plate_builder | [Open Post]

That made the man's mouth snap closed and he looked away, a bit ashamed. Dressed down by a younger man who didn't even understand why his questions were so... confusing. He had assumed that Rufus's desires to help Edge were more a 'throw money at it and take credit later' sort of thing. Not that he'd invest this much care.

"I..." Reeve shook his head. He should try. If the man was going to let himself be used, Reeve owed him something. An idea. A picture. Something to show what he bought with his money. "Do you have paper and a pencil? It won't be much but I think better in pencil."

He could sketch out his plans, in a rough form.

To be truthful, a great tactician would play this angle, just as Reeve would probably question. After all, wasn't it easier to take over without hostility? Pretend to be friendly, and then strike? It was something that logically could be done, but it wasn't Rufus, or ShinRa.

The company had always presented a kind face, but even Reeve had to know about the carpet bombing of villages which had become a risk, the elimination, classed as 'missing persons' or 'killed in action', of people and ShinRa personnel when their purpose was served, or needed to be served where light would not reach. This was the method his father had used, and the method Rufus had used as well.

When he recalled such things, how easy it would be to start it all over, part of him desired to conform to such desires, where another part, an almost conscience, would ask him what did all that get you? and the answer... Well, that was an interesting one.

He shifts on the bed, moving in a way that he can lean over and open the drawer on the dresser beside him, pulling out a notebook with a pen on top, and throwing it to the end of the bed for Reeve. There may be nothing visible on the pad, but it is obvious Rufus has been using it, several pages torn away from the seam.

"I'm afraid I don't have any pencils."

"I'll survive," Reeve assures the man. He does reach out and liberate a piece of paper from his file to Rufus. He preferred a real straight edge, but he needed something, and notebook paper wasn't going to suffice. With practiced motions he folded the printer paper precisely down the middle and sharpened the edge. Then he shifted so he could put the pad comfortably in his lap. Then he set to work.

He was good at his work. Reeve always knew that on an intellectual level. ShinRa would not have hired him over other men if he wasn't good. There was no way he wouldn't have scaled the ranks if he wasn't good. And even if Rufus's father had been an idiot, Reeve never would have led an entire department if he wasn't good. What Reeve didn't know was that in some ways, he was impressive. He drew a nearly perfect circle free hand in the middle of the paper and from memory alone drew a pretty good approximation of the city of Edge as it currently stood, right down to the road level. The folded piece of paper served as his straight edge, and his eye for lengths covered as a passable ruler. At one point he made sure the lines for his buildings and roads were double thick.

"Everything inside this boarder represents the current limits of Edge. Some of the spaces are empty lots, or projects I've got in progress. Others are almost finished. Some are complete."

Around the circle he began with the next progression of the city, a square laid out on a regular grid outside of the city center. Even this seemed to be divided into sections. The areas closer to the ruins of Midgar had larger sections between the clearly planned out roads, perhaps an industrial area. Beside those were some smaller areas that might serve as lower income residential areas. Not everyone would ever be able to get high income housing. There were regions clearly meant for commercial use, others smaller areas for residences and apartments and even condos. His vision was expansive. Once he had the general format of the city he hoped to foster formed, he then changed his paper, angling it. Paths were made, some with a series of dots to symbolize underground transit he intended to have happen. Others were dashed lines above ground, meant to stand for raised car transit, not to mention trucks. After that the labeling started. At a rather predictable pattern he laid down symbols to show approximately where he intended police and fire stations to go. Places he wanted to get set up for health care. Public spaces like parks and the like, spaces for the arts, spaces for everything and anything he could imagine. Not that he was a fool who believed his exact vision would be carried out. But if he could guide it to something even remotely resembling this, he'd be happy.

And he was happy as he worked, Reeve wearing his first genuine smile that he'd had around Rufus. It was almost like he was ignoring Rufus, except he was talking out loud, clearly addressing him. In truth Reeve was used to talking to himself as he worked so it was more the usual for him. Smiles and quips about layouts and his pen scratching lines that a pencil could do. After a long time his smile softened to a look of fondness as he regarded his approximation of his plans, and he handed the full notepad over to Rufus.

"It's a poor imitation of my actual plans, but this, one day, could be Edge."

He couldn't see very much from his angle in bed, and so Rufus instead settles for watching Reeve as he sketches, noting the differences in his attitude and demeanor. The old Rufus would easily be able to abuse the almost mesmerized Reeve, take the man hostage as he had worried, if that had been the plan, and Reeve would not have known until too late. Or at least, that was the way it seemed to Rufus, and in a faint way, he envied Reeve such an ability.

For a man like Rufus, losing yourself in something so completely was dangerous, and so he had never done so. Even as a child, he couldn't remember doing anything but trying to follow in his father's footsteps, trying to gain that man's praise, and always, inevitably, falling short. Hobbies, dreams, friendships... They were useless things for him, dangerous things, and yet so easy for others.

It was why he kept such a grip on the Turks. Reeve may not believe it, but they were more family than his father ever was, and the only people he trusted with his life. He needed them, and if they had asked, he would have done anything in his power to keep them happy. Which leads his mind to a question, even as he takes the page he's handed, looking over the schematic.

"You say you do all this for the people, Reeve, but is there someone particular you want to see your works?"

All the pleasure at his work is immediately gone at the question, instead replaced with the same pained expression as when Reeve talked about his mother. Someone in particular? No. He'd lost the only family he had left, and working for ShinRa never allowed him the time to seek others to... grow fond of?

There was no one left.

"No," he says, trying to make his voice firm and confident though he wasn't sure Rufus stabbing him in the leg with the pen could hurt worse. "I do this for the people who will benefit from it. I help Rufus, and that is its own reward."

The shift is sudden enough to cause Rufus to look up from where he was analyzing the sketch, and although he might potentially ask what just went through the raven-haired man's mind, he doesn't, instead choosing to let him scold. Besides, he has a vague idea, as he's not completely without empathy, and he has been listening both this time and last.

Which means he just keeps quiet, going back to the design, and only speaking again when he is done.

"Is the land suitable for all this, or will you have to build on and around natural features? I don't have any large maps of the area here, and aside from Tseng and Rude, no one can draw maps very well." A pause, and he seems to try to give Reeve a laugh, a playful smirk on his face again. "Reno would probably try and draw something naughty in crayon if I even asked him."

"Still doing surveys and the underground transit would be the most difficult. I have sent to Coo Canyom for a geologist there. Said to be very good at reading how stone will hold up to such pressures. He is due next week, escorted by Nanaki. As for Reno..."

Reeve shook his head at that. There had been one time where Reno had arranged... lewd figurines in Reeve's model of Midgar. It had only vaguely been funny. Most of it wasn't. The stripper figure he put on the tower's landing pad had been hilarious.

Reno was a rather unique creature within the Turks, at least if you asked Rufus. Every ounce of the man screamed immature moron, better suited to act as a jester to a king, while the truth was that, although he could be quite immature, he was also observant, and extremely intelligent. He just also happened to enjoy playing around.

This was in stark contrast to the others. Rude and his stoic determination, and knack for explosives. Tseng and his brilliant mind and calm demeanor in all things. And Elena... Well, she was a little like Reno, but actually kind of dumb. Made up for it in determination and hard work, but still...

Yeah, they were an odd group, and Rufus could understand trying to figure out what to say about Reno, when really, there was so much to say.

"Do you have gear for the geologist? This may not be a hot spot for Mako, and thus the Lifestream, but best not to risk exposure. Also, may I keep this sketch?"

"It isn't good," Reeve says, caught off guard. "I... can have a better one sent along. And yes, I've acquired gear."

Rufus was just... behaving strangely, and Reeve definitely didn't know how to deal with this sort of attention. People just tended to ignore him and in a way he was okay with that. But now here he was, being inspected, studied by someone he hadn't wanted the attention of before everything had happened, and it wasn't much better now. Perhaps the man was just a bit of a puzzle to Reeve. Somehow he just couldn't take the proclaimed reasons for interest at face value and that was on him.

"If you'd prefer." He passes the sheet back to Reeve to do with as he pleased. "And good. The stigma can be selective when it wishes to be."

He then settles back against the headboard of the bed with a slow, exhausted sigh. He wouldn't say he didn't care what Reeve thought, but he's not going to explain every little detail of his change to the man. Actions apoke louder than words... Reeve had said that before, right? Or was it someone else?

Either way, time would show who and what he really was up to.

"I don't want people getting sick," the man admits. He has to figure other things if it goes wrong, but the area wasn't exactly flush with mako. They should be safe.

He hoped.

But now it was clear Rufus didn't need anything more of Reeve, so he stood, carefully straightening his new coat. Time to head home. But now he was going to have to put together new things for Rufus to look at.

"I'm aware. You're too nice for that." He chuckles a little as he says this, giving Reeve a pointed look. "After all, you were concerned for me last time you were here, and you very much still dislike me.

"But it's a good thing in a way. If it wasn't for people who felt like you, I suppose Meteor would have crushed this world. My attempts to do something sure weren't helping anything. Just pissing the planet off even more. Then again," he shrugs a little. "I suppose that's on me for believing ShinRa could really do something to fix the problems it caused, using the exact same methods which caused them... And listening to the fat man and the witch."

"You use... gentle words for them," Reeve says, more bite to his words than he expected. And he didn't even notice that he was stroking his materia through his coat, just for comfort. They couldn't hurt him again. They were dead and gone and he was free from their influence.

And he'd been hurt by them, by both of them. Not that simple, but he could live with it. Was living and they weren't and that was enough for him.

"I could find others, if I weren't so tired." It's said even as he watches Reeve mess with that materia. He knew, from the Turks, about Scarlet and Heiddeger holding the man and causing trouble for him, but didn't really have much in the way of detail. After all, even the Turks were in a bad shape at the time, more focused on other things than Reeve. "You're free to give them additional names. I'm sure I've heard them all."

"You're wrong," Reeve said because he had come up with a few of his own that he'd never shared with anyone. More about Scarlet than anyone else. That women was the worse of the pair. They were suited to each other.

Thinking of her made him sick.

"They were horrible. And that is all I'm going to say."

With that he was silent as he turned his attention to the paper that had been returned to him. After a moment he handed it back and nodded to Rufus. "You're welcome to it. But I'll send a better one."

There was some curiosity in Rufus' eyes at the response, some wondering what names a man like Reeve could have come up with that he, himself, had not heard or thought of himself. For whether he was sheltered or not, Rufus had a keen ear, and he had heard much he should not when younger; heard more, when people didn't realize he was nearby, as he grew. Some of the things he had heard were about him, but most were about his father, and the people he surrounded himself with.

So he certainly won't deny Reeve's words. Heidegger, if being kind, was a pompous fool who, although brilliant in some ways, was a complete idiot in every other capacity. His temper was well known to Rufus, as well, and that had honestly been why he kept the man so close. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer was built for him, and Scarlet.

Both had designs on ShinRa, and he knew it. Only the force of his father's personality and his own, as well as probably sound good, solid groundwork from the Turks, and before that SOLDIER, had kept the foolish old man alive, and his idiot of a son from dying several horrible deaths. And what would have surprised Reeve, or perhaps just made him uncomfortable, was that Rufus would now agree each of those deaths would have been his own fault.

So he doesn't say anything more on the topic, plenty of time to discuss the two if they desired some other time, instead giving Reeve a grateful smile as he takes the sheet back, nodding his head. "I appreciate it. And thank you."

Thanking him? Reeve could see no reason for it. Clearly they were using each other at this point. Rufus might get a position of power to work from in the future, and Reeve would get the hospital. Still, he supposed the gesture was proper.

"Thank you," the man decided as he looked at Rufus. "I'm sorry I called on you in such an inconvenient time. In the future, just... let me know. Unless it's an emergency I can delay a day or two for you to feel better."

"It's fine." He's reaching now to grab out a small folder from the drawer beside the bed, carefully slipping the image inside. "I figured if you were actually wanting to see me, it was important. Especially since you said you wouldn't return last time we met."

Strangely, this last is just a statement of fact, no animus or amusement in it.

"Your health matters too," Reeve says even if he dislikes that fact. The Stigma, he wouldn't wish it on Rufus, not at this point. Before, probably, but not now.

"Is... there anything I can get you before I go?"

There were no Turks around to see to him. Weird.

Shaking his head a bit, Rufus lays back against the pillow after settling the folder back into the drawer. "I'll call Reno and Rude once you leave. They're nearby."

That little smirk returns, almost as if saying if Reeve had thought the Turks were far, they weren't. He'd merely sent them out for Reeve's sake.

"You're not well. They shouldn't leave you alone for so long. What if you had an attack and needed them?" Reeve asked, and it made him almost annoyed. How could they stay away from someone who they claimed to care about?

He almost replies with 'It's fine,' as he sees no issue in the situation. He had asked the Turks to stay back so as to make Reeve comfortable, knowing the man was still leery of their presence, and they had agreed. No one wanted to spook the man, knowing as they did Rufus needed him at this time to bring about change.

It didn't mean they were happy about it, but they followed orders when they were given, knowing as they did that those orders were necessary. They relied on Rufus to be 'Boss,' just as he relied on them to be 'Subordinates.' A family, yes, but not a normal one. A parasitic family, perhaps?

So he struggles for words now, not sure how to explain or if he should. It was complicated.

Finally, he does speak, though his words are cautious, as if he's not sure about saying them at all. "They are just below, watching for you to leave, and then they will return to my side. But I told them not to show themselves while you were here."

Reeve shook his head at that. "That's just... From now on I expect you to have at least one of them present when we meet. Elena or Rude or Tseng. I won't deal with Reno's wisecracking. But I don't know what to do if you have an attack and I'm certain they do. Besides, in a weakened state I could kill you without you being able to defend yourself."

Really, the man should be more cautious. Hopefully he will in the future. He might not be the partner Reeve wanted to have, but he was beginning to suspect it was the one he might need to create real change. To truly help people.

If he was already going to be condemned for all he did for Shinra when he was trying to help, he might as well make good use of it.

"You wouldn't kill me." The words would usually be mocking, usually said as 'you can't', but again he's just stating a fact as he looks at Reeve, and he says exactly what the situation is. "You need my resources for now. So I'm of no use to you dead.

"Besides," With this, he gives a wry smile. "Unlike much of ShinRa's higher ranks, you never wished to cause harm for your own gains. Even if I were lying, were using you, you'd not kill me. It would stay on your conscience and draw you into despair, and you would fold up and lose everything you are."

"Not for my own gains," Reeve agrees, but that isn't what's going on. His own gains never mattered. No, instead he would do it for the people of Edge. The people of this world. "Despair..." he huffs a brief laugh of amusement. "It can dive you to do things that would otherwise not make sense. Things no one else saw the value of. Like Edge."

This was how his despair worked. He didn't fold up, he didn't crumple. Reeve had more strength than that. For now.

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