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Backdated to Mid-June - First half action open for Rufus, Reno, and Rude, second half network for anybody else who wants to reply!

[ Tseng's first night in Nippon did not go at all as he initially thought after leaving the orientation provided to him upon his arrival. He spent the first few hours walking around Tokyo, trying to get the layout of the land, take in as much as he possibly could before retiring to his assigned housing for the night... He didn't expect to run into Rufus Shinra. And that chance encounter changed everything.

They spent the night together, getting reacquainted, relaxing, and Rufus telling him everything he has yet to experience in their own world. The things Rufus told him sounded positively ridiculous, but he knows Rufus wouldn't lie to him... It was overwhelming and will likely take Tseng a while to process.

He wakes mid-morning, pulling on the pajama pants he was given the night before and a t-shirt, and leaves Rufus asleep before heading downstairs to bring some coffee and breakfast back up to their room. He quietly descends the stairs and sees the Turks. ]

Reno. Rude.

[ He offers a small smile and a nod as he passes by, disappearing into the kitchen. ]

----

[ Once he's back upstairs and settled on the bed, he pulls out his magi-comm, studying the device before turning it on. It's certainly no smartphone, but it will suffice. ]

I'm looking for a few individuals and was told this is the best and quickest way possible to get their attention. [ He looks over at Rufus, who is off-screen, briefly ] If you know Zack Fair or Aerith Gainsborough, please tell them I'm looking for them and would love to talk.

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Why?

What do you want, Tseng?

... Beep.

[ After his conversation with Rufus, Tseng truthfully just wants to see that Aerith is doing well. So, he leaves another message after the beep. ]

I have no ulterior motives. I simply wanted to see if you were doing well, maybe purchase some flowers if you have any.

[It takes a little while but eventually a video forms to show Aerith. She appears to be... lying down? Her head pilled on pillows, but the image quality is lacking, as it usually is with these magi-cams. But it is definitely Aerith on the screen.]

I'm doing fine, Tseng... I can point you in the direction of places to buy flowers. Mine aren't for sale.

[Yet. Her gardens were still a work in progress.]

The other Turks must be happy to see you, huh?

I'm not interested in flowers, Aerith. I was only interested in buying yours if you had anything set up.

[ There's a small smile on his face when Tseng finally sees her. After the things Rufus told him the night before, he's glad to see her safe, seemingly happy, and alive. He knows he's probably one of the last people she wants to see, but that's fine. He knows what he's done and he's deserving of every bit of negative emotion she has toward him. ]

And the Turks? They're happy enough, I suppose. [ A pause ] Rufus told me you were here. I'm glad you're doing well.

[She huffed. Stupid Tseng with his stupid smile and his stupid checking up on her.

No, she hadn't forgiven him for stealing her away. Did he have any idea of why she'd been taken or what that monster had wanted to do with her? Had he cared? No. No probably not. He was a Turk, after all, and they really were just thugs for hire no matter how fancy their suits were.

And yet...

They weren't home. This was, for all intents and purposes, an alternate reality that had nothing to do with their own. Applying those rules from her own reality to this one just seemed silly to her, and she'd managed to think that way with the other Turks, even Rufus. And yet Tseng... Tseng was getting a hard time.

Why? Because he was the one who had grabbed her!]

Are you though? Wow, Tseng. I really didn't realise you cared. That must be a new feeling for you. Or are you just saying that to get information from me?

[ Her response is all he needs to hear to know what one of the last things she experienced was.

Tseng can't defend his actions, his only explanation for them being that he's able to put aside personal feelings and complete the mission, something he learned how to do not long after he became a Turk. However, with Aerith, he developed a trust with her over the years, watched her from afar in the Sector 5 Slums, and even made a promise he wasn't able to keep when she entrusted her letters to him.

And all of that was broken when he took the Sector 7 plate drop as an opportunity to finally bring her to Shinra. ]

I'm not trying to get information from you. And I understand if you don't want to speak with me.

[ He pauses, collecting his thoughts ]

But, yes, it's good to see you're doing well.

[She huffed upwards, causing her hair to flutter. Aerith really wanted to be more annoyed.

It was true he'd looked out for her. He'd tried to hide it but she'd known. Which was why it hurt so much when he'd accepted that stupid mission to hurt so many people. Yes, the Turks were known for it. Yes, she shouldn't have been surprised. But it had taught her a valuable lesson. The Turks lacked integrity.

Though... She supposed some of her anger could be lessened if she knew he was from the same time as the others. The fact those guys had actively attempted to make amends had gone a long way to making her feel more comfortable around them. Something told her this wasn't the case here. Tseng didn't look like he'd aged a day.

But... she sighed.]

I'm doing very well, thanks. [Not being hunted helped! Though she was able to bite her cheek and hold off from voicing that sentiment.]

[ Tseng has no expectations of Aerith even wanting to continue this conversation, so he's pleasantly surprised that she does respond to him instead of hanging up on him. And he doesn't know how he'll possibly start to repair their relationship because turning her over to Shinra did unspeakable damage to something that had been... relatively friendly in the past.

Unfortunately for the both of them, Tseng's last memories were of Rufus becoming President during the aftermath of the plate drop. So he only has the conversation he had with Rufus to go on in terms of knowing what their future holds. ]

That's good to hear. [ A pause ] Have you been here long?

[ He's trying. ]

[Maybe she normally wouldn't have continued, but she'd been through enough that she had learned to let go of a lot. The things of her past felt so much more distant now.

In fact she was of the opinion that those things should be locked up in a box and set aside for the time being. They really didn't have a place here. She'd already told the likes of Zack and Cloud to go off and enjoy their lives, to not worry about anything, push it all aside and embrace the reprieve they had all been given. So maybe she was giving Tseng a harder time than she should have. Given time enough to get over things she would easily be able to converse with him the way he used to, maybe even better.

But she still had to give him a hard time. If he was forgiven that easily he could think it was something he could get away with again. And if he tried it a second time, Aerith was just going to have to kick him in the junk.]

Around five months, I think? Time is strange here so who really knows?

... What was the last thing you remember before coming here?

[ There is so much Tseng has to learn about their new home, and so much he hasn't experienced from their actual home. He's been asked this question more than once today and the conversation doesn't get any easier despite the number of times he's had it. With Rufus and with Reno, it was easy. With Zack, he avoided the subject... They can talk about it another time. With Cloud? Well, that went poorly.

He's hoping it doesn't go as poorly with Aerith. He intends on actually answering her, though, and that's a step further than he got in his conversation with Cloud. ]

President Shinra had been killed by Sephiroth and the Vice President had just taken his place as the new President. [ He pauses, thinking of how much information he's comfortable giving. ] I had been in Shinra Tower with him when I started experiencing the time loop.

[ Tseng decides he doesn't need to go into detail regarding the conversation he was having, the looks from Heidegger and the other department heads as Rufus took a seat behind the desk. ]

What about yourself? What did you experience before finding yourself in Nippon?

So then, huh? Well when I was last back home, we had just left Midgar to go and find Sephiroth. I repeated that moment over and over again.

[Which wasn't that bad, just walking out over and over, there were worse points she could have left from. But each time she had left there had been a strange feeling. A feeling that something wasn't right, a feeling... she couldn't quite explain, but one that was familiar all the same.

Even now when she tried to think back on that moment she could feel a headache growing, so she chose to move on past it with a sigh and a little shake of her head.]

But after that? I was on an entirely different world. I might have only been here five months but I haven't been home in almost a year.

Another world entirely?

[ It seems, from what he can piece together after his discussion with Rufus, that Aerith is from roughly the same point in time in their own universe. Everything regarding Sephiroth, Cloud's group going after him, that all happened right after Rufus took his place as President.

Still, it's overwhelming trying to connect all of these dots when he's experienced so little compared to others from their Planet. ]

Where did you go when you left Gaia if not here?

The world's name was Aellyn. It was... a city in a dome. It was called Havenwell. Outside of the dome the world was a toxic wasteland, at least that's what they told us. And there were gods who governed the land. Again, what they told us... The people though, they were robots. Apparently they'd been real flesh and blood people, but they'd put their consciousness into the robots and, for some reason, in doing that the world began to die.

And so the Gods would bring people from all over to populate their world and help it come alive again.

At least... that's what they told us.

[Sephiroth and the others had been suspicious and Aerith had her own suspicions of just what was really going on. Nothing that could have been verified though.

It made her wonder if they had actually been kicked off of the planet for daring to question the will of the gods! Now wouldn't that have been funny if it were true?]

And there you have it. Where I was before here.

I'll tell you something else too... Sephiroth was there. Cloud too. Reno and Rufus were also there for a while. Tifa... Tifa too, but she kept going away and I don't know why. And I tell you, because only Sephiroth remembers. No one else. Strange, don't you think?

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