Busy Day

The morning of the dinner party was a rather hectic one for nearly everyone.

Genesis, who had originally been scheduled for a Slums patrol during the party, was called in by Reeve because Winry wanted to attend her first such event in the company of someone who had been to one before. The red haired man was happy with the arrangement, mainly because it meant Sephiroth wouldn't be there on his own, and because Genesis liked to show off, peacock that he was. The result of the request, however, meant he had to quickly update Roy on exactly how to go about fighting monsters which were often Mako-enhanced and had different weaknesses from normal ones. While Roy had figured some of that out already from having lived in the Slums, his going and seeking out the danger was a little different. After giving him a crash course on what he would have to do later, he arranged to send Kunzel with the man in his stead for his first assignment, something Kunzel cheerfully agreed to.

Winry herself had to move at least some of her things to her new office (including plants, as seeds had started growing quickly), which was across the hall from Reeve's, look through the courses for the Academy, and meet the man who was to be her teacher. The man was clearly aged (probably around her grandmother's age) and seemed cheerful about the prospect of teaching someone with obvious skill and a blank slate to start from, since then she wouldn't have to unlearn any 'bad habits' most of the engineers and programmers had acquired. The Academy courses actually surprised her the most, as many of them were rather advanced, and there were three she actually wanted to take. Her one issue was the amount of time those and their homework would cut off her ability to work, but Reeve solved the problem by informing her that, as someone already hired, they would only grade her on tests.

At the same time, Kain Fuery was working with another man in Reeve's department to get a crash course in the technological basics and the communications technology—it surprised both him and Winry to run into one another that day. He was otherwise working steadily to get his skills and knowledge up to par so he could start in his intended department—also because Tseng had given him some classified information which would let him access certain systems for them. Of course, that part no one knew, even though some of the Turks were aware he'd been in a fairly lengthy meeting with Tseng, and had been issued a Turk weapon. He had been visited that morning by the Turk Director to be given a form to sign and a new ID he was only to make people aware of if he absolutely needed the clout.

The kids at the Academy were spending their day preparing for a trip to Kalm the following day, where they would be able to look around the docks and the core of the smaller community. Each class had projects to do while there, ranging from asking locals about the geography or the animals and monsters in the area to examining the docked ships to speaking with the shopkeepers and more. Most of them actually had at least three projects to do while there, so they didn't have much actual sight-seeing time, hence the reason they needed to prepare supplies, questions, forms for observations, and register their student ID's for two meals taken outside the Shinra building. Al, Shalua, and Elena would be going on the trip—then they found out the new group of SOLDIER Cadets were going to be joining them as well, which meant Anthony and Cloud would be in the number for their practice assignment as guards.

Riha and Kamil were working with Ruluf and Freyra respectively to sort out some of their Midgar-based cases while the two new-comers were learning the ropes with their new jobs. After most of the Turks had been sent to search for Fuhito, there were still only a limited number of Turks in the city to take care of their usual watches and cases, and their only saving grace had been how things had gone mostly quiet between the invasion and the support they were getting from SOLDIER and Gaia's Refuge. Of course, that was also problematic and indicated that the city was reaching its boiling point, because a lack of criminal activity meant a cap had been placed and would soon be forced open.

Part of what the four Turks were doing was helping to set up Izumi's new residence with help from Zack and Balto, who were the main ones renovating and decorating the inside of the small home in the Sector 6 Slums. The two Gongagans were plenty busy with that and had been all week, since they had to make it look like someone from their hometown was living there, and there were always certain tells. In the process, they had to get in touch with the folks in their hometown, which resulted in Balto having left for a day to visit them. He had even brought a stack of letters back for Izumi, one for Zack (from his parents), and a fair-sized box of things from the Curtis family for Izumi's home and the kids. The woman would be able to read the letters when she moved in the next day, and Zack and Balto were almost done setting it up for her.

Many of the Turks' trips into the Slums also had them running into Amal and Mick, along with other SOLDIERs and other members of Gaia's Refuge, and on that day in particular, both Amal and Mick were working on keeping the no-man's land between the Sector 5 and Sector 6 Slums clear of monsters. The part Amal was finding both puzzling and intriguing was how he always seemed to know if people, normal animals, or peaceful monsters were being attacked, which was how he found Riha and Ruluf later that same day. Mick himself got his data on attacks from Shears or Felicia, and he in turn had given them a new energy source to research, a form originating from the heat of the earth, or geothermal energy.

Liam Roach had begun his 'training' with the Infantry, only to find that it was far less demanding than the initial training he'd gotten back in Amestris. As a result, he excelled and even began encouraging the other new cadets and privates to work harder, to train with some of the methods he had trained with. That training took up much of his time, but it had singularly impressive results in even just a few days of some of the other newcomers' half-assed attempts at it. Until they had some time to see the improvements in their own abilities, he knew they wouldn't devote themselves to their training (even though their lives depended on it), and some never would do so. It was an unfortunate reality of the world.

With both Genesis and Sephiroth now attending the party and Zack indisposed with his other task, Angeal was left as the only one able to take certain high-level missions, of which he was now assigned—against his will—three of them. He'd have normally taken one, maybe even two, as those two were very near to one another geographically, but now, he had that one day to take care of all three.

Of course, that meant Angeal needed a pilot, and Reno ended up being it, which always somewhat irritated him because the Turk in question mainly presented himself in a very dishonorable and unfavorable light. Even though Angeal knew better (Reno was both more honorable than many people he could name and capable of being surprisingly selfless and intelligent), the whole way Reno effectively insulted himself grated on the SOLDIER's nerves. That, in turn, caused him to grate on Reno's nerves, and the two spent most of the day at one another's throats. At least Angeal could vent on the monsters, though. Reno—was another story.

Of them all, Izumi had the most to do that day with her two new 'kids', as she was finally fit to leave the hospital and start working out the paperwork she needed to. The two children Tseng had said he'd like her to take charge of had been spending most of their time with her as neither had classes to attend and had no specific minders, but she had shown an interest in them. On that day, they were there as they waited for her to be released from the hospital officially, where Tseng met her and led the way up to the Turks' floor—which was occupied only by Rude and Cissnei as they worked on something on the younger Turk's computer.

"I knew there weren't a huge number of Turks, but shouldn't there be more than this?" Izumi asked with a raised brow, resisting the urge to comment about Cissnei's age.

Tseng said easily, "They're nearly all out on missions at the moment, the majority tracking Fuhito. And since I know you don't like seeing someone you view as a child working here—that had nothing to do with me. One of the now-dead old hands from over a decade ago chose her to enter a special trial training program specifically for the purpose of having her become a Turk, but don't think for a moment that she's just mindlessly following orders—she's not."

"I'm not!" Cissnei called in agreement from her seat, still working on her project.

"Why are you even here, let alone somehow not blindly following orders when that's what you were trained to do? And what does your family think about your job?"

After a blink, the girl looked up at Izumi and said, "First, I'm an orphan with no known family (1), and second, if I hadn't ended up here when I did, there's a good chance I'd be in the slave market or dead now. As to my not blindly following orders, Mrs. Curtis, I think you need to realize there's a difference between 'blindly' following orders and 'knowingly' following orders. I know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it, and there are plenty of times when I don't like the mission I'm given. Sometimes there's a way around it, sometimes there isn't, but I'm still well aware that I'm making the choice to kill someone, to kidnap or threaten them, to cover up some of Shinra's wrong-doing. That doesn't mean I think it's right, but I've thought further than the immediate 'wrong' and chosen to do what I do because it's an indisputable fact that Shinra has given people better lives than they had and protection from the monsters constantly threatening them."

The woman blinked that time, reminded of Ed's words to her about the monsters, before asking, "Aren't the monsters Shinra creations, too?" While Eden hadn't made it sound that way, others in the Slums had.

"Many of the monsters in the Slums are Mako-enhanced monsters or ones which either escaped or were released from the Labs," Tseng answered, and Cissnei turned back to her screen as Rude scrolled it down some. "Those ones could be described as Shinra creations. Some of the mechanical monsters, like the Custom Sweeper out in the wastes, are also our 'creations' after a fashion, only in the sense that we created a machine which requires a pilot and those ones somehow came alive and got up and walked away entirely on their own power."

Izumi turned to stare at him as Cissnei added, "All the rest of the monsters here—like Behemoths and Dragon Zombies and Guard Hounds, even—those are all natural monsters which we really have no control over."

"SOLDIER's main function is to go out and kill the monsters attacking towns and villages," Tseng went on. "We also get sent on some of those kinds of missions, though in the Turks, we're more likely to be sent to contain an outbreak of experimental monsters rather than of natural ones. Which is actually somewhat odd when we aren't enhanced and are being sent to fight enhanced monsters..."

The children at Izumi's sides started giggling as she huffed. "I don't suppose you have a bestiary or something I can study, then?" she asked.

"I'll send Balto to you in your new home the day after tomorrow with an animal bestiary and a monster bestiary. Maybe an atlas would be prudent as well?" the Wutain man asked curiously.

"That would be a good start," Izumi said. "A Materia list as well, since I plan to get some."

"Leave that to Zack," the man immediately said. "That is, to get you anything you won't be getting today with the equipment we're assigning you. Balto can also include a Materia glossary."

The words made the woman blink and ask, "You're assigning me weapons and other equipment?"

"You're still on our records as a Turk, Mrs. Curtis, even if your current status means your records aren't going past this office," Tseng told her dryly. "That means we provide your gear and keep you supplied with whatever you need. Also, given your status and the danger to the children, all of your clothing has trackers in it—we've recently done this with Eden as well. Our first attempt will be to capture them for information, but if that doesn't work, we'll have to let you, or at least the children, be transported to their destination so we can find their base and put an end to it, hence the trackers. If it looks like we'll have to go that route, your best bet may be to go along with it and let them take you as well so you'll be there to protect them until we can get you three free."

At that moment, the door opened and a haughty voice said, "Tseng, I need you to issue me a firearm since my—guard—won't be with me tonight."

Tseng, Izumi, and the kids looked over at the door to see two blonds there, one in a white suit and one in a black one. "You think General Sephiroth doesn't have the skill to protect you?" the Wutain Turk asked with a raised brow.

"He has no grasp of actual 'guard duty'," the older blond replied. "He'll walk away from me to pursue an enemy without having a means to attack an enemy at a distance."

"I still think you're underestimating him," Eden put in from beside the older blond, gaze amused.

"So you've said," Rufus agreed irritably. "I still would feel more secure with a firearm."

"Do you have the vest we gave you?" Tseng asked curiously, carefully hiding his amusement at Rufus' obvious attachment to Eden. It may have been platonic, but Rufus didn't let many people in, and Tseng and Eden—the younger blond especially—were two of less than five people Rufus was 'close' to.

"Of course," the President's son almost sneered. "I obviously can't walk around without it of late."

When Tseng raised a brow at the blond Turk, Eden lifted his shoulders in a shrug and said, "Nearly every time he's left the Shinra building since I was reassigned to him, someone has either tried to kill him or kidnap him. A couple of those were obviously random, but the others feel like part of a very real danger, and it got so bad that I had to start killing them. We actually made it here safely today after the seven I killed last night. If this keeps up, it may really be the best idea for us to leave Midgar for awhile."

Tseng sighed, then stared as Izumi charged at Eden as she growled, "How dare you make light of killing people, you rotten brat!"

He yelped and dodged out of the way—and when Izumi's fist hit the floor, a section of it cracked and fell onto the floor below, causing the two younger children to gasp in awe, "Wow, amazing!" as someone below shouted in surprise and alarm.

"Uh-oh," Eden muttered with a pained expression as the woman charged at him again. That time, he met her in a flurry of fists and feet for a few moments before Eden began using his spells to attack her as well. It only took a few moments after that before he cast Stop on her, freezing her in place with her shock palpable in her eyes.

Before the blond could even heave a sigh of relief, Rufus—a very irritated-looking Rufus—tapped the woman's shoulder and said, "With all due respect, Madam, not that I particularly think you deserve it right now, Eden was not happy with his actions. I watched him shed tears for those deaths, deaths of criminals who have less honor and kindness for others than he has. You know nothing of the situation, so kindly keep your opinions—and your fists—to yourself."

In the meantime, Tseng had moved over to the edge of the hole and noted a scowling SOLDIER in just his underpants and with freshly-washed hair staring up at him. Sighing, he told the man, "Apologies. We'll have the hole fixed as quickly as possible." It was perhaps not the greatest thing in the world for the SOLDIER First Class rooms to be directly below their offices, but it had never been an issue before.

There was a question in the woman's eyes as she gazed at Eden, so because Haste would normally only counteract Slow, he modified it to remove Stop status. The woman was released and able to regain her bearings as she began testing her limbs, eyes on the younger blond as she asked, "'Shed tears'? You don't cry."

"And killing doesn't really get easier, but both previous times I had to kill, I didn't really have the opportunity to cry, once because I was too exhausted to generate tears and the other because I was unconscious and near-death for a week after. This is the first time I'm killing in an instance where it isn't being postponed, so I couldn't keep it back entirely and a few tears escaped," Eden explained to her, his expression sour. "But I really am running out of options the more dangerous the attackers are, and every time I beat them, the more dangerous they become in their next attempt."

"I'm going to need reports on those attacks, Eden," Tseng told him. "We'll start looking into it as soon as we have them. And Mrs. Curtis, while the Turks will foot the bill for this incident, if you ever destroy things on our floor again, including the floor itself, it'll be coming out of your income, so don't do it again." The Turk then faced Rufus and said, "Cissnei can take you to get a firearm for the evening. Eden can stay here while you're in her care, since I have some papers to give him."

With a nod and a last glare at Izumi, Rufus left with Cissnei, carefully skirting the two-foot hole Izumi had put in the floor about a foot before it exited into the hall. A moment later, Rude's hand landed on Eden's head and the blond closed his eyes as he breathed deeply. He only vaguely heard Teacher question what 'that' was all about, then silence.

"We don't get to visit nearly often enough when we're in Midgar, you know," Eden commented after a moment, turning to look up at Rude.

"We don't. For now."

"You think that will change?"

"It goes on and off."

"I see. That's good to know."

Tseng returned to the room just then and eyed the pair for a moment before sighing and saying, "As adorable as that is, I can't promise you any sort of time to visit with friends and—family—until we've dealt with Fuhito." He approached as Eden faced him with a glare and Rude dropped his hand, expression amused. "Here are the forms you'll need to fill out with your reports—these are the ones Heidegger and President Shinra will see—but we'll be taking our cues and clues from your detailed reports. I'll leave it to you to decide how much to put in those, but if you actually want to go on that trip you mentioned, you're probably better off downplaying the incidences for these."

"Okay," Eden agreed as Rufus and Cissnei returned. The younger blond took the papers from Tseng and, with a sincere thanks to Rude, Eden left with his charge. They were back in the Vice President's office before Izumi and Tseng were done in his office and ready to gather her equipment for her.

SH

That evening saw Eden back at storage room sorting while most of the others were getting ready for their various late-day tasks, though Reno was in as bad a mood as him. The result was that they actually got into a full-fledged fight before Eden got any sorting done, a fight Reno won largely because he fought in a completely random, street-fighter-like style and used Pyramid on him a few times. Rather than beating on the younger Turk while he was bound, he stood back and let Pyramid break before they started fighting again. When Eden asked him afterwards why he did that, he answered with a shrug, "We both needed ta vent, yo, so real fightin' was the better plan."

As for the dinner party, its start time had been registered for six, but people arrived anytime between five-thirty and six-thirty, the earliest arrivals being the President and his son—which, of course, included Sephiroth. Both Rufus and Sephiroth were dressed in their usual clothing, if slightly more refined—Sephiroth had a full, closed shirt under his long coat and Rufus wore a black, button-up blouse with a white tie under his—while most of the other attendees were in vari-colored suits or cocktail dresses. They had prepared for a night of irritation and boredom.

However, when Genesis stepped into the room shortly after six with a broad grin and an attractive blond young woman in a blue dress on his arm, both were flummoxed. The General and President's son traded confused expressions, then made their way over to greet the new arrivals, not noticing the Cait Sith quietly following the pair. Sephiroth asked his red haired friend-brother in confusion, "How in the world did you manage to receive an invitation to such an event, Genesis?"

"Oh, technically, I didn't," Genesis replied in amusement. "But Miss Winry Rockbell is Reeve's new assistant and hasn't been to one of these functions yet, so asked to have a—knowledgeable escort to her first event." He then faced her and said, "Winry, meet General Sephiroth and the President's son, Rufus Shinra."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Winry said with a smile, offering a hand to Rufus, first. She then blushed as he took it and brought it to his lips while bowing so he could kiss the back of it. Genesis' snickering was ignored, as was Sephiroth's puzzled look.

Standing straight again, but with her hand still in his, Rufus said with more sincerity than the two SOLDIERs had ever heard from him before, "The pleasure is mine, Miss Rockbell. Welcome, and enjoy the evening. If you need or want anything, just let me know and I'll see that you have it." Both of them were still staring into one another's blue eyes, though Winry managed to extract her hand politely and regain her bearings.

"Since it seems chivalry isn't quite dead yet—" the girl began, which just made Genesis start laughing so hard he had to turn away from the pair, "—the one thing I'm not sure I'll get here is an intelligent discussion which doesn't revolve around greed and bragging. Is that something you can see I have, Mr. Shinra?"

"Oh, dear..." Sephiroth sighed.

"Now aren't you glad I'm here?" Genesis smirked beside his friend and brother. "At least you'll have someone to talk with while those two make googly eyes at one another."

"Genesis," Winry's dangerously sweet voice came from the side. A moment later, something very hard and blunt connected with his head and he yelped, making several people turn to look. Everyone could see the wrench in her hand while she left it leaning against the red haired man's head, and it was Rufus' turn to snicker. "Now, you should be more polite to your date, shouldn't you, Commander?" she asked sweetly.

"Yes, Ma'am!" he squeaked, and she lifted the wrench so he could rub his head and turn to face her. "Eden wasn't kidding when he said he was worried about you having a wrench on hand to hit him with," he dead-panned. "Where did you get it, anyway?"

"I always have some of my tools on hand, just in case," Winry replied cheerfully, and everyone (well, everyone who was watching) blinked in surprise as it slid under the arm of her dress, which was just loose enough for it to not be visible unless she turned her arm under-side up. "Now, then, gentlemen, what would you recommend we do first?"

"The meal will be brought out at seven, so socializing is the main function of the first hour or so," Rufus told her. "There are small treats and drinks to sample as well, though I wouldn't recommend most of the drinks unless you're either a heavy drinker or hold your liquor well."

"Neither applies to me, so what drink would be best for me?" the younger blond asked curiously.

A waiter was passing Genesis just then, so he reached over and pulled one of the fluted wine glasses off the waiter's tray and offered it to Winry. "This is a standard wine cooler the President serves at these gatherings, and by the faintly pink color, I believe the central flavor would be a red berry of some sort, or a mixed berry. It's the least alcoholic drink here, and even then, if you aren't familiar with alcohol, you should be cautious of how much you drink until you have food in your stomach."

"Agreed," both Rufus and Sephiroth added.

"I see," Winry murmured, taking the drink and sipping it daintily. She then gave a pleased smile and said, "This is surprisingly good. Thank you for the advice, though, because otherwise it would be all too easy to overdo something which tastes like zesty strawberry juice."

"Shall we find a seat to talk, then?" Rufus asked, offering his arm to her.

"We should," Genesis agreed with a small smirk as he also offered his arm to her.

Winry gazed between the two men offering their arms and an exasperated Sephiroth for a minute before smiling and taking both Rufus' and Genesis' arm at the same time, one in each hand. "Lead the way, then," she happily agreed, feeling very privileged to have been offered both so easily.

They gaped at her for a moment as Sephiroth actually gave a small chuckle and commented, "Well done, Miss Rockbell."

"It's Winry, please, and my only regret is that I don't have a third arm for you," she grinned at him—and he felt his cheeks heat.

Rufus then cleared his throat and said, "This way, then. Some of the most comfortable seats are reserved for my father and myself and those we're in discussion with, so you should enjoy those the most." He proceeded to lead the way to one cluster of the seats he meant.

The rest of the evening was very enjoyable, though many people came over to ask about Winry as she was a new face. Finding out she was Reeve's assistant cleared that up, and by morning, the whole building would know about the attractive (and intelligent) blond woman Reeve had chosen to replace him should anything happen.

Notes:

(1) Cissnei's past is noted to have begun in an orphanage before being taken and trained as a Turk, but there are also implications that she's a legitimate relative of Zack's, even if she was never able to do more than hint at that. Those implications most likely came from her investigating little bits here and there around her work, but we don't know what the actual relationship between Cissnei and the Fairs is—she could be Zack's first cousin for all we know, as we don't know the familial status of Zack's parents (whether those relatives are dead or alive), only that he has no siblings, personally.