[Closed]

[i_love_squats]

Who: Zack Fair i_love_squats and Tseng fingersloophole
When: 3/13
Where: Prayer tree then… wherever it leads from there
Format: Paragraph.
What: Zack is mopey and Tseng...well, is Tseng.
Warnings: Copious amounts of booze and angst.

Comments

[fingersloophole]

Tseng had determined the only way to mend a broken heart was to break it even further. Booze helped make the process bearable. And he intended to get Zack drunk enough to cause worry. He had a bottle of what would have to do for sake, and had lured Zack with it like a stray cat with a can of tuna

[i_love_squats]

Zack had expected to do another ten miles of walking; part of him had it in his head that Tseng would probably want to tire him out so that he couldn’t be any more depressed than he already was (or worse yet, talk about it). And hey, then the alcohol would work better, so everyone wins

[fingersloophole]

It was a little amusing to see how Zack did things. Methodically. The knot was the same he'd use to bind a captive or secure a tent post. Tseng hasn't lived in Wutai most of his life (far from it, actually) but he'd at least inherited the idea that there was a specific way to do each task. He rarely improvised

[i_love_squats]

Lost in thought and prayer, Zack didn’t even notice Tseng had poured the liquor until he opened his eyes and stared at it like it might bite and/or drown him. Wasn’t it sacrilegious to drink at a place of worship, tainting the hallowed moments and personal effects? And even though there wasn’t a higher being lurking about, even though it wasn’t a church, it was still…it was still something he was hesitant about

[fingersloophole]

"My father was a company man." Which was to say a Turk. "He left before I gained any rank. Crippled in the line of duty." It was all for the best, he supposed. He didn't have to worry about who he stepped on to get to the top. He didn't have to worry about anyone left after Veld was gone. Tseng's crooked smile was back. "He was never proud. It's not the type of business you're proud of." If you were any good, at least. He could be proud of Elena for shattering someone's kneecaps but he'd never be proud of himself for doing the same

[i_love_squats]

Zack read between the lines: Company Man had only one connotation when it came from a Turk, and he understood now where Tseng inherited most of his… well, himself from. And while he was curious what “crippled” meant, he knew better than to ask. Turks and pride. Even though their line of business wasn’t the most well-received, or even the best morally angelic, Zack did have to mutter, “Elena’s proud of it. She’s proud of the company, and not because she’s hurting someone. She…I don’t know. She seems proud for supporting something. Maybe you’re too busy looking at the job on a whole. ‘Sides, I think you’re learning here that breaking kneecaps and killing in dark allies isn’t the failsafe to get you what you want

[fingersloophole]

"Elena is...." Okay, she was proud. He had to admit that. But her vision of the Department of Administrative Research and his vision were quite different. She was younger, much younger, and he doubted her sister had communicated to her the way things used to be. You could think Hojo was a creepy lecher all you wanted, but you still obeyed him. You could whisper about Scarlet's 'body work' but you never said it to her face. You were sickened by what the president was, but you fought for him until the vice president could become something else

[i_love_squats]

“A hopeful generation might just be what the world needs.” Though, he did want to point out that he was hopeful, and he was before her, at least in terms of profession. It was hard being that way, though, when so many around you were so damn cynical, so ready to assume the worst and fly off the handle. Maybe if there were more people like Elena, the world wouldn’t have turned out like it did.

“Do you really need to break kneecaps for anyone back home? Isn’t there something else the Turks can do? Don’t the people in charge have better things to do other than to intimidate and threaten anyone who oppose them?” He looked up at the prayer tree, watching the ribbons flutter restlessly in a low breeze. “Haven’t you guys learned anything?”

Zack had a lot of time to come to terms with Aerith; a year and a half of this place, and he still heard stories of her heroism after death. Wasn’t that an effective grief counseling system? The other ones, the ones that just left, it was all so fresh, all so new and raw, and Angeal’s… that one always