They took their time finishing the tea, and as they walked out of the tea house, Tseng noticed two of the young waitresses whispering behind their hands. He could not help but admit that Rufus was playing his role of the ignorant, rich son of President Shinra, full of vanity and posh, far better than expected. He was sorry for the lady that ended up as the butt of his joke, but Tseng himself could not have thought of a better way for Rufus to feign utter lack of reason and decency. He was only glad that no one but the waitress noticed that the Vice President's hand had been on Tseng's knee almost the whole time they were seated at the table, and expected that she would have too much decency to gossip about it. That he played the part of the paramour in the scheme did not bother him that much. Although it was all for the sake of the mission in the end, there was a certain thrill in walking this very fine line between hiding and shouting out for the whole world to hear that they had this thing going on (wherever it was going), and one glance at Rufus' face told him that the Vice President felt no different.
As well as their interactions with the environment were working out, it just as mus seemed as if Zack's patience with the Vice President's antics was running thin. He felt sorry for the SOLDIER, who had without a doubt come to Wutai in hopes of fulfilling his dreams of becoming a hero. And what he had to do now was guard this useless hoodlum decorated with a feather boa, who had absolutely no clue about the social norms of their hosts and no care to learn them. Ironically enough, him so openly displaying his second-hand embarrassment would serve their purposes better than whatever else he could have done, had he been complicit in their ploy. Although, if Reno was correct in what he suspected, Zack may have unintentionally sabotaged their mission in a way no one could have foreseen. But all they could do now was play their parts, while the other two Turks were playing theirs, and would hopefully deliver more insight soon.
The sun had already set behind the mountains when they returned to the palace, for the most part in good spirits. At least the young infanterist who was with them seemed to have genuinely enjoyed the visit to the teahouse, and Tseng could not help but have grudging respect for the boy's ignorant and honest nature, although he had no doubt that he would not make it far in life if he remained as oblivious and almost simple as he was.
The official reception of the Shinra party by the Wutaian lords was to take place on the next day, and they were to their own devices until then. Within the palace's west wing, a separate dinner room had been provided for them to have their meals at, and when Tseng and his companions returned from their little stroll, a part of the group had already assembled there. As they entered the room, Reeve Tuesti and Sephiroth were seated facing the sliding door near the center of a long, low table with ten cushions on the floor on either side. They looked up as the door slid open, Tuesti from his work, and Sephiroth apparently from looking at his own knees. But who knew what Sephiroth was really doing when no one was keeping him busy.
Tuesti stood up and walked around the table as the Vice President entered the room. Sephiroth only glanced up for a brief moment, but looked away when his and Tseng's eyes met. The Vice President stopped at the head of the table, where Tuesti greeted him heartily. After a few polite words were exchanged, Tuesti got right to the point: "Mr. Vice President, I think we should take this opportunity to discuss our strategy before the parlay starts tomorrow, since we did not have a chance to meet beforehand." Tseng did his best not to let his amusement show on his face, but Rufus knew no such restraint. Chuckling, he responded: "I have the utmost trust in whatever plan you have devised, Reeve." Reeve cleared his throat and continued: "You trust honors me greatly, sir, but I still think we should at least agree on a common course of action." Rufus sighed. "Very well. Let's hear it then."
Tseng placed a pillow for him at the head of the table and he took his place at the Vice President's right hand, as he had done before. When Reeve returned with his laptop, he took a seat to Rufus' left and started talking about his 'plan' straight away. Tseng noted that Sephiroth had not moved seats together with Tuesti, but remained in his spot with his arms folded and eyes closed. What could he be daydreaming about? Perhaps he was simply glad to be rid of Tuesti for a few minutes.
Zack, on the other hand, sat down next to Tuesti and listened with what seemed like genuine interest to his planned course of action. Tseng reached over the table toward Zack and tapped his index finger on the table a few times to get his attention without interrupting the executive. As Zack's eyes turned toward him, he pointed at Sephiroth and made a "shoo" gesture. They would be fine even if Zack was not within arm's reach, and Sephiroth needed some distraction more than Zack needed to hear Reeve's plans. After a moment of visible confusion, Zack's face simultaneously betrayed tension and excitement at the opportunity to talk to his idol again. Tseng could relate to these feelings more than he would usually admit, but was glad that Zack followed his suggestion by getting up, walking all the way the way around the long table and sitting down next to Sephiroth.
As Tseng turned his attention back to the conversation at hand, he could tell that it took the Vice President all of his patience to listen to the heap of nonsense that Tuesti was spouting, and respond with an occasional polite "yes", "is that so?", and "sounds good". Although the official subject of the parlay was peace, even Reeve's premise was faulty, because neither of the involved parties had any actual intention to make peace. The most that anyone could expect from the parlay was a temporary truce. The President knew this; yet, Reeve still believed he had been sent here on a mission for peace. Given his ignorance about the situation, his confidence in his ideas appeared completely misplaced. Tseng could not believe how he could be a department head at the Shinra company and be so oblivious about Shinra's global politics at the same time.
The staff had apparently been notified about the vice president's arrival back at the palace, and a short time later, their dinner consisting of a medium-sized selection of Wutaian dishes was brought in. Bowls and chopsticks were laid out for everyone at the table, and even drinks were served. No alcohol, fortunately, so Sephiroth did not need to be reminded to abstain, at least for now.
While everyone else helped themselves to dinner, Tseng would normally have made an excuse for leaving the room, but he could hardly do that kind of thing while he was sitting at the Vice President's right hand. He had already decided that he would not try to force himself to eat in order to hide this particular weakness from hostile observers (who, he was quite certain, were concealed all around them and had listened in on everything Tuesti had just told their boss). Instead, he made his usual excuse that it was too early for him to eat, and explained that he would have dinner with Reno and Rude later, once they came back from recon. Rufus gave him an inquisitive look that pierced Tseng's soul for a brief moment, but immediately switched to acting disinterested, which was what he wanted everyone else to believe. Reeve Tuesti did not pay him any mind either, and proceeded to inform the vice president about his wonderful plan, apparently completely oblivious to the unique way of espionage that Wutai was so famous for. If these had been their actual plans, they would have reached the Wutaian overlord before they even finished eating their dinner.
He glanced over to Sephiroth and Zack to find the younger SOLDIER talking enthusiastically, while the older was poking around in his food listlessly, barely listening to what Zack was saying. Tseng sighed. Sephiroth looked as if he was in desperate need of a hug. Tseng was in conflict with himself about walking over and patting his head or something along those lines. But believing that Sephiroth would not appreciate it, he remained seated and focused his attention back on Rufus and Tuesti.
After dinner, Reeve remained in the dining room and returned to his work, and Zack moved closer to him, since it was his turn to guard the executive overnight. With Tuesti focusing on his work, Zack pulled out his phone and started talking to Aerith. Hearing him being all lovey-dovey on the phone gave Tseng another pang of jealousy, and he was glad to be able to leave the room together with Rufus and Sephiroth.
"Is there anything else you would like to do before you retire, sir?", Tseng asked Rufus as they walked along the hallway. Rufus looked over his shoulder and smirked. "Such as what?" Tseng shrugged. "Such opportunities rarely present themselves." Considering that Rufus at this point had spent close to two months in captivity, Tseng could not imagine that he would rather hang out in his room than do something outside. There were other options, such as visiting the famed "Turtle's Paradise" or enjoying the view of the city from higher up the mountain. "If we are not successful in making peace with Wutai, it may take some time for you to be able to come here again." Of course, the vice president had been a somewhat frequent, albeit clandestine, visitor in Wutai and had no real need to visit it again, nor would he be given another opportunity as long as he was still in captivity, whether they made peace with Wutai or not. Rufus turned away and responded flatly: "Well, maybe taking a little walk after the long flight might be nice."
As they approached the exit, he suddenly suggested with excitement: "I know! Maybe Sephiroth should show us around!" Tseng looked over his shoulder at Sephiroth, who made a face as if there was nothing he was less inclined to do, but said nothing. It was a sensitive topic, after all. Not that Sephiroth would ever openly say it. Even I did not have a full understanding of what his issue with Wutai really was. The time I inquired about the Wutaian woman, whose phone number was stored in his contact list, he only continued to stare at the phone in his hand, lost in thought. I asked her if she was possibly an old friend or… perhaps a former lover, both of which he denied. How he knew her or why he even had her number in his contacts was a question he never ended up answering. Nor would he ever follow my suggestion to call or text her. I never even made the connection until I heard them yelling at each other across the battlefield. Naturally, him being in the capital of the country he had brought so much trauma to, was an issue in itself, but the fact that he not only had that person's phone number, but that he refused to delete it, while it kept him mentally preoccupied, suggested to me that it was likely more complicated than that. "I think Sephiroth should focus on protecting you, sir. Maybe we should just walk around the palace and do some sightseeing, if you know what I mean." Exploring the palace was a good idea one way or another, simply because they had little to no intelligence about the palace. They might have been able to learn something useful, just by walking around, under the bold assumption that they would even be allowed to roam the grounds freely. Rufus scoffed. "Stingy."
They left the west wing through its main entrance and turned right, away from the main entrance and toward the heart of the palace grounds. Although it was almost dark at this point, Rufus looked around curiously, stopping here and there to behold a work of art, a statue or an interesting decorative detail, as the character he was portraying was supposed to do, while Tseng took note of the layout of their environment and the locations of doors and windows. While he did so, Sephiroth was keeping an eye on the surroundings in order to detect potential hostility before it could become a threat. He endured this little walk with a level of patience that was astonishing; possibly because he realized that Tseng, whom he was constantly observing from the corner of his eye, was doing something useful by inconspicuously taking in as much information about the palace as possible, while the vice president was drawing the attention of possible onlookers on himself.
They did not get very far, though, as after just a few minutes they were approached by two guards, who ordered them to return to the west wing. There was no point in arguing about it, seeing as they were guests with supposedly benign intentions, and such guests had no other intentions to explore the palace, except for curiosity and relieving their boredom. Though perhaps the fact that they had brought Sephiroth along had been unnecessarily provocative.
By the time they returned to the west wing, it was getting quite late. "Let's call it a day", Tseng suggested as the door closed behind them. "We will need all our strength tomorrow." Rufus sighed, but did not argue. Not yet, at least, for as they reached his and Sephiroth's room, he looked over his shoulder, said to Sephiroth: "Give us a minute", and pulled Tseng into the room by his wrist before slamming the door shut. Tseng was taken by surprise, but had at this point given up on fighting against the vice president's whims.
Once inside, Rufus pressed both Tseng's wrists on the wall, and whispered into his ear: "You didn't think I would let you get away with that half-assed kiss earlier, did you?", and Tseng edged him on by whispering back: "Sir, we're probably being watched." Rufus chuckled. "Doesn't that turn you on?" Tseng smiled and closed his eyes as he welcomed Rufus' lips and then his tongue. After a moment of passionate kissing, Tseng suppressed a moan as Rufus' lips gently moved down the front of his neck. Before he could move any further, Tseng muttered: "Sir, I think Sephiroth can hear us." Rufus locked his eyes with Tseng's as he said: "Oh? And that would be a problem… how exactly?" Tseng bit his own lip. It was probably too late anyway. Or maybe he was just flattering himself in thinking that Sephiroth still cared what he did. "Answer!", Rufus commanded and squeezed his wrists when Tseng did not immediately respond. Swallowing hard and avoiding the vice president's eyes, he explained: "He just lost someone dear to him." Rufus stared at him for a moment, dumfounded and then let out a bitter laugh. "But that's not the real reason, is it?"
Either way, he let go of Tseng's wrists and kissed his lips softly one last time. "Don't keep him waiting, then", he said as he turned away. Tseng spared a moment to regard his back, all dressed in white, with broad shoulders and a slim waist emphasized by the loose pants he wore today as per his usual style. He suppressed the urge to embrace his master and slipped through the door out of the room. Sephiroth was leaning with his back against the wall, arms folded, his face hidden by his bangs. He looked away as Tseng stepped out, and said nothing when the Turk bid him a good night.