It was a very long vacation.
Genesis was flying out late the following Sunday evening to reach the front with the vanguard of his division of the army by Monday morning.
Rill would have lain around her apartment for the rest of the time off that she had and tried to piece together an identity that wouldn't end up an emotional wreck when faced with a normal day in the SOLDIER department. It was slow going. Hence why she was doing it with three days between herself and the time when she would have to return to work.
Then she was roused by an energetic pounding at her door.
The Planet hummed and she opened herself to it. The plucked harp-string sensation told her that it could only be one of a handful of people. Combined with the pace of the "knock", there was only one possibility. Rill smiled ruefully. Well, Zack's not going anywhere until I see him at least.
She rose and went to the door to greet her energetic friend, only to note with some surprise that it was the wrong height for Zack.
Zack was almost six feet tall.
This person's head was a good bit lower than that and blond, though it was just as spiky.
"Cloud?" The young cadet turned bright red as Rill looked at him with some bewilderment.
The youth stood almost even with her in height, dressed in the standard uniform of a Shinra trooper. But what baffled her was what he was holding.
He offered her a bouquet of flowers. Very familiar flowers at that.
Aeris...? She asked her cousin with some trepidation. She was equally surprised.
Oh...he said he wanted to say thank you to someone. I honestly didn't have much more to do with this than giving him the flowers.
"Thank you, Miss Rill. For...for letting me call my mom." He seemed embarrassed to say this aloud in front of Zack, who was standing off to the side, grinning like a loon.
Rill let out a soft breath as she accepted the flowers with a smile, their familiar fragrance easing the heavy sadness that had been burdening her.
She had discovered about two weeks back that it was Cloud's birthday and had made appropriate arrangements for him to actually enjoy the day, including patching a long distance call through to Nibelheim for him to talk to his mother.
"It was my pleasure, Cloud. Thank you, they're lovely." She held the bouquet, a combination of yellow lilies from the church and white roses from the house. Joy and innocence. It certainly was lifting her spirits. Rill looked at Cloud, who was blushing very deeply, and thought with a laugh.
You gave them away, didn't you? Didn't take anything in return. Aeris hemmed and hawed for a bit.
Well, I talk to him sometimes when he's on patrol down here... He said he gave flowers to his mom all the time to show he appreciated her and that he wanted to do the same for someone else he knew. It was really sweet. When that had occurred, Rill didn't know. But the Planet was glad for this. Very glad. Almost as much as when Sephiroth had been with their family.
"There's a smile!" Zack whooped, slinging an arm over Rill's shoulder. "I was worried you were just gonna stay all cooped up in your apartment for your entire vacation!"
"Worried? You? You've been bombarding my PHS with pictures of kittens and bad jokes. Usually you're much more in the open about things like this." Rill said dryly. "And why are you here?"
"Well, normally Seph would skin me if I tried to bug you at home. But then this little guy here was looking for you but didn't know where you lived!" Zack said, jerking his thumb at Cloud with his customary grin. It was the perfect solution. Sephiroth couldn't fault Zack for helping out an earnest admirer, or for going along to chaperone said admirer.
Cloud gave him a look that would have been a glare on anyone else, likely at the jab about his height. As expected, Zack either didn't see it, or ignored it.
"Well since I'm already here!" Zack said with an irrepressible grin. "Let's have some fun!"
"Betcha 1000 gil that I can eat the whole thing in one bite!"
"No bet, Zack. I know better than to wager any money against your capacity for food."
"Aw, c'mon! Cloud'll take the bet, won't you buddy?"
"Um...enlisted men aren't allowed to gamble with their superiors, sir!"
"Oh, come on!"
"Zack, get down from there!"
"Aw! Worried about me, Rill?"
"No! You're more than tough enough to survive that and walk away! I'm worried about the property damage you'll cause when you-" *CRASH!* "-fall..."
"Didj I...did I win da contesth...?"
"Sorry Zack, Cloud drank you under the table and out the door. Something about mountain resilience. Just hold still and let me heal your hangover..."
"WHAT!? OI, BLONDIE! WE'RE HAVING A REMATCH RIGHT-!...Owie..."
"Zack...For one; Cloud is away on patrol this morning. For another, I believe I said to hold still."
"Ma'am yes ma'am! Oh Shiva, please don't kill me!...My heeeeead..."
"Yes, Zack, shouting when you have a hangover is uncomfortable...You know what, on second thought, I think I'll let you keep the hangover."
"Nuuuuu! Riiiiiiiill!"
"Wooo yeah! You get him Cloudy! Show that loser who's boss! Just like I showed ya!"
"Zack! Don't encourage him! It was one lame pickup line! It's no big deal!"
"C'mon Rill! Let Cloud step up and be a man! He's coming to your defense and everything!"
"He's trying to suplex a 2nd Class SOLDIER!"
"And doing a damn good job of it! Keep it up buddy, you've got him on the ropes!"
"Rill? Just how much are you worth to the company right now?"
"I was running a couple calculations on the side...they're not complete, there's a lot of data to work through, but..."
A brief look at the current workings of the Shinra company in Rill's absence.
Rufus' phone was ringing off the hook.
"Ok, so when they started dancing, the fireworks started to go off inside? How did they even get fireworks past security!?" Hunts-in-shadows was chewing something meaty as he watched his human frantically try to fill the void that Her absence left.
First there had been a general lack of information. The patrol, training and cleaning schedules for the SOLDIER department and three floors on either side of it were in complete chaos. Then, several rodent specimens the size of large house cats had escaped from the labs after chewing their way through solid steel in a matter of minutes, wreaking havoc on another two floors as they blindly attempted to escape.
Hunts-in-shadows swallowed the last bit of his treat before nosing around in the pile nearby for another one.
The hunting had been good exercise and hadn't taken very long, so the alloy vermin had been handled. But one of the labs attached to Urban Development had been breached during the emergency extermination. It had been working on finding antidotes to recreational drugs to counteract potential overdoses in the lower parts of the city, and on researching a new painkiller. When the two compounds had been mixed, it had had an interesting result on those who had been exposed.
Hunts-in-shadows licked his chops as the sour-sweet odor of mad science drifted through the air.
"They made them on the spot?...See to it that they're transferred at least part time to Weapons Development. What about the infantry that were exposed?...I see." Rufus carded his hand through his blond hair, looking far less put together than he would prefer. His coat was stained with the alloy vermin blood that Dark Nation had hunted down, his shoes were ruined with an unknown anagram of chemicals that was starting to burn holes in his carpet and he had narrowly escaped being the first man in space due to some unplanned pyrotechnics from the drugged lab workers.
Hunts-in-shadows chuffed in amusement as his human hung up the phone, then deliberately started to pound his head against the desktop.
The child of the Planet, Eye-of-the-Storm, would be amused to see his human in this state. The foolish male had angered her and she had yet to forgive him altogether. Perhaps this would be seen as sufficient penance for her to come and see him again. Silver-Alpha wouldn't approve of that that, but Eye-of-the-Storm wasn't some weak willed, easily cowed female. She would do as she pleased, no more and no less. No male had claimed her yet, so she was beholden to no one but herself.
Hunts-in-shadows yawned and stretched as he rose to patrol his elected packmate's territory to ensure all was in order for when she returned.
"-but so far as I can tell, I'm ranked somewhere between the Mako reactor blueprints and morning coffee in importance."
"I have concluded that pessimism and any related negative feeling cannot exist in Zack's presence." Rill remarked to Sephiroth and Angeal when she was back at work.
"So that's where he always charged off to when he was off duty. I was wondering why there weren't any emergencies..." The dark haired 1st Class mused, but Sephiroth was taking a rather different approach, eyeing Rill shrewdly.
"Why were you depressed?" The primly dressed secretary shrugged.
"I simply had reality thrown in my face, sir. Nothing of any concern." She had slipped back into the secretary persona upon her return and Sephiroth seemed to be handling the change well. She had only caught a brief furrowing of brows when she addressed him as 'sir' instead of by name.
The time off with Zack and Cloud had done her a lot of good. Rill was more relaxed than she had been in months even with the...new developments in her life.
She had heard horror stories of what had been happening in the company during her absence. She had almost been assaulted with hugs from the other secretaries, every janitor on the role and most of the accounting staff as she made her way to her office. And Dark Nation had been waiting for her, sitting before her desk with a pile of what could only be gifts behind him. He looked very pleased with himself.
Rill had thanked and rewarded him appropriately. And as the strange beast devoured his treat, she began to organize her...hoard, she supposed. Sephiroth had managed to steal most of the actual paperwork and left only get well cards and packages on her desk. There was a note written in his hand that he had ordered the gifts stowed in a locker after the first attempted thievery, but then Dark Nation had stepped in and begun to guard the pile. No less than four people had needed to run to the infirmary after having been savaged by him, whether they attempted to take something from the pile, or add something that Dark Nation thought wasn't suitable. Since these packages were later investigated and found to be drugged or otherwise dangerous, Sephiroth had ordered enough choice steak to feed a Zolom for Dark Nation in thanks. They appeared to have taken a liking to each other in her absence.
Now she was tackling the remaining backlog of work that Sephiroth hadn't been able to catch and organizing cleanup for another two VR rooms. She noted the names responsible with a frown and wrote a note to Angeal to take the squad in hand about their apparent desire to challenge the three 1st Class SOLDIER's combined record of wanton, accidental urban destruction. (Three entire floors of the building during the X-model Roboguard demonstration, the equivalent of 27 VR rooms, and a large section of the Sector 2 plate support.)
She was accompanied by Dark Nation as she approached Rufus's office. The animal's oddly placed tail moved with languid satisfaction as people in the halls hurriedly stepped aside to keep from deterring them. She glanced down at him and spoke firmly.
"Be nice." The animal's toothy grin switched to a look of faux innocence as he gazed up at her and she snorted.
"Sure you are..."
Contrary to what Rill had heard about the two week period of her absence, Rufus was as put together as he always was, not a hair out of place, not a single flaw in his crafted smile.
"I trust you had a pleasant vacation, Nerilka?" She raised her brows at him wordlessly. Again with the name, dude.
"Quite so, sir." She replied, keeping her tone cool and polite. "Annual utility maintenance is due on floors 44 through 49, and as the last provider threatened lawsuit if he was called on again..."
"I'll see to it." Rufus said, clasping his hands and looking her over with an air that Rill had become very familiar with over the last few days.
"I assure you, sir. I am in perfect health."
"Nonetheless, your abruptly falling ill caused quite a bit of trouble throughout the entire building, not the just the SOLDIER department." Rufus dropped the probing gaze as soon as she called him out, and was now more along the lines of the businessman his father only wished he could still be. "To no one's surprise, your value to the company far surpasses your current position."
"A position I am very happy to stay in." Rill cut off his coming suggestion for her to transfer out of SOLDIER.
"The majority of our armed forces would riot if we tried to transfer you, so the board decided on something else."
Rufus explained that the board of executives had come to the conclusion that if Rill could be as effective as she was without any special training, then it was clear that either that Shinra was a disaster in organization, or that she had the skills necessary for-
"You want me to try and train already qualified people in the same troubleshooting jobs that I do?" She asked dubiously.
"It needn't be more than a handful to optimize placement. So long as there is someone who could feasibly accomplish the same tasks as you do, or thereabouts, in more than one department. As effective as you are, you primarily stay in the SOLDIER department."
"It is my job to do so."
"And-" Rufus continued onward as if she hadn't spoken. "-as you are against changing positions and in light of your recent illness, this is the best solution that the Board of Executives could come up with." Rill mulled over that information.
The Turks were technically in charge of that area, officially being 'The Department of Administrative Research'. But as that was just their cover for what their real job was...
It would be a good step forward organization wise, and he had explained that she would be receiving an additional salary for her work. But odds are she would end up involved in whatever messes her fellow troubleshooters were supposed to handle one way or the other. And taking the time to do so with her current workload as well...
"Is this a request or an order, sir?" She asked frankly. "However effective a teacher I might be, it doesn't change the fact that this assignment would either have me take time away from the duties I already have, or force me to work longer hours. And I am already, as evidenced, pushed over the brink by what I currently have." It wasn't smart. She wasn't feeling this as an official capacity. If she could pull herself through this company with only minimal assistance from the Planet, then others could muddle on through as well.
"Then what about just one?" Rufus asked promptly. "One person from Administrative Research who shadows you, just to see how you handle things and learn from it. They could help in your work as well."
"Will they be willing to put aside the department rivalry enough to be useful?"
"They will hold themselves to the highest standards of professional conduct." Rill almost jumped out of her skin as Veld's voice sounded behind her. Hello?! She snapped at the Planet. Her only answer was the distinct impression of laughter.
"Do you have someone specific in mind or do I get to choose?" She addressed the question to both of them as if Veld hadn't startled her. The leader of the Turks moved to stand beside Rufu's desk, eyes level and calm.
"We have some recommendations."
Rill examined the list of names she was given. Code names only, but she knew most of them by face at least.
She scanned through the list slowly, considering each name and assessing the reaction she got from the planet for each one. Overall, there were only two with any major positive reaction, so she chose the female Turk, codename Gun, actual name: Emma. A local city girl whose family was still in town. She was professional, calm and to the point in all previous interactions. On top of that, she had a strong stomach, little tolerance for BS, and a very, very dry, occasionally morbid sense of humor. She'd be perfect.
"We'll let Gun know. She'll be by tomorrow." Rill raised her brows at Veld.
"I expect you haven't informed General Sephiroth of the finer details of this change?" They were essentially giving a secretary to a secretary. Rufus coughed, hiding a wicked smirk behind a fist.
"I'm afraid Scarlet was the one to bring it up, and the way she phrased it...didn't please the General." So you're going to have me be the one to tell him. Cowards. The whole lot of you. Dark Nation was snuffling rather determinedly around Rill's feet, specifically a place in the floor where she spied a faint disturbance in the carpet...
Activating her Tremor-sense materia, Rill detected that there was a large pit beneath the floor and that someone was inside it and they were not happy.
"Sir, I believe I stated that a pit-trap was not a good ascetic choice."
Rufus was taken aback for all of an instant before he started to laugh. Veld's eyes widened briefly, and she registered that he was very, very surprised that she had not only detected that something was amiss, but deduced exactly what was wrong instantly.
"Oh my Goddess, Nerilka Thomas. How in the world did the Turks not recruit you...?" Rufus said chuckling. Rill tapped her foot on the floor in a brief sequence before she heard the distinct, desperate tapping of an SOS in answer and her eyes narrowed dangerously at the blond Vice President...
Veld recognized the signs and beat a hasty retreat as Dark Nation settled on his bed to watch his master learn once again that Rill was not one to be trifled with.
Sephiroth had seen Rill walk through the hallways as calm and levelheaded as a zen garden no matter what was going on around or near her. But it was a rather new sight to see Reno clinging to her like ivy. His first instinct was to get him to stop bothering her. Then he looked more closer and saw that the redheaded senior Turk looked rather the worse for wear. His hair, something he was rather vain about, was messy and a little greasy. He looked haggard and haunted, an impressive accomplishment for someone like him. The Turks didn't give promotions just for the fun of it and Reno likely had a very large number of skeletons in his closet.
"What happened to you?" He asked him, still all but wrapped around Rill as he was. It made for an odd sight. Tiny Rill being embraced by the tall, lanky Reno and not falling over.
The Turks shuddered.
"Sadist of a VP had a pit trap put in his office last week. Used me to test it on Friday. I was in there for the whole weekend!"
"No food, barely any rest, no light, active sound dampeners." Rill snapped shortly, her eyes flashing over her glasses. Sephiroth whistled softly. Ultimate solitary confinement without any forewarning? That was harsh...
"What were you doing to annoy him so much that he left you in there?" At this, there came a weak laugh.
"First: Spamming his inbox with leave of absence request forms from people that don't work here. Second: rigging some veeeeeery special tapes to run on the security cameras-" Rill poked Reno's forehead.
"Keep quiet before I decide you deserved what you got. I won't be nearly so willing to let you hang off of me then."
"Shutting up, Rill..."
"Good. You can eat in my office, but I want you showered before you try to sleep."
Rill had torn Rufus several new ones about appropriate reactions to antics such as Reno's, giving her the feeling that in spite of genuinely putting the fear of the Goddess into him for this stunt, he was simply all the more impressed and assured that she would be an ideal asset to his plans.
The Turk had devoured the food she had given him then crashed on the couch in her office and was completely dead to the world.
She sighed, massaging her temples.
Unlike Zack, who just had too much energy to sit still or think things through, Reno was more than busy enough to fill his entire time and very much capable of thinking.
He just did this stuff for the hell of it.
It was rarely ever harmful, just annoying. All he wanted to do was push people's buttons and get them to snap and try to attack him, or doing something in response. But in a company where pride was the primary motivating force, Reno had to know he was flirting with danger whenever he pulled a stunt like this.
Of course he does. Aeris said simply. He's a thrill seeker. It's what got him into the Turks in the first place.
And the more capable he got, the less exciting everything he did in his work became. Rill tapped her lips thoughtfully. That explains so much...
Oh?
Well yeah, I'd give him food if he asked for it. But he just keeps stealing from Sephiroth or other people in the Turks.
Emma arrived the next morning, calm, ready and looking oddly out of place in the skirt and blouse. Her short blonde bob, professional attire and cold expression gave Rill a strong sense of deja vu. She knew Emma distantly from her frequent interactions with the Turks. But the woman had always been given other assignments so she wasn't on really close terms with her.
"I almost thought you'd keep wearing the Turk uniform." Rill commented as she sorted the day's work on the desk.
"I would prefer that." Emma admitted with a grimace. "But as I am to be emulating you, my orders stated that I was supposed to follow your example in this." Rill was immaculately dressed in a neat blouse and skirt with her blazer laid over the back of her chair to account for the summer's warmth lingering into autumn. The younger woman paused as she considered her new acquaintance...
"Were you given verbal orders or a pre-written packet?" The older woman paused, her eyes taking on a sharp calculating look as she thought back.
"A packet. They were written up after the board approved the notion of giving you an assistant."
"When?"
"Last week." That's it then.
"Before Reno went into the pit trap or after?" Emma was still for a moment...then she scowled as she made the same connection that Rill had. That idiot is begging for someone to shoot him.
"Tiamat's spawn." She swore under her breath, scowl deepening and turning icy, glowering as her eyes flashed angrily. "I'm going to have to pin him to the wall in order of his favorite body part-" Rill rapped her knuckles on her desk top, drawing the older woman's attention.
"Lesson number one: If they don't see a negative reaction, they start to become worried about when it will arrive." Emma nodded after a brief moment, a slow smile on her face.
"So they get afraid about what will be done to them and when, and in turn behave themselves. A little severe reaction initially, and the rest fall into line." Rill hummed.
"Not quite. You had a good beginning. Then your perception and professional experience started to interfere. No matter. You're a quick study." She tapped a stack of paper files together, grimacing at Professor Hojo's deplorable habit of insisting everything had a paper file in the archives in case of a software bug. She couldn't help but think there was something very wrong with this insistence. It was so wasteful!
"What makes you say that, ma'am?" Emma asked keenly. Rill flashed her new friend a dry smile.
"You already know both my and the General's preference for how we take our tea, our personal filing system and general pattern in which we work." Rill was rewarded with a flash of surprise across the guarded woman's face. Then an answering smile formed on the woman's face.
"I believe we will be able to work well together, ma'am."
"Nerilka, please."
Rill wasn't exactly surprised that Emma kept her gun on her even when she was acting as a secretary. Nor was she surprised at her reaction to Reno creeping in for his daily dose of adrenaline. He got more than he bargained for when she sent one bullet at him as his head barely cleared the window's opening, missing his head by inches. He let go of the window ledge with a yelp and Rill was briefly concerned until she heard the Planet's serene amusement and knew he hadn't fallen. Sephiroth sighed and looked back with obvious annoyance.
"It's alright, Emma. Just Reno. Though I do thank you for your abrupt action."
"Only doing my duty, sir." Emma said, calmly refilling her empty chamber.
"Indeed, much less damage overall than when General Sephiroth responds." Rill said pleasantly, causing the man blush in embarrassment. He...may or may not have destroyed the wall once or twice to drive Reno out of the air vents.
"That sounds like a very interesting story. May I hear it?"
"Don't you dare Rill!'
"Certainly, Emma. You see, despite my best efforts the General does not know what the term 'appropriate response' is."
"WOULD YOU STOP GABBING AND PULL ME UP ALREADY!"
"Lesson number 8 in how to correctly handle morons:" Rill said serenely as she and Emma enjoyed a cup of tea on the balcony, watching as a helicopter buzzed through the air. Reno was piloting and, with the minigun he had affixed to it being manned by Zack with startling effectiveness, they were mowing through the airborne enemies. Goblins mounted on griffons, a suggested idea for an airborne distraction or suicide attack.
Zack's whoop as he successfully channeled a Lightning Materia through the minigun was audible even over the noise of the chopper blades.
"Fools they may be, but they are effective ones and kept on hand for a reason. So there are times when letting them rampage is appropriate."
"I was wondering how they hadn't gotten themselves fired yet." Emma mused, her knuckles white on her cup as she watched the utter chaos before her eyes.
"Hey Rill!" Reno called over the loudspeaker with a mad cackle. "LOOK, NO HANDS!" Rill sighed before admitting:
"...I wonder much the same...on an hourly basis."
"Do you...often take that route to get below the Plate?" Emma asked Rill with some trepidation as she regarded one of the cables she used to speed up travel.
"It's cheaper than the trains." She replied pertly.
"And you're sure we have to go down there like this?"
"It's also much faster, even if it is difficult. As in, fifteen minutes with a direct route, to an hour with people who know you're coming. This is why I advised you to keep a pair of pants on hand at all times. A surprising amount of bizarre events can happen to our men in the slums and the only truly effective way to deal with them is to get feet on the ground and do it personally. This would be better for a local to do, though. And while wearing a Shinra uniform of any kind down there might keep you safe, it certainly won't get you much information." Rill tugged on her gloves, and prepared to rappel down into the slums.
"...And you're sure we have to go like this?"
"Emma, don't try that with me. You might be afraid of heights, but no one in the Turks earns their name without being able to overcome any irrational fear. Now woman up, and let's go. There are things that can eat people in the sewers and we have three men stuck in a manhole. They don't appear to be able to save themselves, so we had best hurry."
As it turned out, by the time the two women arrived on the scene, Reno had already gotten there and was selling admission to watch the three SOLDIER struggle to free themselves. There were bets being made all around and the redhead was raking in the dough.
Rill massaged the bridge of her nose.
"This does not surprise me in the least..." She held out a hand to keep Emma from storming over and helping. "No, Emma. That would only encourage him."
"What do you suggest then?" Emma said stiffly, controlling her apparently well earned reflex to shoot Reno on sight.
The secret Ancient flipped open her PHS with a smile.
"We hit him where it really hurts and then break it up quietly."
That Friday when Reno headed out to his favorite bar to get a drink, he was informed by an apologetic bouncer that he had been blacklisted for a few weeks after his last...incident.
"C'mon, Skinny, you guys have worse fights than that for the restroom! What gives, yo?"
The burly man coughed and inclined his head to whisper something hurriedly in Reno's ear and pass over a folded note.
Reno read the note...then a dejected slump entered his shoulders.
"Man...that bites."
"I'm really sorry, guy. I got no way of turning this around for ya!" Reno waved it off.
"I'll make it, man. Don't sweat it. See ya in a few weeks. Tell the old girl to have everything stocked in double, I'm gonna drink you out when I get back."
Reno skulked away, turning a corner before pulling out his phone and calling Rill.
"Yes?"
"You are a cold, heartless woman, Rill. How can you live with yourself?"
"I think I'll manage." her voice was very, very dry as she answered, but Reno caught a barely present current of satisfied amusement. He grunted as he kicked some litter aside as he walked.
"You've surpassed just being ruthless, this is straight up sadistic, yo. Cruel and unusual! Odin as my witness, I'm gonna sue you!"
"Regardless of who you chose as your prosecutor, you'd lose completely, utterly and humiliatingly." Reno slumped against a street lamp, fighting the grin that was spreading across his face.
"Got me banned from my favorite joints and threatening my cookies if I try to sneak a drink...I knew you weren't just gonna pull those three wusses outta the fire." A perfect double blackmail. She had him over a barrel in three lines.
Congratulations, you are as of right now going dry. You've also gained some weight, so no more treats or sweets. I've taken the liberty of acquiring some assistance to help you stick to your new lifestyle.
"There is always more I can do, Reno. Kindly don't waste my time again."
"Will do boss-lady, will do." Well played.