A Puppy for Puppy
Word Count: 335
"What if you got him a pet?"
Angeal had dropped that bomb and then decided their conversation was over, apparently, because after that he proceeded to dump a stack of mission reports on Sephiroth's desk for final review, comment briefly that the report in front of the General appeared to be upside-down, and then turned and left the office.
Now alone in his office and unobserved, Sephiroth frowned and thought. What would happen if he got Fair a pet? The most obvious outcome was that the animal would quickly die, of course. Not that he doubted Zack's skills as a caretaker – Fair, damn it, call him Fair at work – but as a SOLDIER, one's schedule was not always responsive to what one wished it to be. That is to say, missions happened, and sometimes they went on for rather extended periods of time after starting quite suddenly. There wouldn't always be time to find dog-sitter or a boarding facility before deployment, and animals that could be kept with minimal care and attention were less responsive to physical attention, like cuddling.
An animal that did not like to cuddle would not help in this situation.
But what did that leave? Dogs were the obvious answer, but as mentioned, they required constant, consistent care and attention. Cats were only slightly more self-sufficient. Ideally the creature would be something Zack could roughhouse with, so he could get rid of some of his excess energy. Sephiroth turned his mind briefly to monsters before considering that, while Zack – Fair – whatever – could almost certainly feel affection for anything, if his monster pet got loose in ShinRa a soldier would kill it without blinking, and wouldn't THAT just be a great "welcome home" present.
There had to be something. Angeal wouldn't have suggested it if it was a dead-end. Resigned, Sephiroth pushed it to the back of his mind. Maybe the answer would come to him while he wasn't thinking about it; in the meantime, he could be getting work done.