jaded_grin | Episode 26

Okay, here we are! Thank you to everyone for your help and suggestions and, of course, for your continued support of the Soap! I think this week's episode is better than last, though you guys may not like Cloud any better. He's come out decidedly sassy, but in this soap everyone evolves and changes, so we'll keep our fingers crossed for him and I'm sure that there is a story in the future that changes his life!

And two very talented artists have done me the honor of submitting fanwork for the Soap! I have included their pictures at the end of the episode for everyone to enjoy! I cannot thank them enough for their work and I can't explain how flattered and delighted I am to have inspired such beautiful pieces!

So, here we are with Episode 26!

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26

Rufus was furious.

He’d been scolded like a child in front of his wife by a mother who’d been absent for over fifteen years, and now he was forced to go into work because he simply had never been able to stand against Scarlet’s unruffled strength. It was the most aggravating thing he’d known so far in his adult life, that his mother still held such sway over him.

“Mister ShinRa,” his secretary said, clearly startled to see him. “Good morning, Sir!”

“Morning,” he sourly replied. “Get me some coffee, I—”

He broke off when he looked into his father’s office and saw the co-chair of ShinRa Industries in a heated debate with someone on his father’s phone, sitting at his father’s desk…

“What the fuck is Lazard doing in there?” he asked, startling his secretary.

“Oh…your father, he’s called in today, Sir,” she replied, hedging to get away.

“Called in?” Rufus echoed, aghast. His father had never missed a day of work in his life—as the President of a country as well as this company, he had far too many responsibilities.

“Yes, Sir,” she softly said. “He told Mister Deusericus to run things in his stead.”

Rufus flushed to the tips of his toes and promptly stomped his way to his father’s office, throwing open the door to loudly proclaim, “You have absolutely no right to be here!”

“Please, excuse me, may I call you back? Alright then, thank you ever so,” Lazard said, and hung up the phone with a smug smile. “And what a pleasure to see you again, Rufus. How long has it been? A month? Two months? What’s wrong? Has that nasty monsoon put a cramp in your golfing activities?”

“Listen, Deusericus, I have no idea why my father isn’t here or why he figured you should run things while he is away, but as his son and heir it is my right t—”

“Rufus,” Larazd cut in, bored. “Your father is out ill today—”

“One simply doesn’t call in sick to running a country!”

“—and you haven’t come to work for weeks on end. He needed someone who knows how to run things and has been helping to run things more and more,” the man said, ignoring Rufus’s furious statement. “Now, I suggest that if you want to take over the running of both this company and this country, you need to pull your head out of your ass and pay attention, because if you can’t do it, I will.”

Rufus glowered at him, but the truth was undeniable. He knew nothing about his father’s work, had no interest in it until it looked as if Lazard might take over. His pride wouldn’t allow him to let that happen and his love of power dictated that he do what he could to keep his father’s position secured for himself.

“Then I suggest you begin showing me,” he tightly said.

Lazard smiled at him and took off his glasses, wiping them with a dainty white handkerchief as he said, “Now. There’s some spirit!”

Scarlet turned out to be exceptionally helpful to Yazoo when they finally arrived at the gallery. The woman had been hostess to Presidential functions before she and ShinRa Senior had split, and she was still friendly with many of the people with whom Yazoo needed to work. Together, they were able to consult with the decorators, get a crew hired to transport the paintings, another to hang them, and laid out a floor plan to show them to the best advantage in the space. Scarlet suggested having drop lighting brought in and the gallery manager was more than willing and happy to comply. It was something that Yazoo would never have thought of until the paintings had arrived, but Scarlet’s suggestion would save them time later, and he was thankful for it. Together, the two of them were able to have the entire show prepped and planned for by the late afternoon, and the awkwardness in the car was forgotten as they got to know one another. Yazoo found Scarlet to be candid and practical, but she also possessed a wry sense of humor that Yazoo had fleetingly seen in his husband. He couldn’t help but wish that Rufus had inherited even a sliver of his mother’s can-do, no-nonsense attitude…

“I imagine you are wondering why I’ve suddenly come back, then?” Scarlet asked. The two of them had decided to go to a late lunch down the street from the gallery at a bistro that Yazoo had suggested. They were sitting outside at one of the wrought iron tables, the pleasantly cool breeze teasing the napkins and the ruffle on the shielding umbrella. Rude had declined to sit with them and was standing in quiet attendance nearby, his hands crossed in front of him and his head turning ever so slightly as he constantly scanned the sidewalk and what traffic there was on the cobbled street beyond.

“I…” Yazoo smiled a little and sipped his tea, blushing. “I will admit that I am curious, yes. I was made to understand that you had not parted well with Mister ShinRa. It is, understandably, none of my business, of course. But I will not say that I am not curious.”

“Of course,” Scarlet said, smiling warmly. She, too, sipped her tea, and let her blue eyes drift to the street. “No, Ronald and I parted under the worst circumstances imaginable—he stole my son from me, though I don’t believe that has ever bothered either of them. I am wondering, has he spoken to you at all?”

“Not recently,” Yazoo answered, concern wrinkling his smooth brow. “Is he well?”

Scarlet looked at him and softly said, “He is as well as can be expected, I suppose, and I will leave the rest for him to tell. But I have returned because we have finally managed to be civil to one another. It’s only taken twenty-odd years, but we’ve done it.”

She smiled, her full red lips curving as she sighed, “I have a chance to know him after all of these years, a chance to know my son…”

She turned that smile on Yazoo and added, “A chance to know you. And I certainly hope we shall be friends.”

“I would like that,” Yazoo said, touched. “And I think once Rufus gets over his surprise, he will be much less…less…”

“Less Rufus?” Scarlet suggested, and laughed in a way that Yazoo was helpless to resist.

Still believing himself to be the butt of a nasty, really odd joke, Reeve took his phone call out in the hallway, relieved to be away from the two rival friends.

“The gallery space is secured and all of the arrangements are made,” Yazoo assured him, her voice soothing and soft. “The crew should be there any moment to pick up your artwork and bring it in. We have places for everything but, naturally, we wish to have you give the final approval, so if you would come by the gallery tomorrow then we can work out the final details.”

“That’s…that’s wonderful!” he sighed, relieved. “Thank you so much, Mrs. ShinRa! I can’t…I just…You do realize what an opportunity you are giving me?”

“It is only what talent like yours deserves,” Yazoo laughed, delighted. “And I do hate to sound condescending or even intrusive, but about your formal wear…”

Reeve blushed a little but gamely said, “I have none, actually.”

“Then would you mind terribly if I treated you to a shopping trip? I find myself in need of a few new dresses and it would be no trouble to have your clothing done along the way,” Yazoo suggested. “The crowds which will be viewing your art are terribly superficial, and I should hate for anything unfortunate to arise from lack of a simple nice suit.”

Reeve didn’t know how to respond, but he understood the necessity of it and knew that so much hinged on impressions with these people.

“I insist you allow me to pay you back,” he tried, agreeing in the only way that he could.

“Nonsense,” Yazoo sighed. “Mister Tuesti, you are, in essence, gifting me with a painting that should cost a small fortune, and which brings me many wonderful, happy memories of my home. I believe the cost of a suit is negligible in the face of your generosity.”

“Well,” he laughed, flattered by her and yet hesitant. “When you put it that way…”

“Then it is settled!” Yazoo said. “Do you mind awfully if I come to your studio and help oversee the removal of the paintings?”

“Please do!” Reeve said, happy to have the extra help. “I will be here, along with Yuffie and Mister Rhapsodos.”

“Oh, wonderful!” Yazoo cried. “We shall all go shopping together! See you soon, Mister Tuesti!”

“Wait, Mrs. ShinRa!” he cried, and blushed beet red when he asked, “Have you arranged catering?”

It annoyed him that he even asked, but ever since Genesis had mentioned it, damn the man…

“It will all be taken care of,” Yazoo laughed. “Goodbye, Mister Tuesti.”

“Goodbye,” he said, and hung up his cell phone.

When he went back into his studio space, Genesis and Yuffie were prattling on to one another as if they’d never come back in from the hallway looking ready to tear out someone’s throat.

“Who was that?” Yuffie asked, and she was busily eating the hamburger she’d brought for Reeve.

“Mrs. ShinRa,” he said, and gave the fries a longing look.

“Did you ask her about the catering?” Genesis asked, and handed Reeve the fries with a smirk.

Reeve stammered, blushed, and snatched the fries away with a frown, managing to get a good two seconds worth of glare in at the other man.

“She’s on her way,” he told them, and tried not to inhale the fries like he hadn’t eaten in two days…which he hadn’t. “She’s taking me shopping for a sui—”

“Shopping?!” they cried in unison, both of them lighting up.

“Oh, darling, we must come along!” Genesis said, hugging Yuffie in glee. “Why, we’ll have to get you something fabulous to wear to the opening, Reeve! And Yuffie, darling, you could certainly use a new dress to wear—that tuxedo thing you had on was just ghastly!”

“In retrospect, you’re right!” Yuffie laughed, and asked, “What color for Reeve, Genesis?”

“Magenta,” the man breathed, and spread his hand out towards Reeve as if seeing an angel in the flesh. “And nothing traditional! He is, after all, an artist!”

“Uhm, I don’t—”

“What about blue?” Yuffie asked. “To match his eyes?”

“I—”

“His eyes are hazel, you tart!” Genesis said, offended.

“No, they…” Yuffie peered at Reeve and giggled, “Wow, they sure are!”

“Look, if you two could ju—”

“Blue is out of the question, but mustard would be quite lovely,” Genesis mused, still raking Reeve’s form with his eyes, mentally fitting him. “I have a line coming out, Reeve, we could dress you quite nicely.”

“Everything that comes out of you is a line of some sort!” Reeve fumed, but he was promptly ignored.

“Oh, darling! This is going to be so fun!” Genesis cried, and clapped in delight while Reeve looked from one to the other with bewildered resignation.

Kadaj tossed the numbers down on Tseng’s desk and went straight to the bar, pouring himself a shot with trembling hands.

“My Jewel,” the man said, giving his required work a cursory glance. “You’re shaking. What has he done this time?”

He figured it would be Mei Li—he knew the woman had gone straight into Reno’s house, straight to his quarters, and claimed her place there whether Kadaj protested or not. He also knew that Reno would do everything in his power to keep peace between them, but he would never evict Mei Li from his home or his bed.

And Kadaj wasn’t the type of boy to share lightly.

“Nothing,” Kadaj said, switching to his home language when he asked, “What do you consider love, Tseng?”

That paused him.

Cautiously, he considered the boy’s slender, tense back, the body lithe and sharp as a blade with a wit to match. Ambition, the love and need for power, the inherent greed to be the best, the only…

“Giving someone anything and everything to make them happy,” he said, and saw some of the tension leave Kadaj’s slim, straight shoulders. “Doing whatever it takes to please them.”

“Things,” the boy murmured, but it wasn’t a question.

It was relief.

He turned, fluid and young and beautiful, his jade eyes bright.

It was so easy to mislead such an ill-used child.

What did either of them know of love, after all?

But possession, having, keeping—those were things they knew to their very depths.

Tseng opened his arms.

Kadaj filled them.

Cloud Strife made his way back to Ifalna’s office once the furor had died down and Reno was long gone. He went in without knocking this time, and plopped down in the same chair that the mobster had been sitting in.

“I think I may have something,” he said.

“What?” she asked, wary. “Look, Strife, we’re lucky to have jobs left—we’re lucky to have lives, so I don’t want anymore trou—”

“He’s blackmailing someone,” Cloud cut in, eyes sparkling. “If I can find out who it is and what it’s over and bring it to press first…Ifalna, don’t you see? What if this has to do with the very President himself?”

Her wary look gave way to interest and she put down her pen, giving him her undivided attention.

“What if a mobster is blackmailing our President?!” Cloud wondered, his cheeks reddening with excitement at the very prospect of such a scandal. “If we busted that news out before anyone, then he’d be imprisoned and the President would be brought down before either one of them could react! We’d have splashed the big story and come out the victors before our competitors even imagined such a thing was in the works!”

Ifalna frowned a little and asked, “How do you know this?”

“He straight-up told me that he was going to photograph someone in secret,” Cloud told her, grinning. “We all know that he’s behind the biggest prostitution industry in this country, only no one has the balls to say it and the upper-plate upper-crust won’t even consider it to be true. Imagine who all he has access to, Ifalna! Every businessman in this country goes to him for services! Every single politician has spent at least one night at his house and we know for a fact that he has about a hundred people living in that monstrosity! You can’t tell me that every single woman and man living there is for him alone!”

“What are you getting at, Strife?” she asked, impatient.

“I made him a deal—I set him up with the right camera, the right angle, the right everything to get what he needs and he’s going to feed me whatever his whores fish out,” Cloud said, leaning back in the seat with a gleeful smile. “And while he’s doing that, I’ll be watching him. When I figure out who he’s planning on doing this to, I’ll be on him like a tick and scoop the goods before he knows I’m there.”

“That sounds rather dangerous, Cloud,” Ifalna said. “And what makes you think he’ll keep this deal he made with you?”

“Honor amongst thieves, I suppose,” Cloud said, shrugging. “Reno is a bad, bad man, Ifalna, but we’ve never caught him in a lie. Anyone who has ever dealt with him has always said the same thing—no matter how crude, how cruel, or how frightening, whatever he promised, he came through on.”

She was quiet for a long, long time before she softly ventured, “Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah,” he said, folding his arms behind his head and grinning at her. “Whatever I give you from now on is fine by him, and he’s gonna give you a call later to confirm that, so be ready for it. Besides…I owe him now, after that shit he pulled today.”

Ifalna started to look worried again, but when her phone rang, she answered it.

Cloud got up and left, smiling to himself when he heard her say, “Yes, Mister Reno, I understand completely…”

Yazoo was slightly worried about Reeve.

He and Rude had gone to the warehouse to oversee the removal of the paintings—which had gone flawlessly, in his opinion—but the atmosphere there had been rather off. Yuffie and Genesis seemed their usual selves, but Reeve seemed oddly down. But then, he truly didn’t eat enough and he did say he was tired…

“This one, darling, honestly!” Genesis said, holding a suit up to Reeve and giving it a critical look. He glanced over his shoulder and loudly called, “Can I get a tailor over here, please?”

“Oh, that is an amazing color on you, Reeve,” Yazoo ventured, delighted that Genesis’s taste in odd clothing didn’t apply to others. They’d only been shopping for half an hour and already Reeve was well on his way to being dressed to the nines in a beautiful, charcoal suit. Yazoo had never seen the cut of it before, but Genesis assured him that it was the newest and most stylish thing to come from Rock Island, and the price tag suggested that it was everything he claimed.

Reeve looked slightly more interested once they’d gotten started, and had actually warmed up to Genesis quite a bit. Yazoo wasn’t sure that they’d ever met before, but he felt secure enough to leave the two men together and go with Yuffie to the dress boutique next door when the young Princess leaned in and cried, “I’ve found the perfect dress for you, Yazoo! Come look!”

Smiling, Yazoo said, “Genesis, Reeve? Are the two of you fine here?”

Reeve nodded and gave him an endearing smile and Genesis gave him an absent wave, intent on the pins the tailor was handing him and fussing about hem-length and sub-standard sewing practices.

Yazoo went through the inside doors to the next boutique and found Yuffie dancing circles with a shimmering, silvery-white gown.

“Is this it?” he asked, reaching out to feel it. The cool, thin, but weighty material cascaded over his fingers and he admired the sheen of it. “Oh, Yuffie, this is exquisite!”

The girl held it up with a crow of delight and Yazoo ruefully claimed, “But that isn’t appropriate for the opening, darling…”

“I had something else in mind,” Yuffie said, grinning that wolfish grin. “You did say you’re having dinner with Reno tonight?”

Yazoo blushed and glanced over at Rude, but the big man gave no indication that he’d heard anything.

“Yes,” he whispered, eyeing the dress in this new light. It was low-cut in front, the straps thin and crossed over the low back. Cut asymmetrically, the left side was high and fell in a straight line to the floor on the right side.

“You would leave him gasping for air in this, Yazoo,” Yuffie said, and gave a dreamy sigh. Her dark eyes sharpened then and she said, “And you never gave me details! I saw FLASH!, by the way.”

“That was taken out of context,” Yazoo protested, and took the dress.

“Yazoo,” Yuffie said, watching him drape the dress over his front, trying the length. “If you start sleeping with him, you will tell me, right?”

“Gracious, Yuffie! That’s terribly personal!” Yazoo cried, blushing brightly. “Go check on Genesis and Reeve, dear. I need to call my seamstress and pick out a dress for the opening.”

“Oh, you’re no fun!” Yuffie laughed, and giggled, “You won’t have to tell us anything at all—it’ll be all over your face!”

She gave Yazoo a wet, smacking kiss on the cheek and dashed off to check on the boys.

Yazoo laughed a little and shook his head, giving the dress another long, pleased look.

“Gasping for air?” he breathed, and bit his lip against an excited smile. “I certainly hope so.”

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Fanwork by the fabulous and talented

belatrix_labe (Click for larger view! I will make a special extra post with the full-size pictures)

Reeve, Genesis, and Yuffie Travel To Kalm

Mirror

Fanwork by the equally fabulous and talented

superkalifragi (Click for larger view! I will make a special extra post with the full-size pic)

The Moment in Kalm

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

belatrix-labe.livejournal.com

Thank you for everything!!! For the fabulous chapter and for showing the drawings!
I"M the flattered one here!
Hugs and Hugs dear!

From:

zilldk.livejournal.com

I need to throw in my two cents here!

OMG you're an amazing artist!!!! Wow! I bow down in awe and worship!

Great stories inspire great art. You guys supplement each other wonderfully!

From:

belatrix-labe.livejournal.com

Thank you for your lovely support!
Hugs from Brazil!

From:

Otherwise known as the journal of Jaded Grin

Episode 26

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