Zack lights up brighter than neon, but that flickers when Angeal pushes himself up to his feet. "Alright, introductions are done with," he announces simply. "Let's go."
"Go?" Zack's expression twists into quite the amusing countenance, torn between elation and disappointment. It's painfully clear that he'd rather been hoping that he could stick around a little while longer - whether in the flash of the Honeybee Inn, or perhaps for Sephiroth himself. He's not so arrogant as to make a guess on which. "Where are we going?"
"Most of the important people who need to know you, know you. We can go around and making some proper introductions, now. Get you an idea how the main areas of Wall Market work."
"Do I have to take notes?"
"You'd lose any notes you took," Angeal informs him plainly, and Sephiroth hides his smile behind his fingers, a bit. "Just try to pay attention for when I have you actually doing things."
The prospect of doing apparently anything seems to perk Zack up well enough. "Yessss," he cheers quietly, pumping his fist like this is some massive victory. Someone who learns best by doing, it seems. "Then let's get a move on! Where are we going next?"
"There's a few places around the immediate area you could probably stand to get a handle on... We'll try some of the big businesses first." Resting his hand on the back of the booth, Angeal inclines his head towards Sephiroth, now. "Thanks for showing up for today. I'll keep you updated on how things turn out." And with that, he takes his leave, lightly rapping his knuckles along Zack's shoulder to have him follow after. This doesn't, of course, stop Zack from peering over his shoulder and waggling his fingers excitedly at Sephiroth in good bye.
Really, it's as though Angeal has picked up an energetic little puppy. Actually.... Hadn't he heard Angeal commenting to one of the Honeybees recently about finding a cute new puppy, even though Genesis had clearly made no reference to any such things? Honestly now. Sephiroth waves back.
Of course, when Angeal talks about keeping him updated, it's also just as much keeping Genesis updated.
A crime boss and a casino owner - together they might just make for the richest pair in all of Midgar, even if individually they can't hold a candle to something like ShinRa. However, that means both of them have to do a great deal of things to keep it all running smoothly, and exactly as they want it. Especially with how so many people would be glad to leap upon any perceived weakness in either Wall Market or the Golden Saucer. Anything to take it for themselves, or make steps towards that goal.
In contrast, Sephiroth has considerably less on his plate. Due to his popularity and the prices Angeal makes sure don't dip for any of his people, it's not as though he's lacking for money, either. So, even though none of them really agreed to any of it out loud...
One way or the other, he always finds a way to the Golden Saucer, where Genesis is more than happy to spoil him.
Today, that means being near the chocobo racetrack, where the redhead is applying affection to a particularly brilliant blue stud. "What do you think?" he asks him, palms braced carefully along the edge of the massive bird's beak.
It was a good choice to dress a little more plainly today, even if there is still a lot of leather involved. But that's a tactical choice. Stray feathers don't stick quite as easily to his leather compared to any other material he could wear, and that's a benefit as he walks a little further into the stall. Tall boots were also a smart choice; Angeal was right to insist he get at least one sensible pair all those years ago. "A new acquisition?" he asks, taking in the rather patient temperament. No anxiety at the prospect of another and very new person into the stall, just a quiet observation of him - silver reflected in that large black eye. "The feathers seem to be a bit different than that which I'm used to. Were you talked out of buying another red?"
"Oh, hush," Genesis says, with a click of his tongue. "I would have you know that I have more sense than that and you very well know it. While a flock of brilliant crimson would certainly be a sight to behold, it does not fair well on the racetrack. There, they are most glorious when bedazzling the crowd in a mosaic of color, like stained glass in a forgotten church."
"Very poetic."
"Thank you, I am glad that someone can properly appreciate my talents."
That draws out a soft chuckle from Sephiroth. Well, it is good to see that Genesis is in a fine mood, today. Perhaps his new companion is helpful in that regard, for it has quite a calming sort of personality. At least, it just makes a soft little trill in its throat when Sephiroth runs his hand along its long neck, and ends in a little beep.
Yes, this close, and being able to touch the creature... It is quite different from the chocobo that Genesis normally buys for the track. There's something about that sensation which is far smoother than a chocobo feather normally is. A different breed entirely, perhaps?
"What kind of environment does this one grow in?" he asks, curious despite himself. "With how slick they are... A water-inclined breed?"
It would explain the slight difference in the feathers, and, now that he's closer, he thinks there may be something different to its feet, as well. Yet, still, it is undeniably a chocobo. Genesis chuckles a bit, fingers sinking through the feathers and guiding themselves along one folded wing. "Truly, nothing gets past you, does it, our eagle-eyed partner?" he teases. "But yes - this is a rather rare little breed that I heard about, so when I heard there was a chance to get it for myself, I knew that I would be daft to pass it up. I have thought about having some construction do to make a more water-themed route for the races, but... Well, that would perhaps end up far too pricey as an immediate venture."
"So this one will become a more minor side attraction," Sephiroth concludes with a small nod. "At least unless you can breed more of them. Well, for all that this one has moved quite a ways from its original home, it seems happy enough here." His hands fall away from the bird, just to give it a bit more space. "...His name is Zack, if you were interested. Last name Fair."
Immediately, Genesis's nose wrinkles, and he pulls his hand away. "What a poetic surname," he sighs. "And yet I cannot be particularly pleased about it. I haven't heard anything about him in Midgar. Where on earth is he from and how did Angeal find him?"
Fortunately, these are questions that Sephiroth had as well, and that Angeal had at least shown some courtesy by leaving a quick note at his place. Everything else, well, he'd picked up from gossip.
There are a lot of gossips, fortunately, at the Honeybee Inn. He doesn't think that they started there, or that Angeal picked them for that particular quality, but it is most certainly how the hive has turned out regardless. Sometimes, it works out well enough to all their advantages.
"The details are somewhat lost on me, or, at the very least, I can't yet tell you what fact or fiction is," Sephiroth begins, "but everyone seems to be on agreement that he managed to poach him from the SOLDIER recruitment process." He pauses, so that Genesis can get out his sharp bark of laughter. ShinRa is an important source of revenue for both the Market and the Saucer, of course, or at least its employees are... But, well, strong powers will always be at odds with strong powers. It's simple to say that there's no particular love lost between them. Sephiroth can take some bitter amusement from the whole thing as well.
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.
Buster doesn't come out, often. Sephiroth saw her once upon a time a good bit more, when Angeal and Genesis first started making things go their way in Midgar, because it was a necessity... and even then, Angeal always seemed loathe to draw the massive weapon. Best to utilize his fists, instead, or a chair, or a shovel. Anything within easy reach and that could hit hard. Buster, if she is anything, has always seemed to be more of a method of intimidation than anything else. Something to stop the fight before it could really start in earnest.
More sensible souls, not being spurred on by senseless bravado or rage, look at a man who can cart around a giant sword with little trouble and think twice on the choices that have brought them there.
But sometimes, she still finds a use. Sometimes, she still is pulled out when Angeal finds it truly important to use Buster and nothing else. It's just always hard to tell when that moment will be until it happens. So if he has Buster out...
Sephiroth doesn't go inside HQ. Doesn't go back home. Instead, he steps to the side, falling in step with Angeal through simple habit. Behind them, he can feel Zack sticking close almost more than he can hear his footsteps beneath all the bustle of the Market. "Who was it?" Sephiroth asks simply.
"Skuppa, from the gym," Angeal tells him matter of fact, not breaking his stride in the slightest. It's a calm voice, and arguably on as calm expression as can be found on a severe face as Angeal's. However, it doesn't go past Sephiroth that there's a churning sort of darkness in Angeal's eyes. The kind of quiet wrath that is just being held back until it can be set upon the appropriate target. It matches a certain quality in his voice, too, something dark and low that makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Genesis refers to it as growling, although Sephiroth has never heard a definite growl leave Angeal's throat.
There are a lot of people in Wall Market, and more people who work for it beyond the little territory. Getting to know all of them is something that even Sephiroth struggles with, sometime. But he thinks he recalls the name, can match it to some sort of face. A little bit older, the kind of muscular type that some liked.
The kind that people never think would run into trouble, but that's exactly why they sometimes do.
But perhaps just as importantly as Angeal's own quiet fury... Sephiroth glances back past the two of them, taking in the way Zack's fists are clenched, trembling, how they match the rage that's sparking behind his own eyes. Like an ember about to land a little too close to a fireworks stand at a gas station.
Skuppa. Sephiroth had spoken to him briefly at the gym. He'd been laughing about the looks on everyone's faces when Zack had broken a record. Hadn't Angeal just sent him to the gym but a few days ago?
There's no need to ask if Angeal needs any back up. If he felt he did, then surely he would have gotten it already from any of the guards in his employ, or asked for him, or asked Genesis. Maybe once upon a time, Sephiroth wouldn't have thought to ask him. Even so, in the face of all those facts, Sephiroth still asks him, "Do you want anyone to come with you?"
Angeal forces out a steadied breath from between his teeth, finds some sort of center in himself. "I'll be fine," he says after a moment. "Thanks for the consideration. But I do have Zack with me."
Behind them, Sephiroth can hear Zack's steps stutter and stumble for a brief moment. Recognition of his own ability by the boss; what a pleasant thing. And Sephiroth supposes that Angeal does have a point. He chose Zack for a reason... and this, too, is going to be one of the things he will have to deal with as the boss of Wall Market.
"Then I'll be waiting for you when you return," Sephiroth answers simply, before he turns back to Zack. Apparently he's caught him at a slightly inopportune time; Angeal's protégé is still trying to school his expression back when he does so. "We'll be relying on you to keep him safe, then."
They've all paused, now, and Zack stands up ramrod straight. Sephiroth thinks he can see the slightest ghost of the SOLDIER he might've been in that, even if it is just the ghost of an eager young recruit. He thinks he can even see his hand jerk, almost prepared to go straight into a salute. "You got it!" he says, finding some brief measure of excitement and confidence in the situation despite itself. "Zack Fair, here to do the job right!"
Angeal scoffs a little bit under his breath, but Sephiroth thinks that his own ire has lessened a bit. Someone may still very well die tonight, depending on what's happened to Skuppa, but that's none of Sephiroth's concern. His priority is, and always will be, Angeal and Genesis, and Angeal is who is in front of him now.
"Then Zack Fair needs to keep up with me if he wants to do the job right," he says, continuing onwards, stride as long and quick as ever. "Don't lag, Zack."
"I'm not lagging! I'm not!"
Sephiroth declines any other jobs for the rest of the day, once they've disappeared from view - whether that's to use the train or any other questionable form of transportation that Angeal chooses. He's fortunate that he's had nothing else really planned for the day, honestly, although he would have cancelled any appointments even if he did without even a second thought. Instead, he lets himself into Angeal's more private rooms - the little suite, of course, but also his office, the makeshift infirmary that would make any field medic jealous, all sorts of little spaces that once used to be declarations of luxury and now have been transformed into something more in accordance with Angeal's practical nature even if he'd been to cheap to construct over the glintz and gaudiness of it all.
In a way, it's almost amusing. Angeal likes to hang coats on top of a gold-coated monster statue of some sort, "just to hide its ugly face, I do not understand rich people's tastes at all".
It only takes a few hours for Angeal to return in the end, and Sephiroth suspects that most of that was time spent traveling - whether by automated transport or simply hunting through the streets as he tracked down the person who made the ill-advised choice of hurting or taking one of their own. Zack and Skuppa are there with him... Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Zack and Angeal are with Skuppa, bracketing both sides of him like a pair of guard dogs.
Skuppa's smile is a bit sheepish as he settles down onto an infirmary bed that they stole from the back of a truck, once upon a time. Sephiroth can spot the bruises around his neck even before the other man lowers the coat from his shoulders. "Kinda embarrassing, to get caught like that," he says, while Angeal looks over the medical supplies that Sephiroth pulled out hours earlier. "And I thought it was just going to be normal play."
And that's how so many get them, isn't it? "You wouldn't be the first," Sephiroth tells him, because it's the truth. "I am simply glad the system worked."
The system where any of their people can protect themselves if they want to learn how from Angeal, and Genesis. The system where, even with that in place, everyone is meant to check in so that they can react immediately to the first sign of something amiss. Angeal had insisted upon something like it, ages ago, before he'd even really solidified his standing in the Market.
Of course, with the things they'd seen at the lowest tier in the hierarchy as they'd been fighting... That'd only made sense.
Angeal is the one who tends to him, in the end, because Angeal has a surprising amount of field medic knowledge for someone who grew up in the middle of nowhere, and Genesis is the one who is better at using healing materia. That leaves Sephiroth to step back a bit, and he looks towards Zack.
In contrast to the fire he'd clearly had coaxed along in him when he was first setting off with Angeal, he seems a bit quieter now. Contemplative, perhaps. He almost doesn't seem to notice Sephiroth's approach at first, and only jolts in realization when he takes the seat besides him. "Oh! Sephiroth! You - Uh -" He starts to flail his hands about, seeking to make some sort of understanding gesture, and not making a single bit of sense at all. "Hey!"
While he gets flustered, Sephiroth takes this time to look him over. Angeal, he had only needed to glance at to get a good idea of his state of being. Angeal rarely seems to take damage - or, if he does take damage, it rarely seems to last until the next morning unless the damage is truly serious... and that only seems to count if someone manages to actually stab him.
Magic aimed directly at his face? Blunt force trauma to the head? Sephiroth has seen him take on all of this and more, only to be up on his feet again moments later. In that respect, they seem rather similar. Sephiroth has found that he's rather durable as well.
But Zack? Wide eyed, energetic, prone to impulse and doing before thinking? Someone that Sephiroth has not spent years at the side of? Well... Sephiroth imagines that one can understand why he is a little more interested in checking things over with Zack.
And yet Zack seems to be in decent enough condition, at a cursory inspection. His already messy hair has only been made all the more wild, no doubt from running and fighting, and he's far filthier than he was when he first stepped out from HQ. Quite a tall order; sometimes it can be difficult to stay clean at all when one is doing all sorts of odd jobs throughout the Market's many streets. The inside buildings are often kept as clean as can be expected... but down here towards the bottom of Midgar, all the filth seems to filter down here.
The filth is the worst of it, on some level. Zack doesn't hold himself gingerly, isn't favoring one limb over the other. As far as physical injury goes... there is just a large bruise along his jaw, a mottled sort of yellow that will no doubt bruise into splendid purples and reds, with a cut there in a jagged little cross.
Sephiroth tilts his head towards it. "Injured in the line of duty?" he asks, just to help get Zack's mind focused on something again instead of scattered to the four winds. While Sephiroth may be used to that happening around him, it is somewhat an obstacle here right now when he is just trying to talk to the young man.
At least it's enough to snap Zack's mind out of it, as he had hoped. There are a couple of befuddled blinks, and then Zack laughs a little bit, rubbing the back of his neck. "Oh, this?" he says, hand lowering just so it can jerk up towards his face. Truly, he is a man of near infinite energy that has absolutely no idea where it wants to go. "That's nothing! You should see the other guys! I just got this when I was a little too up close and personal."
Really, he would like to see the other guys, but he doubts there's much more to them that he could really do. Not after Angeal has already dealt with them.
No need to say any of that. Sephiroth only nods, and gets up to his feet again. For a bruise like that... With a cut like that... "Did you have to go far?" is what he asks about instead, as he goes back to the first aid kits he's set up. While he hadn't expected it with Angeal on the case, he had still prepared for the worst. It's a simple matter, to get what he needs, return with a bit of cotton and a bottle to clean everything up.
Zack is making a face, and Sephiroth can't quite tell if it's in response to the question or the sight of the medical supplies. "Got us going all over the plates," Zack complains, fingers curling along the edge of his seat. "I think he was probably trying to make it hard for us to follow after him. But Angeal - jeez, he didn't hesitate in the slightest in where he was going."
"Well, it is Angeal," is all Sephiroth says. He doesn't think most people are aware of just how sharpened Angeal's senses are, or Genesis for that matter. Not him, either. The way that Genesis can hear a whisper across a crowded room, how Angeal can track down anyone if you give him enough time...
Angeal has always told him, in private of course, that none of them are infallible. Too much noise, a million different sounds clashing against each other, puts Genesis's teeth on edge. If someone were to just dump a bomb filled with different powders at the right intersection, Angeal would get mixed up on just where his right mark was. And Sephiroth? Well, he's more than aware of his own limitations. Sharp eyesight like his only has so many places to go, in the crowded and claustrophobic streets of Midgar.
But no one else needs to know that about them. All they need to do... is underestimate the bosses of Midgar's underworld.
Not even Angeal's little protégé, cute and eager and trusted as he might be. So Sephiroth simply follows up with, "Now hold still." While he's rarely ever needed it, Sephiroth has been in this business long enough to know that it stings, even if mostly from the experiences of other people.
Very predictably, Zack does not stay still, although he does a rather commendable job. His head stays still, which is really the most important thing here. It's just the rest of his body that wiggles impatiently in the face of careful fingers cleaning away dirt and germs from his cheek. "Ugh I never should have let him get that cloooose," he grumbles. "This is - it sucks."
"A learning experience," Sephiroth tells him, taking in the clear redness that lays beneath everything else. It'll look uglier when a day has passed. "Does it hurt that much?" Does he need to worry about loose teeth or a dislocated jaw? Not that it seems likely, with how much Zack is still talking, but...
Zack wrinkles his nose. "What a learning experience, but I guess that's just like him." They both know who he's referring to. "But no - it's fine. You know, I wasn't thinking that you'd be here waiting for us, when we first left!"
"And why is that?"
There go Zack's hands again. Sephiroth think he might come to like that aspect of Zack, the way his hands are so expressive. Genesis has a similar energy to him, in everything he does, although there's no doubt he'd make a face at being compared to someone like Zack. "Well, I thought you'd have other things to do. And I didn't know that you knew first aid? I mean, it's you, so you must be in high demand."
"Even I have my days off," Sephiroth tells him, putting down the cotton so that it can be discarded later. "And I had made sure I would have some time today... because of a job I took last night." It's always wise to have a recuperation period after meeting with Genesis. Just in case. "I would have cancelled even if I had."
Zack stares at him, hands going still. "Really?"
"Of course." And then, on a bit of rare whim, Sephiroth leans in and does something he used to see Angeal and Genesis do one another a million times before early on in their territory claim. He presses his lips, gently, to the wound there along Zack's face. "I was going to wait for you both no matter what."
When he pulls away, Zack's face is red all the way to his hairline. "Oh," is all he has to say.
A very cute reaction, really, although Sephiroth is left to wonder if perhaps Angeal is rubbing off on him in some terrible ways. Before he can press much more on this, or Zack can say anything else, Angeal's voice rises up from behind. "Alright, I think that's as good as we're gonna get. Everyone's staying here tonight."
Technically, Sephiroth knows that Angeal means the people most likely to be targeted by anyone left over by the most recent 'hunt' - in other words, the person who was originally targeted, and then the two men responsible for getting into a violent scrap to emerge victorious. He doesn't let that stop him from following right after Angeal, however, until they're all situated in the boss's little suite and both of them are working at the kitchenette together.
"You're a real heartbreaker, you know," Angeal says mildly, as they both start assembling some thick sandwiches that will go into the warm oven. Thick ham, salami, pastrami, olive slices, various cheeses... It's enough to clog someone's arteries. Angeal seems to love it for nights like this.
This isn't the first time Sephiroth has heard a comment like this. Usually it's from people with a bit more bitterness to their bite. "Is this about Zack?" he says back, well aware of the scene behind them: Zack and Skuppo, the former energetically telling some story or another. Something silly, an event from one of his shifts at a bar, Sephiroth thinks. "I'm not sure I want to hear that from you."
While he may be a crime boss, Angeal still has the decency to look at least a bit embarrassed. "I have a weakness for puppies, what can I say," is all he manages weakly.
"I suppose he is a rather cute puppy," Sephiroth agrees, lips teased into a smile. Certainly all the exuberance of one, the sheer energy, and maybe even a bit of sharp puppy fangs to get him where he needs to be. "And yet you can't bring him home to Genesis."
"That's because Genesis gets territorial," Angeal says, waiting for Sephiroth to top the sandwiches with a bun before he tugs the foil up over them so that they can deposited onto the tray. "And, even worse, I'm trying to train the puppy. Genesis has a bad habit of undoing all of that if I take my eyes off of him for five seconds."
"Are you referring to me as a puppy...?"
Angeal actually laughs, and Sephiroth can spot Zack and Skuppa glancing over in curiosity at the noise. "Oh, no, I knew from the day we laid eyes on you that were you a cat."
One of these days, he really is going to interrogate Angeal on just what qualifications he assigns animals to people... But then, Sephiroth has thought that for years, now, and it somehow always slips his mind. Either way, he waits until Angeal has finished closing up the oven before he speaks up again. "He does seem rather fond of you."
All Angeal does is shrug. "It's just because of how I'm the boss," he answers, settling with his back against one of his little counters, watching Zack get right back into his energetic conversation with Skuppa. "Admiration mixing into attraction. But you he's really fond of."
"It's just because of how I'm your most famous earner," Sephiroth shoots back casually. "Attraction mixing into admiration."
They stare at each other.
"I should never have let Genesis teach you how to be sassy," Angeal says, as though he is free of having anything to do with influencing Sephiroth down this particular path. "Anyway, I'll probably start sending him your way a little more. Your turn to use him as your errand boy, for whatever you'd like."
His turn, is it? Sephiroth thinks he can understand why that is. Why Angeal is choosing now, of all times, to do so, after he's already seen Zack running around. Helped patch him up, after a rough spot. He closes his eyes, considers it.
"I'll see what I can do, then."
The food is delicious, because of course it is when Angeal has had a hand in making it, and the bed is just barely large enough for all four of them to clamber onto it. Angeal especially is a problem, broadly built as he is, but they manage well enough. No doubt the bed will see far worse than him barely hanging onto the side, and Skuppa to the other, leaving Sephiroth and Zack to make up the middle. Snug, but... not that bad. A good thing, really, that he both likes the heat (although never as much as Genesis ever does), and that there is a decent air conditioner in HQ.
Sleep comes easily enough for him in such a situation, reminded of the times when it was him and Genesis and Angeal finding warmth with one another. At the same time, he awakes just as easily when that warmth is disturbed.
Angeal is gone. He'd noted that some while ago, in the hazy space between sleep and consciousness. That much is normal. And yet it had been Zack's movements that had dragged him all the way into awareness, clumsy movements against the mattress as he'd done his best to be delicate. Sephiroth stays still, waits until the weight is off of the bed completely and the soft pad of bare feet has stopped, before he slides open one eye.
Even if the room were completely dark, he'd still be able to see through it, clear as day. Something done to him in the labs, he thinks. But he doesn't even need it, with the small little lamp that is set there on the floor right by where Angeal sits with his legs crossed and various paper in his hands. Sephiroth isn't exactly in the best position to see all the fine details, of course. Nonetheless, he can take a decent guess at what they are: maps of various parts of Midgar from the city overall to the sewer system, notes written by the various workers on things they've noted from enemies or ShinRa, updates on repairs to various parts of the Market. Angeal runs Wall Market like he'd run his own house, keeping an eye on every little thing that might affect him and his own.
And there's Zack, rubbing at his face, shuffling over to him until he can flop down onto the floor besides Angeal. All the other man does is adjust, making it easier for Zack to lean against him with his cheek smooshed against his shoulder. Midgar never really sleeps, never really stops making noise... but tucked away in HQ, in Angeal's suite, it's easy enough to hear Zack's sleepy murmur. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Checking to see what gangs and groups were related to where we took down the idiot who touched one of our own."
"Mmgh. Way too many words. Explain 'em all to me? Like I'm an idiot."
"That's because you are an idiot." But he says it fondly, mouth to Zack's hair, ignoring the protests. "Alright, so there's a gang over here..."
Sephiroth closes his eyes, and goes back to sleep.
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"Go?" Zack's expression twists into quite the amusing countenance, torn between elation and disappointment. It's painfully clear that he'd rather been hoping that he could stick around a little while longer - whether in the flash of the Honeybee Inn, or perhaps for Sephiroth himself. He's not so arrogant as to make a guess on which. "Where are we going?"
"Most of the important people who need to know you, know you. We can go around and making some proper introductions, now. Get you an idea how the main areas of Wall Market work."
"Do I have to take notes?"
"You'd lose any notes you took," Angeal informs him plainly, and Sephiroth hides his smile behind his fingers, a bit. "Just try to pay attention for when I have you actually doing things."
The prospect of doing apparently anything seems to perk Zack up well enough. "Yessss," he cheers quietly, pumping his fist like this is some massive victory. Someone who learns best by doing, it seems. "Then let's get a move on! Where are we going next?"
"There's a few places around the immediate area you could probably stand to get a handle on... We'll try some of the big businesses first." Resting his hand on the back of the booth, Angeal inclines his head towards Sephiroth, now. "Thanks for showing up for today. I'll keep you updated on how things turn out." And with that, he takes his leave, lightly rapping his knuckles along Zack's shoulder to have him follow after. This doesn't, of course, stop Zack from peering over his shoulder and waggling his fingers excitedly at Sephiroth in good bye.
Really, it's as though Angeal has picked up an energetic little puppy. Actually.... Hadn't he heard Angeal commenting to one of the Honeybees recently about finding a cute new puppy, even though Genesis had clearly made no reference to any such things? Honestly now. Sephiroth waves back.
Of course, when Angeal talks about keeping him updated, it's also just as much keeping Genesis updated.
A crime boss and a casino owner - together they might just make for the richest pair in all of Midgar, even if individually they can't hold a candle to something like ShinRa. However, that means both of them have to do a great deal of things to keep it all running smoothly, and exactly as they want it. Especially with how so many people would be glad to leap upon any perceived weakness in either Wall Market or the Golden Saucer. Anything to take it for themselves, or make steps towards that goal.
In contrast, Sephiroth has considerably less on his plate. Due to his popularity and the prices Angeal makes sure don't dip for any of his people, it's not as though he's lacking for money, either. So, even though none of them really agreed to any of it out loud...
One way or the other, he always finds a way to the Golden Saucer, where Genesis is more than happy to spoil him.
Today, that means being near the chocobo racetrack, where the redhead is applying affection to a particularly brilliant blue stud. "What do you think?" he asks him, palms braced carefully along the edge of the massive bird's beak.
It was a good choice to dress a little more plainly today, even if there is still a lot of leather involved. But that's a tactical choice. Stray feathers don't stick quite as easily to his leather compared to any other material he could wear, and that's a benefit as he walks a little further into the stall. Tall boots were also a smart choice; Angeal was right to insist he get at least one sensible pair all those years ago. "A new acquisition?" he asks, taking in the rather patient temperament. No anxiety at the prospect of another and very new person into the stall, just a quiet observation of him - silver reflected in that large black eye. "The feathers seem to be a bit different than that which I'm used to. Were you talked out of buying another red?"
"Oh, hush," Genesis says, with a click of his tongue. "I would have you know that I have more sense than that and you very well know it. While a flock of brilliant crimson would certainly be a sight to behold, it does not fair well on the racetrack. There, they are most glorious when bedazzling the crowd in a mosaic of color, like stained glass in a forgotten church."
"Very poetic."
"Thank you, I am glad that someone can properly appreciate my talents."
That draws out a soft chuckle from Sephiroth. Well, it is good to see that Genesis is in a fine mood, today. Perhaps his new companion is helpful in that regard, for it has quite a calming sort of personality. At least, it just makes a soft little trill in its throat when Sephiroth runs his hand along its long neck, and ends in a little beep.
Yes, this close, and being able to touch the creature... It is quite different from the chocobo that Genesis normally buys for the track. There's something about that sensation which is far smoother than a chocobo feather normally is. A different breed entirely, perhaps?
"What kind of environment does this one grow in?" he asks, curious despite himself. "With how slick they are... A water-inclined breed?"
It would explain the slight difference in the feathers, and, now that he's closer, he thinks there may be something different to its feet, as well. Yet, still, it is undeniably a chocobo. Genesis chuckles a bit, fingers sinking through the feathers and guiding themselves along one folded wing. "Truly, nothing gets past you, does it, our eagle-eyed partner?" he teases. "But yes - this is a rather rare little breed that I heard about, so when I heard there was a chance to get it for myself, I knew that I would be daft to pass it up. I have thought about having some construction do to make a more water-themed route for the races, but... Well, that would perhaps end up far too pricey as an immediate venture."
"So this one will become a more minor side attraction," Sephiroth concludes with a small nod. "At least unless you can breed more of them. Well, for all that this one has moved quite a ways from its original home, it seems happy enough here." His hands fall away from the bird, just to give it a bit more space. "...His name is Zack, if you were interested. Last name Fair."
Immediately, Genesis's nose wrinkles, and he pulls his hand away. "What a poetic surname," he sighs. "And yet I cannot be particularly pleased about it. I haven't heard anything about him in Midgar. Where on earth is he from and how did Angeal find him?"
Fortunately, these are questions that Sephiroth had as well, and that Angeal had at least shown some courtesy by leaving a quick note at his place. Everything else, well, he'd picked up from gossip.
There are a lot of gossips, fortunately, at the Honeybee Inn. He doesn't think that they started there, or that Angeal picked them for that particular quality, but it is most certainly how the hive has turned out regardless. Sometimes, it works out well enough to all their advantages.
"The details are somewhat lost on me, or, at the very least, I can't yet tell you what fact or fiction is," Sephiroth begins, "but everyone seems to be on agreement that he managed to poach him from the SOLDIER recruitment process." He pauses, so that Genesis can get out his sharp bark of laughter. ShinRa is an important source of revenue for both the Market and the Saucer, of course, or at least its employees are... But, well, strong powers will always be at odds with strong powers. It's simple to say that there's no particular love lost between them. Sephiroth can take some bitter amusement from the whole thing as well.
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"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.
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More sensible souls, not being spurred on by senseless bravado or rage, look at a man who can cart around a giant sword with little trouble and think twice on the choices that have brought them there.
But sometimes, she still finds a use. Sometimes, she still is pulled out when Angeal finds it truly important to use Buster and nothing else. It's just always hard to tell when that moment will be until it happens. So if he has Buster out...
Sephiroth doesn't go inside HQ. Doesn't go back home. Instead, he steps to the side, falling in step with Angeal through simple habit. Behind them, he can feel Zack sticking close almost more than he can hear his footsteps beneath all the bustle of the Market. "Who was it?" Sephiroth asks simply.
"Skuppa, from the gym," Angeal tells him matter of fact, not breaking his stride in the slightest. It's a calm voice, and arguably on as calm expression as can be found on a severe face as Angeal's. However, it doesn't go past Sephiroth that there's a churning sort of darkness in Angeal's eyes. The kind of quiet wrath that is just being held back until it can be set upon the appropriate target. It matches a certain quality in his voice, too, something dark and low that makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Genesis refers to it as growling, although Sephiroth has never heard a definite growl leave Angeal's throat.
There are a lot of people in Wall Market, and more people who work for it beyond the little territory. Getting to know all of them is something that even Sephiroth struggles with, sometime. But he thinks he recalls the name, can match it to some sort of face. A little bit older, the kind of muscular type that some liked.
The kind that people never think would run into trouble, but that's exactly why they sometimes do.
But perhaps just as importantly as Angeal's own quiet fury... Sephiroth glances back past the two of them, taking in the way Zack's fists are clenched, trembling, how they match the rage that's sparking behind his own eyes. Like an ember about to land a little too close to a fireworks stand at a gas station.
Skuppa. Sephiroth had spoken to him briefly at the gym. He'd been laughing about the looks on everyone's faces when Zack had broken a record. Hadn't Angeal just sent him to the gym but a few days ago?
There's no need to ask if Angeal needs any back up. If he felt he did, then surely he would have gotten it already from any of the guards in his employ, or asked for him, or asked Genesis. Maybe once upon a time, Sephiroth wouldn't have thought to ask him. Even so, in the face of all those facts, Sephiroth still asks him, "Do you want anyone to come with you?"
Angeal forces out a steadied breath from between his teeth, finds some sort of center in himself. "I'll be fine," he says after a moment. "Thanks for the consideration. But I do have Zack with me."
Behind them, Sephiroth can hear Zack's steps stutter and stumble for a brief moment. Recognition of his own ability by the boss; what a pleasant thing. And Sephiroth supposes that Angeal does have a point. He chose Zack for a reason... and this, too, is going to be one of the things he will have to deal with as the boss of Wall Market.
"Then I'll be waiting for you when you return," Sephiroth answers simply, before he turns back to Zack. Apparently he's caught him at a slightly inopportune time; Angeal's protégé is still trying to school his expression back when he does so. "We'll be relying on you to keep him safe, then."
They've all paused, now, and Zack stands up ramrod straight. Sephiroth thinks he can see the slightest ghost of the SOLDIER he might've been in that, even if it is just the ghost of an eager young recruit. He thinks he can even see his hand jerk, almost prepared to go straight into a salute. "You got it!" he says, finding some brief measure of excitement and confidence in the situation despite itself. "Zack Fair, here to do the job right!"
Angeal scoffs a little bit under his breath, but Sephiroth thinks that his own ire has lessened a bit. Someone may still very well die tonight, depending on what's happened to Skuppa, but that's none of Sephiroth's concern. His priority is, and always will be, Angeal and Genesis, and Angeal is who is in front of him now.
"Then Zack Fair needs to keep up with me if he wants to do the job right," he says, continuing onwards, stride as long and quick as ever. "Don't lag, Zack."
"I'm not lagging! I'm not!"
Sephiroth declines any other jobs for the rest of the day, once they've disappeared from view - whether that's to use the train or any other questionable form of transportation that Angeal chooses. He's fortunate that he's had nothing else really planned for the day, honestly, although he would have cancelled any appointments even if he did without even a second thought. Instead, he lets himself into Angeal's more private rooms - the little suite, of course, but also his office, the makeshift infirmary that would make any field medic jealous, all sorts of little spaces that once used to be declarations of luxury and now have been transformed into something more in accordance with Angeal's practical nature even if he'd been to cheap to construct over the glintz and gaudiness of it all.
In a way, it's almost amusing. Angeal likes to hang coats on top of a gold-coated monster statue of some sort, "just to hide its ugly face, I do not understand rich people's tastes at all".
It only takes a few hours for Angeal to return in the end, and Sephiroth suspects that most of that was time spent traveling - whether by automated transport or simply hunting through the streets as he tracked down the person who made the ill-advised choice of hurting or taking one of their own. Zack and Skuppa are there with him... Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Zack and Angeal are with Skuppa, bracketing both sides of him like a pair of guard dogs.
Skuppa's smile is a bit sheepish as he settles down onto an infirmary bed that they stole from the back of a truck, once upon a time. Sephiroth can spot the bruises around his neck even before the other man lowers the coat from his shoulders. "Kinda embarrassing, to get caught like that," he says, while Angeal looks over the medical supplies that Sephiroth pulled out hours earlier. "And I thought it was just going to be normal play."
And that's how so many get them, isn't it? "You wouldn't be the first," Sephiroth tells him, because it's the truth. "I am simply glad the system worked."
The system where any of their people can protect themselves if they want to learn how from Angeal, and Genesis. The system where, even with that in place, everyone is meant to check in so that they can react immediately to the first sign of something amiss. Angeal had insisted upon something like it, ages ago, before he'd even really solidified his standing in the Market.
Of course, with the things they'd seen at the lowest tier in the hierarchy as they'd been fighting... That'd only made sense.
Angeal is the one who tends to him, in the end, because Angeal has a surprising amount of field medic knowledge for someone who grew up in the middle of nowhere, and Genesis is the one who is better at using healing materia. That leaves Sephiroth to step back a bit, and he looks towards Zack.
In contrast to the fire he'd clearly had coaxed along in him when he was first setting off with Angeal, he seems a bit quieter now. Contemplative, perhaps. He almost doesn't seem to notice Sephiroth's approach at first, and only jolts in realization when he takes the seat besides him. "Oh! Sephiroth! You - Uh -" He starts to flail his hands about, seeking to make some sort of understanding gesture, and not making a single bit of sense at all. "Hey!"
While he gets flustered, Sephiroth takes this time to look him over. Angeal, he had only needed to glance at to get a good idea of his state of being. Angeal rarely seems to take damage - or, if he does take damage, it rarely seems to last until the next morning unless the damage is truly serious... and that only seems to count if someone manages to actually stab him.
Magic aimed directly at his face? Blunt force trauma to the head? Sephiroth has seen him take on all of this and more, only to be up on his feet again moments later. In that respect, they seem rather similar. Sephiroth has found that he's rather durable as well.
But Zack? Wide eyed, energetic, prone to impulse and doing before thinking? Someone that Sephiroth has not spent years at the side of? Well... Sephiroth imagines that one can understand why he is a little more interested in checking things over with Zack.
And yet Zack seems to be in decent enough condition, at a cursory inspection. His already messy hair has only been made all the more wild, no doubt from running and fighting, and he's far filthier than he was when he first stepped out from HQ. Quite a tall order; sometimes it can be difficult to stay clean at all when one is doing all sorts of odd jobs throughout the Market's many streets. The inside buildings are often kept as clean as can be expected... but down here towards the bottom of Midgar, all the filth seems to filter down here.
The filth is the worst of it, on some level. Zack doesn't hold himself gingerly, isn't favoring one limb over the other. As far as physical injury goes... there is just a large bruise along his jaw, a mottled sort of yellow that will no doubt bruise into splendid purples and reds, with a cut there in a jagged little cross.
Sephiroth tilts his head towards it. "Injured in the line of duty?" he asks, just to help get Zack's mind focused on something again instead of scattered to the four winds. While Sephiroth may be used to that happening around him, it is somewhat an obstacle here right now when he is just trying to talk to the young man.
At least it's enough to snap Zack's mind out of it, as he had hoped. There are a couple of befuddled blinks, and then Zack laughs a little bit, rubbing the back of his neck. "Oh, this?" he says, hand lowering just so it can jerk up towards his face. Truly, he is a man of near infinite energy that has absolutely no idea where it wants to go. "That's nothing! You should see the other guys! I just got this when I was a little too up close and personal."
Really, he would like to see the other guys, but he doubts there's much more to them that he could really do. Not after Angeal has already dealt with them.
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Zack is making a face, and Sephiroth can't quite tell if it's in response to the question or the sight of the medical supplies. "Got us going all over the plates," Zack complains, fingers curling along the edge of his seat. "I think he was probably trying to make it hard for us to follow after him. But Angeal - jeez, he didn't hesitate in the slightest in where he was going."
"Well, it is Angeal," is all Sephiroth says. He doesn't think most people are aware of just how sharpened Angeal's senses are, or Genesis for that matter. Not him, either. The way that Genesis can hear a whisper across a crowded room, how Angeal can track down anyone if you give him enough time...
Angeal has always told him, in private of course, that none of them are infallible. Too much noise, a million different sounds clashing against each other, puts Genesis's teeth on edge. If someone were to just dump a bomb filled with different powders at the right intersection, Angeal would get mixed up on just where his right mark was. And Sephiroth? Well, he's more than aware of his own limitations. Sharp eyesight like his only has so many places to go, in the crowded and claustrophobic streets of Midgar.
But no one else needs to know that about them. All they need to do... is underestimate the bosses of Midgar's underworld.
Not even Angeal's little protégé, cute and eager and trusted as he might be. So Sephiroth simply follows up with, "Now hold still." While he's rarely ever needed it, Sephiroth has been in this business long enough to know that it stings, even if mostly from the experiences of other people.
Very predictably, Zack does not stay still, although he does a rather commendable job. His head stays still, which is really the most important thing here. It's just the rest of his body that wiggles impatiently in the face of careful fingers cleaning away dirt and germs from his cheek. "Ugh I never should have let him get that cloooose," he grumbles. "This is - it sucks."
"A learning experience," Sephiroth tells him, taking in the clear redness that lays beneath everything else. It'll look uglier when a day has passed. "Does it hurt that much?" Does he need to worry about loose teeth or a dislocated jaw? Not that it seems likely, with how much Zack is still talking, but...
Zack wrinkles his nose. "What a learning experience, but I guess that's just like him." They both know who he's referring to. "But no - it's fine. You know, I wasn't thinking that you'd be here waiting for us, when we first left!"
"And why is that?"
There go Zack's hands again. Sephiroth think he might come to like that aspect of Zack, the way his hands are so expressive. Genesis has a similar energy to him, in everything he does, although there's no doubt he'd make a face at being compared to someone like Zack. "Well, I thought you'd have other things to do. And I didn't know that you knew first aid? I mean, it's you, so you must be in high demand."
"Even I have my days off," Sephiroth tells him, putting down the cotton so that it can be discarded later. "And I had made sure I would have some time today... because of a job I took last night." It's always wise to have a recuperation period after meeting with Genesis. Just in case. "I would have cancelled even if I had."
Zack stares at him, hands going still. "Really?"
"Of course." And then, on a bit of rare whim, Sephiroth leans in and does something he used to see Angeal and Genesis do one another a million times before early on in their territory claim. He presses his lips, gently, to the wound there along Zack's face. "I was going to wait for you both no matter what."
When he pulls away, Zack's face is red all the way to his hairline. "Oh," is all he has to say.
A very cute reaction, really, although Sephiroth is left to wonder if perhaps Angeal is rubbing off on him in some terrible ways. Before he can press much more on this, or Zack can say anything else, Angeal's voice rises up from behind. "Alright, I think that's as good as we're gonna get. Everyone's staying here tonight."
Technically, Sephiroth knows that Angeal means the people most likely to be targeted by anyone left over by the most recent 'hunt' - in other words, the person who was originally targeted, and then the two men responsible for getting into a violent scrap to emerge victorious. He doesn't let that stop him from following right after Angeal, however, until they're all situated in the boss's little suite and both of them are working at the kitchenette together.
"You're a real heartbreaker, you know," Angeal says mildly, as they both start assembling some thick sandwiches that will go into the warm oven. Thick ham, salami, pastrami, olive slices, various cheeses... It's enough to clog someone's arteries. Angeal seems to love it for nights like this.
This isn't the first time Sephiroth has heard a comment like this. Usually it's from people with a bit more bitterness to their bite. "Is this about Zack?" he says back, well aware of the scene behind them: Zack and Skuppo, the former energetically telling some story or another. Something silly, an event from one of his shifts at a bar, Sephiroth thinks. "I'm not sure I want to hear that from you."
While he may be a crime boss, Angeal still has the decency to look at least a bit embarrassed. "I have a weakness for puppies, what can I say," is all he manages weakly.
"I suppose he is a rather cute puppy," Sephiroth agrees, lips teased into a smile. Certainly all the exuberance of one, the sheer energy, and maybe even a bit of sharp puppy fangs to get him where he needs to be. "And yet you can't bring him home to Genesis."
"That's because Genesis gets territorial," Angeal says, waiting for Sephiroth to top the sandwiches with a bun before he tugs the foil up over them so that they can deposited onto the tray. "And, even worse, I'm trying to train the puppy. Genesis has a bad habit of undoing all of that if I take my eyes off of him for five seconds."
"Are you referring to me as a puppy...?"
Angeal actually laughs, and Sephiroth can spot Zack and Skuppa glancing over in curiosity at the noise. "Oh, no, I knew from the day we laid eyes on you that were you a cat."
One of these days, he really is going to interrogate Angeal on just what qualifications he assigns animals to people... But then, Sephiroth has thought that for years, now, and it somehow always slips his mind. Either way, he waits until Angeal has finished closing up the oven before he speaks up again. "He does seem rather fond of you."
All Angeal does is shrug. "It's just because of how I'm the boss," he answers, settling with his back against one of his little counters, watching Zack get right back into his energetic conversation with Skuppa. "Admiration mixing into attraction. But you he's really fond of."
"It's just because of how I'm your most famous earner," Sephiroth shoots back casually. "Attraction mixing into admiration."
They stare at each other.
"I should never have let Genesis teach you how to be sassy," Angeal says, as though he is free of having anything to do with influencing Sephiroth down this particular path. "Anyway, I'll probably start sending him your way a little more. Your turn to use him as your errand boy, for whatever you'd like."
His turn, is it? Sephiroth thinks he can understand why that is. Why Angeal is choosing now, of all times, to do so, after he's already seen Zack running around. Helped patch him up, after a rough spot. He closes his eyes, considers it.
"I'll see what I can do, then."
The food is delicious, because of course it is when Angeal has had a hand in making it, and the bed is just barely large enough for all four of them to clamber onto it. Angeal especially is a problem, broadly built as he is, but they manage well enough. No doubt the bed will see far worse than him barely hanging onto the side, and Skuppa to the other, leaving Sephiroth and Zack to make up the middle. Snug, but... not that bad. A good thing, really, that he both likes the heat (although never as much as Genesis ever does), and that there is a decent air conditioner in HQ.
Sleep comes easily enough for him in such a situation, reminded of the times when it was him and Genesis and Angeal finding warmth with one another. At the same time, he awakes just as easily when that warmth is disturbed.
Angeal is gone. He'd noted that some while ago, in the hazy space between sleep and consciousness. That much is normal. And yet it had been Zack's movements that had dragged him all the way into awareness, clumsy movements against the mattress as he'd done his best to be delicate. Sephiroth stays still, waits until the weight is off of the bed completely and the soft pad of bare feet has stopped, before he slides open one eye.
Even if the room were completely dark, he'd still be able to see through it, clear as day. Something done to him in the labs, he thinks. But he doesn't even need it, with the small little lamp that is set there on the floor right by where Angeal sits with his legs crossed and various paper in his hands. Sephiroth isn't exactly in the best position to see all the fine details, of course. Nonetheless, he can take a decent guess at what they are: maps of various parts of Midgar from the city overall to the sewer system, notes written by the various workers on things they've noted from enemies or ShinRa, updates on repairs to various parts of the Market. Angeal runs Wall Market like he'd run his own house, keeping an eye on every little thing that might affect him and his own.
And there's Zack, rubbing at his face, shuffling over to him until he can flop down onto the floor besides Angeal. All the other man does is adjust, making it easier for Zack to lean against him with his cheek smooshed against his shoulder. Midgar never really sleeps, never really stops making noise... but tucked away in HQ, in Angeal's suite, it's easy enough to hear Zack's sleepy murmur. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Checking to see what gangs and groups were related to where we took down the idiot who touched one of our own."
"Mmgh. Way too many words. Explain 'em all to me? Like I'm an idiot."
"That's because you are an idiot." But he says it fondly, mouth to Zack's hair, ignoring the protests. "Alright, so there's a gang over here..."
Sephiroth closes his eyes, and goes back to sleep.