Disclaimer: I don't own any FF7 characters and ideas -- Squaresoft does! (but I *do* own any original characters!!)
"For Meiden"
Chapter I
By: DrunkpoOdle
"There's someone here to see you, Mr. President."
"I'm busy, Karen," the overweight president replied into the intercom through clenched teeth.
"Yes, of course Sir. But she said is drastically important that she make negotiations with you right away Sir."
The President was quiet for a moment before one bushy blonde brow arched in curiosity. "…Negotiations?"
"Yes Sir. She says they're important," the secretary repeated hopeful that he would except the visitor instead of being angry with her for interrupting.
"Alright, send her in, Karen," he answered in defeat as his curiosity got the better of him. "Now pay attention to how I handle this, son. Maybe you'll learn not to be so damn weak."
Rufus refused to reply. For the past half-hour his father had been lecturing him on how he was turning out to be a disappointing heir to the company. It wasn't as though his father's opinion meant as much to him as the older man assumed. It was just the fact that his father continuously mistook compassion for weakness, something that, after a while was just damned annoying.
In a matter of seconds the giant doors to the president's office were opened. The first to enter was a ruffled young woman who could have been anywhere from seventeen to twenty-three. Her fluffy but straight black brown locks ended just after her shoulders. The dull locks tended to fall over her shoulders and conceal portions of her smudged face although she'd shrugged them back several times upon entering.
Rufus turned completely from the window behind his father's desk. He'd been trying desperately to tune his father's words out and ignore him but not seem as though he was. It had been working for the most part, actually. But now the vice president was curious about the present scenario.
The young lady had been escorted in by ShinRa's most experienced member of the Turks, Tseng. His revolver was drawn but hung limply at his side, as he saw no real need for it yet but held it just in case their guest had…intentions. The lady's clothes were torn in a few places and obviously far from new.
The president's nostrils twitched in poorly concealed aristocratic disgust. After he'd made it known that he found her appearance displeasing his face contorted into that of amusement. Before he knew it he was roaring with laughter. His dreadfully soggy midsection jiggled with each cackle like a sack of mercury. The whole time their guest watched him emotionlessly, her hazel eyes agleam with a stubborn determination.
The amused gentleman continued to laugh as if the atmosphere of the office were composed solely of novacane. By the time a full minute had passed Rufus was considerably bored. He'd even caught Tseng's brown droop a little in annoyance. If laughing in the face of a guest was how his father handled negotiations then there was something wrong here. Rufus was about to say something on his father's lack of professionalism when his father stopped abruptly. His was still grinning largely when he addressed the woman before him.
"Now what could you possibly have to negotiate, miss?"
"On behalf of my village, Sir, I'd like to make an offer," she said calmly.
Now that he had heard her speak for the first time, Rufus was aware that she had a peculiar accent…Gongagan perhaps.
"And that would be…?"
"Gil, Sir. Gil for the lives of my village," she stated just as calmly but very serious.
He raised both unruly eyebrows as he declaration. "Now what would I be doing with the lives of everyone in your…village? Hmm?"
"We know that you are planning to destroy it to make room for the Gongaga reactor. I'm offering you money to spare the village and build the reactor somewhere else."
"Oh? Well if a whole village thinks that, then why don't they uproot and move to say…Gongaga?"
"Sir, Gongaga isn't very large. It's already struggling to support its growing population. The nearest establishment is located many miles across the canyons. We'd never make it," her voice took on a more desperate edge by she still met his gaze firmly.
The president let out a short chuckle. "Now let's all pretend I was going to do something awful and blow up a whole village to build a reactor. What would a little girl like yourself have to offer?"
"48,000 gil."
The president waited quietly as if expecting her to say more. "That's it? 48,000? Do you realize your village is located on a spot where mako is most concentrated? It would cost me millions of extra gil to have my designers relocate and redesign the structure accordingly, not to mention I couldn't start building for another ten months?" He guffawed loudly. "Please darling, I made more money than that on my thirteenth building."
She stared numbly at his refusal. "B-But Sir, that's the lifesaving's of eight families from our village put together. There really isn't much more than that," she finished softly.
"Well then I'm sorry you've wasted my time."
"Wait! There must be something we can give you," her desperation was no longer masked.
Rufus watched his father carefully.
"I don't know about your village having anything worth it. But I'm sure I could come up with a few things you could provide." The corner of his mouth turned up evilly at his own implication.
It didn't register with her immediately. At first her brows creased questioningly. Then as realization dawned on her, her face fell back into the expressionless visage she'd entered with. "You…you mean sexual payment, Sir?" she asked blankly.
Rufus eyed his father completely horror stricken. He couldn't believe he'd made such a perverse implication.
"Well, that depends. Do you think you're good enough?"
The VP's eyes widened as he realized his father was seriously entertaining the idea. She slowly closed the gap between herself and the president's desk. When she got to it she leaned over it so that her face was less than a foot from the president's. She continued in a low voice.
"You mean you'd spare my people if I slept with you?"
He swiveled back and forth in his chair never taking his eyes off of hers. "Maybe…
…maybe not."
She studied his piggish features before making her decision. He wasn't going to spare her village no matter what she did. She wasn't about to lose her self worth if it would be in vain. One second she was glaring at him over his desk, the next she was being pulled back by Tseng as the obese man vehemently wiped her spit from his eye.
"TSENG!!! Dispose of this village WHORE!" he bellowed furiously.
Tseng proceeded to drag the woman from the office, as Rufus looked on amused. Not everyday was he rewarded with his father losing face in front of someone. Rufus abruptly stopped grinning when he realized Tseng was taking her away to probably kill her. He couldn't think of another way to define 'dispose of'.
"Get OUT!" he demanded. It took a full second for Rufus to realize he was talking to him. He left with a curt nod and hurried out of the office in the direction Tseng had taken the woman.
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