When the cackling has subsided, Sephiroth continues. "You are correct in that he's not from Midgar - apparently he's from a small town called Gongaga."
"Gongaga?" Genesis wrinkles his nose. "That sounds positively backwater."
A moment passes. Genesis squints at him. Sephiroth politely says nothing, especially nothing on the fact that they both know that Genesis can't really say anything on anyone being from somewhere backwater. Banora may have its rise to acknowledgment with posters for the apples everywhere you turn even in Midgar, but it's still... very country, from what Sephiroth understands. While Angeal seems to think that it's amusing that some "country hick" like him can become a crime boss in a place like Midgar - the crime boss, really, depending on who you ask - Genesis seems as though he would much rather blunt force trauma everyone in existence so they remember what Banora is.
Another little difference between them.
"Regardless, that he was in the running for SOLDIER proves that his physical capabilities should be worth something," he says, eventually. Certainly nothing worse than what most thugs there in the Market, honestly.
All Genesis does is scoff, bending down to pluck a stray feather off from the ground inbetween his fingers. "Please, as though SOLDIER is anything special," he says dismissively. Not a lot of people would say something like that, but... From someone like Genesis, with more than enough reserves in him to set no small portion of Midgar alight. Angeal, from what Sephiroth can tell, never quite got a handle on materia in a similar way...
But Angeal can take that very same high level magic Genesis is capable of at point-blank range and get right back up again, looking no worse for the wear outside of burned clothing.
That's not even talking about Sephiroth himself. He'd prefer to keep it that way.
"There still has to be a reason that he caught Angeal's eye," he points out, earning a huff from Genesis's lips. "Still, energy and personality seem to be his strongest points... Not so much some other qualities that has helped Angeal settle Wall Market."
It is a very generous way of putting it. Genesis is not nearly so generous. "Oh, so he's an imbecile," he declares with a dramatic sigh. "And that is who Angeal wants to put in charge of the Market? After all the hard work he put into it?" He rakes his fingers through it, almost seemingly more annoyed at the changes happening in his partner's territory than anything that might occur in his own. Then again, the two of them have always seemed to operate this way: anything that's Angeal's is Genesis's, and vice versa. It's just that Genesis is the one most likely to meddle. "I normally understand everything going through that head of his, and yet I must admit that this is a mystery to me."
"You could always go down to see him yourself," Sephiroth suggests. Whether he means Angeal or his new protégé, well, that's up to Genesis.
The responding head shake is not entirely surprising. "No... At least, if I go to visit Angeal, it will be as I always do." His lips thin a bit, displeasure in very bit of the gesture. "He did say that eventually retiring was something he wished to do... And Wall Market is, in the end, his territory to deal with. Unless something truly egregious occurs, or it involves the Golden Saucer, then I suppose I do not have too much of a right to get involved."
Not too much of a right still means he has something of a right, of course. A neat little loophole for Genesis. Sephiroth doesn't call him out on this, either, only smiles. "Of course. Regardless, nothing of particular interest has happened yet... or else I would have a far more exciting tale to pass onto you."
"Oh, I imagine it is simply a matter of time before something fascinating happens," Genesis with a dismissive wave of his hand, brilliant blue feather fluttering with the motion. "It is Wall Market, after all. Well, enough of that." Reaching over, he deposits the feather right there behind Sephiroth's ear, and smiles a bit as though pleased with the picture that he's brought to life. "Shall I treat you to dinner, as compensation for having you come all this way?"
There's no actual need for him to 'pay' Sephiroth, of course. He came here because Genesis is someone dear to him, because he wants to make sure that him and Angeal are on the same page. Because it's nice, to be with the two of them.
It took... perhaps no small amount of time, and a bit of explaining from Angeal, that this is just another way that the two of them show affection to him. A way that they take care of him, and get to spend time with him. It seems kind of silly to make excuses for things that both parties clearly want - Angeal had conceded that much when Sephiroth had pointed it out to him - but sometimes the performance was a part of it.
Honestly, being close with Genesis has taught him a lot about the connection between performance and being human.
"If it won't get in the way of anything," he responds in turn, although he has to chuckle when the two of them exit the stables. "You know, the night that Angeal first told us about his idea of retiring... He also treated me to dinner."
Genesis shakes his head, but he doesn't seem particularly surprised. "All the money in the world, and he still insisted on having that little kitchen installed instead of simply hiring his own personal chef," he sighs. "What will I do with him? And he didn't even invite me." That last part, they both know, is the true issue at hand. Angeal has only really cooked for himself, family, and Genesis before he arrived in Midgar, and yet his cooking has a quality to it that Sephiroth finds hard to describe. Nice. Pleasant. Something he'd be happy eating every night, and he knows Genesis feels the same. "Well, it shall not be the fine dining of a crime boss's single suite in the back of a crime den, but you'll be treated to the finest of Golden Saucer cuisine."
While Sephiroth has other things to do in his life than stay by Angeal's side all the time, it's hard for even him to miss how much of a constant presence Zack soon becomes in the area. Certainly, he'd picked up on his existence once or twice before any announcement, but the difference from then and in the present is stark.
Not all of it is by Angeal's side, either. Oh, yes, he's there as well - tagging along behind Angeal as he goes through the territory, forced to sit down in the office with his head in his hands as terribly dull math is explained to him, running full sprint out the door while Angeal yells at his back to calm down not inside the building Zack. That much is just to be expected, in all honestly.
But more often than not, he can be found all throughout Wall Market, and even in a few areas beyond... although Sephiroth cannot say with any concrete certainty how much of his time is spent in or out of the area. As Sephiroth thought, Zack is a doer more than someone who learns from sitting about being told things, and Angeal had clearly spotted that as well. He has an eye, for things like that. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing useful for a crime boss, but...
So Sephiroth sees him running around doing apparent errands for the various and actually legal businesses down on the plate. Spots him doing bodyguard duty for a few of their people through parts of town both mundane and dangerous. Once, after he's finished meeting up with a client, he even spots Zack rushing around in the backstage of the Honeybee Inn looking absolutely out of his depth.
"If you're going to run a business right, then you need to know the ins and outs of it," he tells Sephiroth plainly one night , when they've both decided to take a break and have decided to visit the Golden Saucer just to see how the races are going. "I'm not expecting him to become an expert in any of those jobs, don't get me wrong."
"But he needs to get it in his head what he's actually running."
Angeal flashes him a short, small smile. "He needs to have an appreciation for where all his money and success is really coming from. Guy like me - I just keep the rails straight and smooth. Nothing more, nothing less." A rather humble view of himself for a crime boss, but that really is just so like Angeal. They don't have much time to keep going with that line of conversation before one of Genesis's people manages to track them down and lead them to a private viewing room where Genesis awaits.
At least it's almost pleasant, to see Zack running about everywhere and the impact he has on others. Even if their passes rarely cross directly, Sephiroth can still observe the effect he has on other people. That might not seem like a lot to some.
In Sephiroth's opinion, however... It's incredibly enlightening.
From that very first night, he had deduced that Zack was a sociable and amicable sort of individual with how he hadn't shyed away from being in the spotlight, and had leapt right into the waiting crowd of Angeal's people to get to know them for himself. With a chance to prove himself all the more, a long leash that lets him go throughout all of Wall Market... he seems to leave an even better impression on everyone, wherever he meets. You know, those who are not already disinclined to anyone who possesses a sufficiently cheerful or energetic personality.
"He tried to pretend he wasn't dying when I explained to him the ins and outs of acupuncture," Avi says, branding the newest set of needles with a grin from within the Inn's more specialized rooms. "Wasn't so great at it when I did a practical demonstration. It was funny."
"That big fight a couple nights ago? He got involved," Gale says with a sigh from within the Tonberry Tonic, one of the many bars that makes up business on the plate, and yet it's said with a faint smile. "Broke some glasses. Came back in just a couple of hours with new ones and all the apologies in the world."
"He broke the squats record," a couple of the folks from the gym.
"Why are you telling me about a squats record," Genesis asks him suspiciously with a squint, over his desk where he's looking over some proposals for new machines from a few businesses.
Sephiroth's smile is small and impossible to miss for someone like the redhead. "I thought it would be amusing," he says, and is rewarded by Genesis's eye roll. "Besides, at least it does show that there's some good physical training in there, so we can confirm at least some sort of training was present, even if not from SOLDIER."
"No wonder it sounds as though Angeal is running him absolutely ragged, then." Genesis sounds rather satisfied about that little fact, however. "Still, nothing interesting, really..."
Probably a lack of anything interesting is why Angeal has decided now is the best time to do something like this. Genesis just likes things when they're a bit more dramatic, a bit more explosive. No doubt that will come in due time; Wall Market rarely stays quiet for long. But they both know Angeal's reasonings, and Wall Market's ways. For now, Sephiroth leans against the desk, and his smile shifts in a way he's learned from both experience and the man seated right there in front of him. "There is always us," he points out.
Genesis's eyes light up in that eager predatory sort of way, and Sephiroth knows without seeing his own that they match in turn. "There is," he purrs, the sound just a little jagged there in the back of his throat.
When sufficiently distracted, Genesis burns bright and hard - a wildfire whose hunger never falters in the slightest, for want of everything the world has to offer him. Even in all the time he's been in this line of work, in all the time that he's been free and exploring even the wide world that Midgar composes of, Sephiroth doesn't think he's ever met anyone else quite as ravenous as Genesis.
It does appealing things, to one's sense of being needed and desired. It also keeps Sephiroth stuck in that office, and then Genesis's apartment, for hours on end. He suspects that the only people that can keep up with Genesis like this are him and Angeal.
Of course, being with Genesis also means indulging in rather lazy mornings - something that had been a foreign concept to him once upon a time and yet which he allows some indulgence in when it comes to Genesis. Most of the morning passes before Sephiroth is able to untangle himself from Genesis's arms - always seeking heat - and help his friend go off to work with as large a cup of espresso as is possible for a human being to down. He thinks none of it, honestly. It all seems rather mundane.
Only when he finally returns to Wall Market does he sense tension in the air.
Most can't get a feel for it. Not the average person, even those who live around the Market themselves. But Sephiroth can pick up on the way the guards near HQ glance at one another, the rare worker who hurries past with furrowed brows. It's enough to, on instinct, have him turn towards HQ and seek out Angeal.
As fortune would have it, the two of them run into one another right at the doors. "Ah, Sephiroth. Hey," he says, a dark sort of calm settled over him. Against his back, the buster sword patiently hangs there.
no subject
"Gongaga?" Genesis wrinkles his nose. "That sounds positively backwater."
A moment passes. Genesis squints at him. Sephiroth politely says nothing, especially nothing on the fact that they both know that Genesis can't really say anything on anyone being from somewhere backwater. Banora may have its rise to acknowledgment with posters for the apples everywhere you turn even in Midgar, but it's still... very country, from what Sephiroth understands. While Angeal seems to think that it's amusing that some "country hick" like him can become a crime boss in a place like Midgar - the crime boss, really, depending on who you ask - Genesis seems as though he would much rather blunt force trauma everyone in existence so they remember what Banora is.
Another little difference between them.
"Regardless, that he was in the running for SOLDIER proves that his physical capabilities should be worth something," he says, eventually. Certainly nothing worse than what most thugs there in the Market, honestly.
All Genesis does is scoff, bending down to pluck a stray feather off from the ground inbetween his fingers. "Please, as though SOLDIER is anything special," he says dismissively. Not a lot of people would say something like that, but... From someone like Genesis, with more than enough reserves in him to set no small portion of Midgar alight. Angeal, from what Sephiroth can tell, never quite got a handle on materia in a similar way...
But Angeal can take that very same high level magic Genesis is capable of at point-blank range and get right back up again, looking no worse for the wear outside of burned clothing.
That's not even talking about Sephiroth himself. He'd prefer to keep it that way.
"There still has to be a reason that he caught Angeal's eye," he points out, earning a huff from Genesis's lips. "Still, energy and personality seem to be his strongest points... Not so much some other qualities that has helped Angeal settle Wall Market."
It is a very generous way of putting it. Genesis is not nearly so generous. "Oh, so he's an imbecile," he declares with a dramatic sigh. "And that is who Angeal wants to put in charge of the Market? After all the hard work he put into it?" He rakes his fingers through it, almost seemingly more annoyed at the changes happening in his partner's territory than anything that might occur in his own. Then again, the two of them have always seemed to operate this way: anything that's Angeal's is Genesis's, and vice versa. It's just that Genesis is the one most likely to meddle. "I normally understand everything going through that head of his, and yet I must admit that this is a mystery to me."
"You could always go down to see him yourself," Sephiroth suggests. Whether he means Angeal or his new protégé, well, that's up to Genesis.
The responding head shake is not entirely surprising. "No... At least, if I go to visit Angeal, it will be as I always do." His lips thin a bit, displeasure in very bit of the gesture. "He did say that eventually retiring was something he wished to do... And Wall Market is, in the end, his territory to deal with. Unless something truly egregious occurs, or it involves the Golden Saucer, then I suppose I do not have too much of a right to get involved."
Not too much of a right still means he has something of a right, of course. A neat little loophole for Genesis. Sephiroth doesn't call him out on this, either, only smiles. "Of course. Regardless, nothing of particular interest has happened yet... or else I would have a far more exciting tale to pass onto you."
"Oh, I imagine it is simply a matter of time before something fascinating happens," Genesis with a dismissive wave of his hand, brilliant blue feather fluttering with the motion. "It is Wall Market, after all. Well, enough of that." Reaching over, he deposits the feather right there behind Sephiroth's ear, and smiles a bit as though pleased with the picture that he's brought to life. "Shall I treat you to dinner, as compensation for having you come all this way?"
There's no actual need for him to 'pay' Sephiroth, of course. He came here because Genesis is someone dear to him, because he wants to make sure that him and Angeal are on the same page. Because it's nice, to be with the two of them.
It took... perhaps no small amount of time, and a bit of explaining from Angeal, that this is just another way that the two of them show affection to him. A way that they take care of him, and get to spend time with him. It seems kind of silly to make excuses for things that both parties clearly want - Angeal had conceded that much when Sephiroth had pointed it out to him - but sometimes the performance was a part of it.
Honestly, being close with Genesis has taught him a lot about the connection between performance and being human.
"If it won't get in the way of anything," he responds in turn, although he has to chuckle when the two of them exit the stables. "You know, the night that Angeal first told us about his idea of retiring... He also treated me to dinner."
Genesis shakes his head, but he doesn't seem particularly surprised. "All the money in the world, and he still insisted on having that little kitchen installed instead of simply hiring his own personal chef," he sighs. "What will I do with him? And he didn't even invite me." That last part, they both know, is the true issue at hand. Angeal has only really cooked for himself, family, and Genesis before he arrived in Midgar, and yet his cooking has a quality to it that Sephiroth finds hard to describe. Nice. Pleasant. Something he'd be happy eating every night, and he knows Genesis feels the same. "Well, it shall not be the fine dining of a crime boss's single suite in the back of a crime den, but you'll be treated to the finest of Golden Saucer cuisine."
While Sephiroth has other things to do in his life than stay by Angeal's side all the time, it's hard for even him to miss how much of a constant presence Zack soon becomes in the area. Certainly, he'd picked up on his existence once or twice before any announcement, but the difference from then and in the present is stark.
Not all of it is by Angeal's side, either. Oh, yes, he's there as well - tagging along behind Angeal as he goes through the territory, forced to sit down in the office with his head in his hands as terribly dull math is explained to him, running full sprint out the door while Angeal yells at his back to calm down not inside the building Zack. That much is just to be expected, in all honestly.
But more often than not, he can be found all throughout Wall Market, and even in a few areas beyond... although Sephiroth cannot say with any concrete certainty how much of his time is spent in or out of the area. As Sephiroth thought, Zack is a doer more than someone who learns from sitting about being told things, and Angeal had clearly spotted that as well. He has an eye, for things like that. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing useful for a crime boss, but...
So Sephiroth sees him running around doing apparent errands for the various and actually legal businesses down on the plate. Spots him doing bodyguard duty for a few of their people through parts of town both mundane and dangerous. Once, after he's finished meeting up with a client, he even spots Zack rushing around in the backstage of the Honeybee Inn looking absolutely out of his depth.
"If you're going to run a business right, then you need to know the ins and outs of it," he tells Sephiroth plainly one night , when they've both decided to take a break and have decided to visit the Golden Saucer just to see how the races are going. "I'm not expecting him to become an expert in any of those jobs, don't get me wrong."
"But he needs to get it in his head what he's actually running."
Angeal flashes him a short, small smile. "He needs to have an appreciation for where all his money and success is really coming from. Guy like me - I just keep the rails straight and smooth. Nothing more, nothing less." A rather humble view of himself for a crime boss, but that really is just so like Angeal. They don't have much time to keep going with that line of conversation before one of Genesis's people manages to track them down and lead them to a private viewing room where Genesis awaits.
At least it's almost pleasant, to see Zack running about everywhere and the impact he has on others. Even if their passes rarely cross directly, Sephiroth can still observe the effect he has on other people. That might not seem like a lot to some.
In Sephiroth's opinion, however... It's incredibly enlightening.
From that very first night, he had deduced that Zack was a sociable and amicable sort of individual with how he hadn't shyed away from being in the spotlight, and had leapt right into the waiting crowd of Angeal's people to get to know them for himself. With a chance to prove himself all the more, a long leash that lets him go throughout all of Wall Market... he seems to leave an even better impression on everyone, wherever he meets. You know, those who are not already disinclined to anyone who possesses a sufficiently cheerful or energetic personality.
"He tried to pretend he wasn't dying when I explained to him the ins and outs of acupuncture," Avi says, branding the newest set of needles with a grin from within the Inn's more specialized rooms. "Wasn't so great at it when I did a practical demonstration. It was funny."
"That big fight a couple nights ago? He got involved," Gale says with a sigh from within the Tonberry Tonic, one of the many bars that makes up business on the plate, and yet it's said with a faint smile. "Broke some glasses. Came back in just a couple of hours with new ones and all the apologies in the world."
"He broke the squats record," a couple of the folks from the gym.
"Why are you telling me about a squats record," Genesis asks him suspiciously with a squint, over his desk where he's looking over some proposals for new machines from a few businesses.
Sephiroth's smile is small and impossible to miss for someone like the redhead. "I thought it would be amusing," he says, and is rewarded by Genesis's eye roll. "Besides, at least it does show that there's some good physical training in there, so we can confirm at least some sort of training was present, even if not from SOLDIER."
"No wonder it sounds as though Angeal is running him absolutely ragged, then." Genesis sounds rather satisfied about that little fact, however. "Still, nothing interesting, really..."
Probably a lack of anything interesting is why Angeal has decided now is the best time to do something like this. Genesis just likes things when they're a bit more dramatic, a bit more explosive. No doubt that will come in due time; Wall Market rarely stays quiet for long. But they both know Angeal's reasonings, and Wall Market's ways. For now, Sephiroth leans against the desk, and his smile shifts in a way he's learned from both experience and the man seated right there in front of him. "There is always us," he points out.
Genesis's eyes light up in that eager predatory sort of way, and Sephiroth knows without seeing his own that they match in turn. "There is," he purrs, the sound just a little jagged there in the back of his throat.
When sufficiently distracted, Genesis burns bright and hard - a wildfire whose hunger never falters in the slightest, for want of everything the world has to offer him. Even in all the time he's been in this line of work, in all the time that he's been free and exploring even the wide world that Midgar composes of, Sephiroth doesn't think he's ever met anyone else quite as ravenous as Genesis.
It does appealing things, to one's sense of being needed and desired. It also keeps Sephiroth stuck in that office, and then Genesis's apartment, for hours on end. He suspects that the only people that can keep up with Genesis like this are him and Angeal.
Of course, being with Genesis also means indulging in rather lazy mornings - something that had been a foreign concept to him once upon a time and yet which he allows some indulgence in when it comes to Genesis. Most of the morning passes before Sephiroth is able to untangle himself from Genesis's arms - always seeking heat - and help his friend go off to work with as large a cup of espresso as is possible for a human being to down. He thinks none of it, honestly. It all seems rather mundane.
Only when he finally returns to Wall Market does he sense tension in the air.
Most can't get a feel for it. Not the average person, even those who live around the Market themselves. But Sephiroth can pick up on the way the guards near HQ glance at one another, the rare worker who hurries past with furrowed brows. It's enough to, on instinct, have him turn towards HQ and seek out Angeal.
As fortune would have it, the two of them run into one another right at the doors. "Ah, Sephiroth. Hey," he says, a dark sort of calm settled over him. Against his back, the buster sword patiently hangs there.