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Apr 20, 2024 11:03:53 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2015 7:43:03 GMT -5
R u f u s S h i n r a firemasterofcheyenne
She claimed she could show him the answers when they arrived, but Rufus would remain skeptical of the situation as a whole. The idea that someone could speak to the Planet was as equally as absurd as the idea of an infinite energy source. Even Rufus could surmise that the ideals of a great eternal were farfetched. He was, regrettably, a difficult man to drive off the path of progress. In the end Cloud and his friends managed to get in the way of his attempts to cull his father's significant mistake, in the end making things more difficult. It was why he hated free thinkers, but he too knew he was not without blame. Had he not been so obsessed with destroying this obstacle he could have foreseen the eventual fall from grace predestined to him by his father's machinations.
Rufus tried to limit the physical contact he had with the woman. He felt strange toward it. It was not saying he lacked the grace to lure any woman he wanted to his bed, but standing near her called to the surface a sense of alertness, like she was dangerous, or even odd. He would not fully concede to the fact that the sensation was one a person had toward someone they felt safe around. He had never felt truly safe before. He had never felt the embrace of a mother and the cold, cigar fouled hands of his father were hardly appealing when he knew, even at such an age, those were not hands that should carry the responsibility of a child. Even though he was confident with his Turks it was far from the sensation of safety. Safety was a delusional ideal in a world that hungered for your flesh. If not the greedy mobs of humans or festering beasts that roamed the woods, the very soil wanted to swallow you whole, letting Planet whisk you away.
"Are these woods truly so disorienting?" Yes he knew these woods made navigating with a GPS impossible due to the PHS inability to cut a signal through the thick canopy, but were there perhaps other forces at work? "You are suggesting the forest has a will?" Though the idea was laughable: when considering the circumstances of the Remnants, it was not impossible.
Fairly so: this world had many unexplainable phenomenon. Makou itself was an undeterminable source of energy. It was no particle, no radioactive isotope, yet it moved like particles across the air and influenced the body in ways only sub atomic elements could. Perhaps this had been cause to his father's obsession: a lethal dose of Makou. The idea pleased him, but that brought to light the distasteful idea that he would one day return to the cycle.
"It seems their determination makes them tough." He stated over her concerns. "A man will fight beyond his death to succeed." An eerie reminder that one day the One Winged Angels would return until the foul curse was purged from their veins.
He was thankful she was willing to pull back from him. He chuckled softly at her embracing responsibility toward self-preservation. It was a step he'd be glad to let her take. It was too much work watching over two bodies and he still had need of her to just let her die so easily. Her talk of guiding them through the twisted maze set Rufus to wonder how she would go about such a feat. Shouting 'here I am', was rather childish and the very opposite of helping. She expected him to close his eyes, but his trust in this woman boarded on a thin ledge due to his limited knowledge of her individual tendencies, and the strange, indiscernible sensation he felt near her. He would humor her for the moment and close his eyes, though he was not expecting to see anything.
By the end of the vision Rufus had naught but more questions. His expression was a curious one, eyes peeling open to bring him back to this moment in time. Maybe this was a more definite measure of proof that Aerith was perhaps not... completely insane. Was there a connection between her and the Remnants who had given him a similar sensation of vision beyond? It was all speculative. Until he had proof, proof he could accept: Aerith's actions were held with reservation. He was, not where he had been, but he had not moved. Just what was this place? Just who was she?
Rufus accepted the opportunity, more so than the state. Somewhere, deep down, Humans and Ancients were connected. Maybe that once severed strand was becoming connected again, in this struggling world, where there were no answers in science nor the sensationalism of media to refuse the idea of Planet's life. Dark Nation, being a fiend, certainly was born of Planet and had a base instinct that understood the world, and Aerith, in a way no Human or Ancient could. Rufus looked to Aerith, mimicking the hushing motion to affirm his understanding.
The eruption of magic the exuded from the woman was enough for Rufus to assume some Materia manipulating technique present in the corrupted Remnants summoning Shin-Bahamut, but this energy did not have the same flavor. It was pure, unfiltered. The men hunting Aerith and Rufus were not expecting such retaliation and Rufus was not one to abandon opportunity. He motioned his pale fingers. Dark Nation, who was alert to Rufus in the frenzy of the magical danger saw the command.
The frantic men shouted between each other in an attempt to regain their bearings, but one was tackled to the ground by Dark Nation and forced to his knees with a swift, devastating bite to the back of the leg. One of the men blindly opened fire, taking out a comrade. When the bright, blinding light began to fade: this left one man on the ground in agonizing pain, pinned by the Tentacle Hound, another shot and down for the count. The only one that remained capable of wielding their weapon was taken out by a quick, decisive shot from Rufus. The pellet spray from the shotgun was devastating and sent the remaining man spiraling to the forest floor.
"Well..." He spoke as he lowered his arm. "That is one way to deal with a situation." He looked to the woman, his demeanor cold, striking.
Two of the remaining men were injured, but alive. Rufus felt the young woman needn't be so haphazardly exposed to his business side unless it was war warranted. If our was true what they said about these woods, if Aerith was indeed correct... They would not make our out alive. Not with those injuries.
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Apr 20, 2024 11:03:53 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2015 16:20:39 GMT -5
A glance was shared with the man, he was questioning whether the woods had its own will and Aerith nodded, “The whole Planet has a will…why not the living things upon it?” Having grown up her whole life hearing the voices and being constantly reminded that these things were possible gave Aerith a more open mind. She rarely challenged the Planet’s decisions or needs because there was no need, she served it much as it did for her, they were both needed within it and not exactly as an Ancient but as a living being. They died and were reborn, giving the Planet back the energy it once borrowed to live, they all shared their home upon this world’s surface and because of that they were supposed to treat it as one of their own. Aerith had met Rufus’ father in the Lifestream, he was someone who hadn’t accepted his own death, or rather his selfish persona kept him from accepting it…he didn’t want to return and now he wouldn’t. She hoped that he wasn’t like that and in honesty their personalities were in fact different, their drive for power though…Aerith wasn’t so convinced. She wondered what would have happened if she had met Rufus within the Lifestream, whether he would still be wandering it in regret. She thought he might have, he seemed to have plans to set things straight…in his own way although she wondered at what price. He had helped her much like she had helped him but they were still both so wary of each other, there were many unspoken secrets between the two and they both knew it. She had brought Rufus to the others and whilst she had cast her signature spell, her companions had reacted promptly to dispel the others. Together they were able to get ahead of these men and one by one they fell, Aerith was no longer feeling guilty for getting rid of them and wanted them gone. There were no sinister emotions exuding from her though, she wanted to continue her journey and it was clear these men only had ill intentions. She had learnt from her journey with Cloud that some people could not be bargained with and sometimes…you just had to fight even if you really didn’t want to. The Cetra watched as Rufus and Dark Nation finished off the rest of them until they lay helpless on the floor. Aerith began to wander over to them now that they could no longer move and knelt down beside one of them, “You don’t belong here, yet...” Aerith whispered, she wondered whether the Forest would let them go…but she highly doubted they would. Rufus turned to her seemingly incredibly serious, Aerith rose from her place and smiled as if nothing had even happened before her, “You mean…there was another way?” His expressions didn’t faze her, she was beginning to get used to Rufus’ typical Leadership qualities…they were quite different to Cloud’s even if the outcome was the same. The aura that surrounded her soothed her soul, she could feel its presence and she knew that things were becoming clearer, the forest was awakening. “If you would like…” She responded to it and then turned back to Rufus, “It accepts our…offering if you would like to put it that way. It’ll allow us through as long as no more violence is used, think you can do that, Mr President?” The Ancient would tease him again although she would expect his answer as more than agreeable. In the distance, the forest showed her the way, only she could see the light and the pull of her City, she’d turn to Rufus and motion him towards her as she herself moved towards the eerie light. “Come, the forest is awake and will let us pass…take what you need and let’s go.” Aerith wasn’t sure whether there were any other clues or information needed from the men, but she didn’t feel like they concerned her. There was something important there in the next place and she needed to see it for herself, she needed to see what the Planet wished to show her. Her boots padded across the grass as she moved closer, brushing branches from her face as she rushed through, eventually she would begin to jog…and the sprint. The rush of seeing that place again sent a shiver up her spine. Although the place was special to her and her heritage it was also the place where she’d been murdered, there was a mixed feeling being here but it wasn’t terrible. The branches than spun out from the natural born city were the first things she could see, they rose high into the sky from the centre of the fixture which housed various houses within the city. As she left the forest, Aerith slowed her pace and wandered over to the stone bridge that lead to the three paths into the city, beneath her was the lake and her eyes dropped down into its waters. She realised how dirty she had become from the various scuffles from the plane and how tired she’d now become. The woman turned around to hopefully see Rufus behind her. “We made it. Is it what you were expecting?” She spoke with her usual smile, “I think we should rest before we continue, I know of a place we can do that…does that sound okay to you?” She hoped he’d agree…although she wanted to explore the place without having a direct mission to save the world firstly she just wanted to sit down and take stock of everything.
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Apr 20, 2024 11:03:53 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2015 9:15:57 GMT -5
R u f u s S h i n r a firemasterofcheyenne
Planet’s Will? It was hardly something believable, but it was neither deniable. How else could one properly explain the existence of the WEAPONs? But was it will, or the tried and true: survival instinct? Among humans it could become so aggressively strong that they would destroy entire continents full of their own species and tear up the environment just to win. The immense power of the WEAPONs seemed to truly reflect such an idea. That destructive power was on par with human war machines and their capacity for full scale destruction, but in the same aspect the WEAPONs had never done harm to the very environment extremists said they were protecting. Only specific human settlements were attacked, more so those with deep connections to Makou. Was this perhaps what the WEAPONs were attracted to as well? Their lifeblood? Was it truly will, it the instinct of a being to survive? Either way it spoke of some level of existence. It meant Planet was not just some hunk of stone floating in space…
His gaze softened as he looked to Aerith when she lowered to the ground to talk to the injured men. The way she refused their presence seemed a bit odd. Was she saying there was some sort of hierarchy among them and the Planet? Were there places humans were not allowed to go? Than why would they exist? Did that rule apply between the Ancient and human species? From what little he knew of the Ancients they were nothing like humans. They were said to possess a seemingly unending pull over the Planet and were capable of traveling the stars on their thoughts alone and were capable of changing the body on a physical level, much as the experiments had done for SOLDIERs. They were capable of using the Magic born of the Lifestream without the use of Materia. But -- after meeting Aerith she was nothing like the reports, the reports on Jenova. Than what did that make Jenova? Were Ancient just, really, human on some level? He had much to learn for himself, seeing as there was so many lies layered between his birth and his father’s death.
He chuckled at her sudden reservations. Turning his gaze toward her he would give a light nod. “It was either this, or their death.” He stated flatly. “When a man is after your life, and you give them theirs in return, there is always contempt for those who have won. Few have the humility to accept defeat and change themselves in the face of it.” He himself faced death and was spared, perhaps by the -- ‘will’ of Planet.
He was not going to disregard that experience though. Facing his death was to face his future. He was not going to life forever, but neither was he going to die so insufferably. His father had poisoned this world and poisoned their name. He would not submit to the terror, because death was not the end, it was merely the beginning for the next generation. He wanted to leave his name carved in the sky, not buried beneath megatons of twisted, poisoned graves of steel and concrete. Life had to be used constructively. So he would construct the future and build upon the investment of his life that Planet seemed to have put stock into. No normal man could have survived what he faced without intervention. The brutal assault of Diamond WEAPON, the traumatizing burn of Geostigma; they were all stepping stones to his current path. Though he would not change the basis of who he was, he would change the means in which he sought to secure these goals. There was no need to leave a trail of dead planets in their wake. They had to take care of the one they were born on.
It was their home, and would always be the place their souls returned to when they died. The only place they would be accepted.
Though he found it odd she called planet it. It. Many called the Planet she, perhaps because they considered it a mother, a lifegiver. After all what man could ever handle the pain of carrying a life into its adult life, only to watch it die of old age? Men were weak in that aspect. They were emotional creatures that clung to the bosom of their caretaker until they were torn from it. Rufus was almost thankful that he had never experienced that sort of relationship, that sort of parentage. But in the same sense he would never be missed were he to die. Would Tseng regard his death meaningful? Cissnei? He was sure Reno would make a joke out of it, but perhaps that was something Rufus would have preferred. He would not want such somber, attached feelings associated with his person. He wanted his actions to hold meaning, not his relationships. But were they one in the same? Regardless Aerith seemed to put a whole other layer of existence on Planet with her choice of words. Planet was beyond the base, human, representations. Perhaps she understood a bit more than he realized. It was a defined, yet formal, interjection of the Planet’s greater existence among them, as mortals.
When Aerith told him his weapon had to be put away to placate whatever hellish spirits wandered this place, which seemed to enjoy trapping those that ‘did not belong’. Perhaps the living were not allowed here, and it was merely a wandering grave for the dead? It certainly seemed that way in his eyes. Though he could not see them, he certainly saw one and that was enough for him. Reaching out to his jacket he would pull back the white lapel, though there was now a visible streak of gray dusting the underside of his sleeve. He holstered his shotgun, a soft chuckle escaping him at her words. Looking to Aerith his lips pulled back in a soft smirk, a playful one. though everything about him seemed, more or less, truthful: the majority of his facial expressions were insincere, learned behaviors of social functionality. Holding out his hands in a dismissive manner, shrugging he chuckled.
“I will resist the urge to defend myself and ignore my need to test ammo out on unsuspecting victims.” he joked.
When she suggested he take only what he needed, the executive wondered on the expression. One only needed food, sleep and human contact, truly: to survive. He really needn’t anything else, but his desires were assured to push his wants into needs. It was why the people still struggled with the changes he was implementing. His father had led them to believe Makou Energy was what they wanted so it, inadvertently, became what they needed. They did not need machines to survive, but because they were led to believe they wanted it, it became a need. But there were those who could see passed these influenced ideals and those were people with experience. Experience is what separated people at their very core, regardless of age or species. Even if you were over a thousand years old, if you've spent all but ten years locked in a cave, you have most likely accumulated as much as experience as a child just on the cusp of their adulthood. The inexperienced were fools that were played by the well experienced, those who were wiser and knew the wiles and temptations of the world well.
As they continued their journey on and they soon arrived at, what Aerith called, the Capital. His expectations on the matter? What could one expect of a world that had been lost for centuries? Tseng and Elena’s report had said it was like being awake at the bottom of the sea. He had never been beneath the water, not even in a submarine. Maybe there was a time when they did live beneath the watery depths because this hallowed place of coral and ancient sea shells seemed all too familiar to the executive. How could one hold expectations for a place that even his most cynic Turks described with such awe and romanticism. I think the phrase had caught him: the bed of the Ancients. Hmm so this was it?
“Rest...I think it is always a good idea to recuperate. It has been a long trip and with our enemies behind us, I think we have time to spare.” He had enough jumping around for one day.
Though he could go for quite a time even he had his limits.Too many aggravating situations and, perhaps, this would give him the time he needed to look over the contents of the SD card. Dark Nation huffed and trotted ahead. The fiend seemed uneasy with its back to the forest, but in truth there was something else… far up ahead. More spirits? More deranged assassins? Rufus narrowed his eyes before glancing toward Aerith, smiling. He seemed perfectly content with the idea of sleeping. He brushed off the sensation of eyes on him.
“I will follow you Miss Aerith, just try not to get shot at again.” He teased.
As they walked, it followed him. It stalked him. The vision of a woman desperately seeking to gain his attention, but he ignored it, he denied it. He had no need for that which was never there before. He hated places like this. These were places you knew were dead because nothing remained by the ill-tended memories of the past. The further he walked, the more he ignored her… the harder it became for the spirit to follow. Though it reached, Rufus did not look back. He could not afford to look back. His calm, collective nature was terrifying. He did not fall to the pain many have crumpled to their knees before, but these were men with experience, men with a want.
He did not need her, he did not want her and he certainly lacked the experience to believe any thing else. He had wept already, in his heart, as the Geostigma burned it into him, the memory of never having a mother to love, to be loved by. It seemed many of these memories were burned into the Lifestream itself. Maybe that pain and longing the Geostigma brought, were the millions of memories Planet struggled to hold onto, maybe even now Planet struggled to hold onto these memories and cycle them. But that was what they needed to fix… wasn't it? Were they to arrive in the Capital, Rufus would say little more than gently bid Aerith a good night;s rest. Though he would lay, he would not sleep. Because he had the experience of man’s betrayal. He never slept in a bed, but there he would lay and listen to the gentle winds that harshly flowed through the empty Capital.
Rufus has left the thread
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