and frankly, meant Yami had some measure of control over just how much Rufus knew or could confirm.

It was delicious tl;dr!

[lifetogain]

Rufus couldn't help but smile at that - while he had always been on the small side of average, Yami had always been far, far smaller, and he couldn't say he minded not being the shortest one in the room for once. He pulled the chair at the desk over closer to where Yami was sitting, and took a seat himself. He had taken off his jacket and hung it up when he got back inside, but was otherwise still fully dressed - dove-grey slacks, a crisp linen shirt, complete with a subdued patterned waistcoat and ascot. He knew Yami already, but appearances still counted for a lot - if he could keep those up, it was easier to believe that everything was still as it should be.

"You first, I think - mine isn't very interesting." Not entirely true - Rufus knew the society gossipmongers would love to know the full details of his illness, anything that could be used to tear him down, really - but he wasn't planning on sharing that. Not even with someone he had some trust in, like Yami.

I'm an author known more for novels than short stories. 9,9;;;

[flyfrommyself]

Yami's crooked grin turned more than a little rueful. "That's probably pretty true, comparatively." He drew a breath and asked, "Start with what you already know? Or have heard?"

[lifetogain]

Rufus shrugged lightly. "Not a great deal - I was a bit busy with some other things at the time, so I only heard the rumors after the fact. Just that there was an incident at one of your facilities, and you had disappeared. Most of what I heard assumed that you were dead." It had been a little bit of bad timing, really - he'd spent most of the two weeks surrounding whatever had happened asleep, trying to recover, and by the time he'd felt well enough to pick up his various social connections again, the rumors had gotten so confused and diluted that figure out what the real truth was had been impossible.

[flyfrommyself]

'Busy with some other things' - Yami couldn't help but guess those to be the source of Rufus's own rumors.

"An . . . 'incident', yes," he conceded with a soft sigh, "if the release of a major demon into our world from an abyssal plane of existence can be termed just 'an incident'." Not that he was faulting Rufus's use of the word - his own people had started that to downplay things for the public - but it still rode badly with him. There was more than a little bitterness in his tone as he spoke, but then he stuffed down his own feelings and misgivings on the subject, sticking to facts. "The Shadow Realm, where we draw our energies from, is just that - a realm. There are countless realms beyond our own, which many magic-users and metaphysicists refer to as the Prime Material Plane. One of my research groups theorized that the energies of the Shadows could be used to open a portal to another realm besides ours, since they can do so to ours already." He leaned back on his hands with a soft huff. "Well . . . they were right. They were also severely under-prepared to deal with the consequences." He paused a moment as his thoughts drifted back to those nightmarish hours, then said softly. "We lost a lot of lives that day. Too many . . . "

His voice trailed off. He'd continue in a moment whether prodded or not, but . . . it was still too fresh and difficult to talk about without some struggle.

[lifetogain]

Rufus was a little surprised by the bitterness in Yami's voice - though if what he said was true, he had reason for it. It was quite a story, but Yami had always been one of the honest ones. Not exactly a stand-out trait in the world of business, where subterfuge and careful half-truths were far more effective - here, though, he was inclined to believe the story. "That really is one hell of an incident. How did it lead to your disappearance, though? Given that you appear to not actually be deceased," he added.