Verna walked into the mansion that she and Rufus were staying at during their visit to Midgar. Upon entering she released her torcher from her feet; that is her heels. The girl wiggled her toes at the sudden freedom that encompassed her feet. She gave a small smile, one that disappeared when she looked over at Rufus.
She bit her lip and looked away. Verna couldn't exactly grasp exactly what he did in the limo, or why he did it. It frightened her witless. Now that her parasympathetic nervous system kicked in she was able to analyze the situation calmly.
"I prefer a woman who knows how to dress herself, and not look like a prostitute, and who has some actual standards."
Those words echoed in her mind. Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair and made her way to the guest room with her thoughts running. Was he seeing if she was suitable enough to be in his very presence? It seemed rather egocentric; then again that was his personality. She couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if he deemed her not to have standards. Would he give someone else the permission to slap her as he gave her to slap Scarlet?
Verna opened the door to her bedroom and walked in. Her eyes glanced over to the flat screen television. Pursing her lips together she turned it on with the remote that was conveniently resting on the end table. The channel that was currently set on the television was not deemed suitable to her tastes; it was some trash show about pregnant teenagers. Were girls really that susceptible to lowering themselves to their primal instincts these days?
Shaking her head, Verna scrolled to where the more educational channels were. Documentaries were something of which she favored. Unfortunately for her, these so called scientific channels seemed to be more interested in showing the lives of people who wrestled gators and had to have sub titles to understand a single word uttered from their mouths. That or some person with the most…unique hair claiming everything that has happened was due to an alien of some sort intervening.
Verna's eyes lit up as she found a documentary suited to her tastes. She selected the channel and watched it as she stripped from her dress. Standing in her underwear she grinned seeing it was indeed a psychology documentary – focused mainly on stress.
Verna walked over to the wardrobe and took out some clothes and dressed into completely cleaned clothes. She sat back on the bed making note that she'd take a shower in the morning. Now she just wanted to watch the documentary without any interruptions.
But at times life can be a cruel bitch. At that very moment, right when Verna became extremely comfortable on the plush bed, a knock sounded on the door. Verna buried her face in a pillow and gave a scream of fury from the interruption. Begrudgingly getting up from her spot, Verna sulked over to the door and opened it.
"What!?" She spat at the intruder on her time of watching the documentary.
Rufus raised an eyebrow at her sudden fit of rage, "You're in a foul mood."
"If that's all you want to say to me then leave!" Verna fumed as she glanced back at the television, still trying to take in all of the information it had to offer.
"It isn't all I have to say to you."
"Then spit it out, I'm in the middle of watching a documentary," Verna crossed her arms – a body position that tells other people not to approach them.
"Very well," Rufus muttered running a hand through his hair. This woman can be a real pain at times. "I just wanted to thank you for attending this event with me…" He paused for a moment, thinking, "It was amusing to say the least. And…" He seemed to be drawing out the conversation.
Verna tapped her foot impatiently on the carpeted flooring, "And?" She urged him on, wanting to get back to the documentary.
"And I wanted to apologize for my actions earlier, they were uncalled for."
Verna raised an eyebrow and sighed, "Yeah, it's fine. Just don't do that again. Or I'll hurt your worse than I've hurt your managers."
Rufus smirked slightly, "Well, I wouldn't want that to happen." He lingered there for a moment or two. Conflicting thoughts were evident just by the expression on his face. Something of which confused Verna greatly. "Good night."
"Wait," Verna grabbed onto the sleeve of his white jacket.
Rufus looked back and an amused glint flashed across his icy blue eyes, "Don't you have a documentary to get back to."
"Do you want to watch it with me?" Verna questioned and let go of his jacket. "Just as a truce."
"Just as a truce then," Rufus chuckled and followed Verna back into the bedroom.
Verna sat on top of the covers and leaned against the headboard. Rufus sat on the other side of the bed. The two kept a suitable distance from the other – at least with what the bed would allow it.
Rufus glanced over at the person sitting on the bed with him; she seemed completely engulfed in the documentary. He couldn't exactly deduct the reason as to why she would be so interested. It was merely talking about stress and how it relates to a hierarchy; those on top experience less stress than those on the bottom.
He crossed his arms and gave quiet discontent noise; he experienced a high amount of stress in his daily life. Surely he had more experience than some of his employees, and he was at the top.
Verna glanced over at him with the noise he gave, "Is something wrong?"
"You're not at the top, how much stress do you experience?"
"A lot," Verna looked back over to the television. "I have anxiety, remember? I'm always stressed."
"Does it cause you to get sick?"
"Yeah," Verna nodded her head, "But only once I start to relax will I get sick. That's because my body gives out and says it can't handle the stress anymore. I guess I've sort of conditioned myself to stay stressed, otherwise I'll get sick. It's an avoidance-avoidance situation, really."
"You watch these documentaries a lot, don't you?"
"All the time. Now what about you? I mean your stress levels."
Rufus sighed lightly, "It's horrible. Making sure that the company is presentable to the rest of the world can be infuriating at times, especially with Heidegger and Scarlet. The people hate the company, so that's taxing as well."
"Mmm," Verna crossed her legs as a distant look crossed her face. "Maybe you're stressed because you're not in the hierarchy of things. Sure, you might be at the top of your company, but not in society. People dislike you, which placed you closer to the bottom. Maybe it's more important than running your company. That could explain your higher levels of stress."
"Maybe," Rufus spoke softly as he thought. He was always looking for praise, something that his father always neglected to give him. Now, he was looking for praise on the planet, but no one would give him any was well.
"I'm just glad that you're trying to change things for the better." Except her, she would praise him and show some respect that wasn't out of fear.
Rufus looked back to the television. He jumped slightly, as well as Verna, when the doorbell began to ring furiously. Verna groaned into a pillow at yet another distraction. Rufus stood up and grabbed the remote and hit a button. He looked back at Verna, who wasn't watching him. Smirking slightly he walked out of the room.
"Stay here, it could be Scarlet coming to kill you," Rufus spoke in a taunting way.
Verna growled lightly at his meaningless words. She stood up from the bed and followed Rufus to the door. She'd hide at the top of the stairs, just to see who it was. Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. Besides, she had about six lives left – five if you count her interaction with Heidegger.
Rufus opened the door and stiffened as a blonde female came bursting through the door. Verna shot back seeing the color of the hair; was she seriously here to kill her? Though, at the sound of a higher pitched voice she eased her way from where she was hiding. It wasn't Scarlet, it was Elena.
Elena's face was streaked with mascara that ran. Tears continuously ran down her face. The female Turk sniffed as she tried to collect herself in front of the company's manager. She failed miserably.
"Elena?" Rufus questioned, "What happened?"
"T-Tseng!" Elena shook as her hands turned into tight fists. "R-Reeve…E-Explain it!"
Rufus looked up seeing a man in a blue suit. He stepped to the side to let the man in. He nodded curtly to him. The polite smile that was on his face was currently missing. Something was severely wrong.
"Tseng has been seriously injured by Sephiroth," Reeve spoke gravely. "He may be dead as we speak."
By now Verna walking down the stairs with a box of tissues in her hands; she ran back to the room to grab some. She handed the box to Elena and gave her a sympathetic look. Elena must have had a close relationship with Tseng.
Rufus took the moment to think things through. The most apt Turk was most likely killed by Sephiroth. Sure, Sephiroth may have been a general and a first-class SOLDIER, but he didn't think he'd be able to take out a Turk so suddenly.
"Where was he?"
"The temple. We did run into Sephiroth while we were there," Reeve spoke slightly hesitant. "When we were at the temple we stumbled upon something unnerving."
"What was it?"
Reeve hesitated. He licked his lips to wet them, something that must have been a nervous quirk. He looked around. It seemed that whatever it was brought a great amount of stress onto him.
"The end of everything."
-A/N—
Like the bit of psychology I threw in there~? Why did I do it? Because I'm trying to review for my AP Psychology exam. -_-' I have 3 AP classes this year. *sighs* Being more apt in intelligence (both crystalized and fluid) is awesome at times, but others it's a pain in the ass.
Did anyone even get the psychology…? TT_TT
Oh and one big favor to ask of all of my few readers~! I'm going to college in August and I still haven't decided what I should major in. As of now I've been considering Graphic Design: Print Concentration, English: Writing Concentration, Psychology, or Biology (though I'm steering away from that, because I'd have to take chemistry and I despise chemistry). Any opinions on what I should do? If I do go into graphic design I'd most likely go into designing posters (since I've all of the posters the school has asked my class to design) or into the comic book industry…Maybe write a video game or two.
And I have a very short chapter that follows this…Like five hundred words short. ;_;