[closed]

[looselips]

Characters: Shinji Matou and AU2!Sephiroth
Setting: Library; maybe backdated a day
Format: Action
Summary: Shinji finds a tape player and Sephiroth saves him from monsters. Pigtail-pulling commences.
Warning: Shinji being more obnoxious than normal, monster death?


[Shinji is, while not necessarily stupid, stubborn enough that anyone would be forgiven for thinking so. Even now, he still wiggles away from whatever supervision he might have at any given time, though for the most part he limits his solitary wandering to a few specific floors. The library is one of those.]

[Though the terminals have been stubbornly refusing to work, he still checks them from time to time—like now. The result is the same as it has been, and he huffs childishly in frustration. And... That might have been the end of it, had he noted noticed the (positively antique, from his perspective) tape player that had been left beside that same terminal.]

[It looks innocent enough, and of course Shinji is as curious as any nosy child would be. So, he turns it on. He scowls at it when it doesn't make any intelligible noise, and he has time to very briefly consider finding something to take it apart with before he hears something else.]

[Shrieking and diving underneath the terminal is probably not the best defense to be had against a pack of strangely deformed satyr creatures, but it's the only one Shinji can manage.]

Comments

[looselips]

...Yeah, okay. [He says it slowly, as though mulling something over as he speaks.] You do that and report to me every day until they start working again, got it?

[Not that he wants to see Sephiroth or anything! He just likes the idea of being able to boss him around, as minor as this order is.]

Oh, this? [This is probably a good topic. It's relatively neutral ground, after all.] It's some antique I found lying around. No clue where it came from, but it didn't play anything like it's supposed to, so I guess it's broken.

[He rolls his eyes. Gosh, if you're going to leave mysterious objects sitting around, they should at least do something.]

I was going to see if I could take it apart and check what's wrong with it. Maybe try to fix it, even.

[See? He's smart! He knows about machines! Sephiroth should definitely be impressed with him.]

[pinnaculum]

Yes, I will. [He nods, willing to take this order. Reporting back: that sounds like fun. His mission will be a success. He's already sure of it. He'll be the first one to discover the network is working again, definitely.]

An antique? Oh, it's a recording device. [Sometimes they'd used recording devices in the lab to document his responses.

Sephiroth is indeed very interested in this project of fixing something. Not quite as good as a mission, but still interesting.]

There is a workshop floor. Diarmuid told me about it. Maybe you could fix it there. We could go to the workshop and I could protect you from monsters.

[Sephiroth has no reason to doubt Shinji's claim that he can fix machines. He takes his words at face value.]

[looselips]

Yeah, it's obviously for recording, but the thing is practically a fossil.

[Relative to where he comes from, at least. Still, he doesn't have any doubt that he would be able to figure some things out, if he pried it open. He pauses to consider Sephiroth's suggestion.]

Workshop? ...Oh, right, some blowhard gave me a list that had all the floors labeled. [He never got his name, in retrospect.] I could probably improvise something to pry it open with, but sure, we can go there.

[And, like it was his idea, he tugs at Sephiroth's hand as they walk along together.]

[pinnaculum]

Yes, it looks old. I've never seen one like it. [It's relatively old compared to his 1990s sci fi technology levels, too.]

That is a useful list. Someone should put it on the network. [Because that is what the network should be for: useful things!]

The workshop will be more helpful. Diarmuid is making a sword there. I would like to make weaponry.

[Sephiroth's still not sure what to make of this hand-holding. Maybe it's normal where Shinji is from? He's never had his hand held before, but he goes along with it for now.]

Do you often fix machines? [Sephiroth is interested. It's not something he has a lot of experience with.]

[looselips]

Of course you would. [He rolls his eyes.] You need a hobby.

[Because swords don't count when you're already a super soldier, obviously.]

...Well, admittedly, not usually ones like this. But I've fixed up my fair share of computers in my time.

[Shinji you're eight, stop.]

[pinnaculum]

Would making weapons not be a hobby?

[And killing monsters, isn't that a hobby?]

I like to study science. [Surely that's a hobby, at least.]

There were computers in the lab. I was not usually allowed to use them, but I did anyway.

[Though the most interesting things were always encrypted and password protected, sadly. He hadn't figured out a way to get around that.]

[looselips]

It doesn't count if you were made to use them. I guess studying science is a decent hobby, though.

[Never mind that Shinji thinks science is pretty dang neat himself. His logic is totally consistent and not remotely hypocritical for the sake of being disparaging.]

Watch out, rebel, that's dangerous. [Not hypocritical at all.] They must not have kept a very good eye on you.

[pinnaculum]

But I was not made to make them. [That's different, isn't it?] There are many interesting books in the libraries here. I was never allowed to read all the books in a library. I had to choose from a list.

[As for the computers, Sephiroth seems unworried by having been rebellious.]

I wanted to learn more about the project.

They were vigilant, but I am trained in stealth. I could not leave the lab, but I could move within it.

[Basically, they had made him too powerful to fully control.]

[looselips]

Yeah, but you were made to be some kind of soldier, right? It doesn't count if the hobby has something to do with your job.

[But playing around with computers still counts, even though Shinji has been paid to hack into things before. Once again, 100% consistent logic at play here.]

"The project"?

[Also way to sound kind of unsettling there, Sephiroth.]

[pinnaculum]

I was made to be a soldier, but I am not a soldier. I am in the care of Mr. Valentine and not permitted to take part in warfare. [Well, at home, anyway. He does what he wants, here.] Soldiers do not usually make their own weapons.

[It counts as a hobby in Sephiroth's mind, regardless of what Shinji says.] Diarmuid and I are going to make swords. [Yeah, they're cool like that.]

Project S. The project I am the result of.

[Surely that explanation makes it sound less unsettling!]