Rufus looked down from his office window with a smile, today was going to be great, the weather was perfect and the planning he'd been shown was exactly as he'd asked for. He had his doubts about appointing Reno and Rude to organise the parade but they'd proved decent listeners
He grabbed his cream jacket and threw it over his shoulders, he checked himself in the mirror before he flicked off the lights. Today was going to be great, the parade was in memory of his deceased father; the company had spared no expense. He was especially looking forward to the dinner dance later. A chance to have a few drinks, eat some decent food and check out the latest talent. It had been a while since he'd shared his bed with anyone, it would be good to have a companion for the night.
Rufus's thoughts continued to ponder the evening ahead as he stepped out the lift and into the awaiting limo. It was a short drive to the platform where he would watch the parade. He had the best view, along with his associates. Heideggar, Palmer and Scarlett had all beaten him. They already had wine in their hands and were conversing about something intriguing. He grabbed his own glass and joined them.
"What's so interesting?" he said coming to rest between Scarlett and Palmer.
"Well, I think you should look down there to start with." Scarlett said. Rufus' stomach dropped his mouth dry. He peered over the balcony, what he saw made him want to vomiting. Down below him, matching through the Midgar streets, was an army of bright yellow Chocobo's. Instead of the regimented soldiers was pandemonium. Right in the centre of the chaos, was a man dressed in an oversized Mog outfit. Heat rose in Rufus's cheeks and he set aside his wine-glass. Laughter echoed past him as he stormed away. This was not what he'd ordered. Palmer leapt aside as he strode down the balcony stairs and into the street below.
Once there, he saw it wasn't as chaotic as he first thought, the public were still behind the bars and the Chocobo's seemed to be walking in the same direction… marching in fact. It would have been acceptable if not for the giant Mog in the middle. Rufus sighed and looked down the street, the rest of the parade was following on, maybe it would be all right. He barged through the crowd and re-joined his colleagues on the podium. When he got there, Reno and Rude were waiting for him.
"What is that?" he said, trying to keep his voice level.
"Yeah. About the Chocobo's sir." Rude said.
"We had a bit of a mix up with plans. I accidentally put the file for Tseng's birthday in with the parade one. I realised and managed to get everything out of it before the final requests went through. Except I didn't..." Reno said. His eyes were on the floor as he spoke.
"Is this the only thing that's going to go wrong today?"
"I believe so."
"Tell me Reno, why does Tseng need this many Chocobo's at his birthday?"
"It's a private joke." He said with a wave of his hand. Rufus regarded the red haired fool in front of him and a smile cracked his face.
"I'm not even sure I want to know. If anything else goes wrong, I am holding you responsible, you're jobs are on the line boys." Rufus said, picking up his glass of wine once more. He turned and re-joined Scarlett, watching the rest of the parade.