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FFVII drabble: Young Ones (Reeve, Lazard, Veld)
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white_jenna told me she'd read the small Lazard-Reeve thing I'd written a while back, and I know _ice_lady_ wanted a bit more of it, so here's some randomly put together bits of two or three Shinra Directors. :D I'm going to sleep on this one before I think of posting it elsewhere; is it too silly, you think?
The original snippet is under the first cut; if you've read that before then just click on the second cut straightaway. \o
Young Ones
A drabble. Reeve, Lazard, sudden guest appearance by Veld. PG. Unabashed cross-referencing of Crisis Core and Before Crisis, though you really don't need to know more beyond the words "Shinra" and "politics". ~1200 words.
The rising political animal is a very dangerous creature, Reeve tells himself, and then he picks up a second cup of coffee and brings it over to where young Mr. Deusericus is seated by himself at the edge of Shinra's executive lounge.
'Fancy some company?' Reeve extends the cup.
Lazard looks up from his PHS, any brief look of surprise wiped neatly and absolutely off his face. 'Mr. Tuesti,' he says, halfway rising from his chair.
Reeve smiles, and warmly. It probably says something about his age and cynicism that he finds Lazard's picture-perfect cover a little bit endearing. 'Don't get up for my sake, and call me Reeve. Everyone does.' The cup is passed over. Lazard accepts it with a nod of thanks and resettles. 'Settling in, then?' Reeve asks, sinking into the chair opposite.
'My new office is happily a lot larger than my last,' Lazard says, sipping. He glances at Reeve. 'Though I've made one small appeal to your department, I think you'll have noticed...'
'Oh, yes,' Reeve draws a folder out from his briefcase. 'Odd thing for me, I've got to say. Most Directors, when they want something, just come straight into my office and bang on my table a lot. Urban Development is a little too laid back. My secretary just lets them, really.'
'I'm sorry,' Lazard says with a little bit of a laugh. 'If I knew that I could've saved you the paperwork, I'd have gone a bit more spare with the writing.'
'Paperwork, paperwork.' Reeve slides out the request form. 'You must be having a bit of a party with all the forms.'
'Shredding them brings me joy unimaginable,' Lazard deadpans.
Reeve laughs. 'A sense of humour! Rare commodity here, though not as rare as this.' He taps the form. 'You want the whole of the 49nd level redeveloped?'
'I think I'd be a prudent change,' Lazard nods, leaning forward. 'Personally I find the system of placing Directors on a separate level from their men inefficient. SOLDIER's such a small department, and closely linked what's more...'
Reeve cocks his head as he listens. Prudent. What a word -- Reeve doesn't think that he's known anyone prudent in Shinra since Veld formed up with Administrative Research. Lazard, with his white gloves neatly laid out on the side of the table and his tabbed folio on the side, looks like the sort. Prudent, and incredibly earnest.
Reeve doesn't know whether to feel sorry for him or amazed by his ambition.
Lazard gets what he wants with a combination of sheer, dogged determination and a general apathy shared by every executive save Reeve. He haunts the halls of the Urban Development levels until Reeve gives in to his conscience (or his political acumen) and lets him in with a sigh. Lazard manages to look as though he hasn't been unscrupulously commandeering the attention of every one of Reeve's secretaries by virtue of being dangerously well-dressed and typically eloquent.
Such is the scion of kings, Reeve thinks wryly as Lazard breezily informs him that, should they submit the plans for the 49th level together, the President really should not have any objections, etcetera etcetera.
'All right,' Reeve says at last, when he realises that - unlike when speaking with Scarlet or Heidegger - the tirade of reason and logic from Lazard will not relent. 'All right, enough, I'll design your floor overhaul. If you'd been here a few years earlier you could've saved us the trouble.'
'I take the development of SOLDIER very seriously, Director Tuesti,' Lazard says solemnly. 'You have my word that this will not go to waste.'
Reeve laughs it off, reaching under his desk. 'If I were you I'd be more worried about getting my proposal approved by the President than fussing about whether resources are getting properly allocated. You do Shinra a disservice.'
'Do I?' Lazard asks with a neatly raised eyebrow. Oh, Reeve thinks, he does get that from his father.
'You do,' Reeve nods, pulling out a long document tube and unsealing it. 'What will come of our history of decadence if your generation tries so hard to streamline?'
Lazard's smile is forced out of him, Reeve can tell. It's surprised, and also slightly pleased. 'We can't just stand on the shoulders of giants,' the Director of SOLDIER defers. 'Changes to the system can and should be good things.'
'Whether the system wants to get changed is another thing altogether, Mr. Deusericus,' Reeve points out. He draws out a set of blueprints, but stops before spreading it out across the table. Reeve looks up at Lazard. 'Shinra's a settled hierarchy generations old.'
'Should shooting stars beware?' Lazard asks with a turn of his lips.
'No,' Reeve shakes his head. 'Only bastard sons.'
He doesn't look up to watch the expression cross Lazard's face; Reeve knows it's there. Instead, he unrolls the architectural blueprints for the potential revamp of the 49th floor, and waits for Lazard to speak.
'That's,' Lazard says, hesitant for the first time that day, 'a very large room.'
'It's a --' Reeve hums. The change of subject doesn't bother him. 'I took the liberty of going through some of Hollander's files, and the reports from the recent field missions. I hear of a few young men rising through the SOLDIER ranks.'
'Ah,' Lazard nods, looking more comfortable on familiar ground. 'Sephiroth and Genesis, I presume?' He looks satisfied, like a proud parent. 'And Angeal, of course.'
'Three very capable young men,' Reeve agrees. 'With an emphasis on young men. That room's a virtual training ground. It was a little bit of a jog for Hojo's men to come up with a plausible physics and bio-feedback engine, but those people like a challenge if they like nothing else. Call it a playpen,' Reeve laughs. 'I'm sure it'll be seeing some action.'
'I'll owe you for this,' Lazard says, gathering up the blueprints. He holds out his hand. 'Thank you.'
'No need to thank me,' Reeve says, reaching out to shake. 'Not when you're in debt to me.'
Lazard, young and full of brightness, catches Reeve's eye. 'I won't forget that.'
Reeve squeezes the man's hand, and then lets go. 'I hope that you don't, Mr. Deusericus.'
Lazard submits his request for moving the Directorial Offices of SOLDIER down to the same floor as shared by general SOLDIER staffers to the President the same day that he submits the final findings from Hollander's SOLDIER-linked genetic research. He places the latter on top of the former. President Shinra ends up signing all the documents without much care for the 14 million gil budget set out for playpens and babies' toys.
Reeve chuckles while reading a message off of his PHS, which makes Veld look up from his food.
'What is it?' the Turk asks.
'Do you ever tire of being right?' Reeve asks Veld, putting his phone away and picking up his fork and knife once more.
'Very often,' Veld says, narrowing his eyes.
'Lazard's managed to convince the President to agree to his demands,' Reeve muses.
Veld sips from his glass of water. 'You think it's only the beginning.' He has a way with words that turns questions into statements.
Reeve raises his own glass in toast. 'To the young,' he says.
Veld shutters his eyes and thinks of Tseng. Their glasses meet, half-and-half way across the table. 'To the young. May they quickly grow old.'
white_jenna told me she'd read the small Lazard-Reeve thing I'd written a while back, and I know _ice_lady_ wanted a bit more of it, so here's some randomly put together bits of two or three Shinra Directors. :D I'm going to sleep on this one before I think of posting it elsewhere; is it too silly, you think?The original snippet is under the first cut; if you've read that before then just click on the second cut straightaway. \o
Young Ones
A drabble. Reeve, Lazard, sudden guest appearance by Veld. PG. Unabashed cross-referencing of Crisis Core and Before Crisis, though you really don't need to know more beyond the words "Shinra" and "politics". ~1200 words.
The rising political animal is a very dangerous creature, Reeve tells himself, and then he picks up a second cup of coffee and brings it over to where young Mr. Deusericus is seated by himself at the edge of Shinra's executive lounge.
'Fancy some company?' Reeve extends the cup.
Lazard looks up from his PHS, any brief look of surprise wiped neatly and absolutely off his face. 'Mr. Tuesti,' he says, halfway rising from his chair.
Reeve smiles, and warmly. It probably says something about his age and cynicism that he finds Lazard's picture-perfect cover a little bit endearing. 'Don't get up for my sake, and call me Reeve. Everyone does.' The cup is passed over. Lazard accepts it with a nod of thanks and resettles. 'Settling in, then?' Reeve asks, sinking into the chair opposite.
'My new office is happily a lot larger than my last,' Lazard says, sipping. He glances at Reeve. 'Though I've made one small appeal to your department, I think you'll have noticed...'
'Oh, yes,' Reeve draws a folder out from his briefcase. 'Odd thing for me, I've got to say. Most Directors, when they want something, just come straight into my office and bang on my table a lot. Urban Development is a little too laid back. My secretary just lets them, really.'
'I'm sorry,' Lazard says with a little bit of a laugh. 'If I knew that I could've saved you the paperwork, I'd have gone a bit more spare with the writing.'
'Paperwork, paperwork.' Reeve slides out the request form. 'You must be having a bit of a party with all the forms.'
'Shredding them brings me joy unimaginable,' Lazard deadpans.
Reeve laughs. 'A sense of humour! Rare commodity here, though not as rare as this.' He taps the form. 'You want the whole of the 49nd level redeveloped?'
'I think I'd be a prudent change,' Lazard nods, leaning forward. 'Personally I find the system of placing Directors on a separate level from their men inefficient. SOLDIER's such a small department, and closely linked what's more...'
Reeve cocks his head as he listens. Prudent. What a word -- Reeve doesn't think that he's known anyone prudent in Shinra since Veld formed up with Administrative Research. Lazard, with his white gloves neatly laid out on the side of the table and his tabbed folio on the side, looks like the sort. Prudent, and incredibly earnest.
Reeve doesn't know whether to feel sorry for him or amazed by his ambition.
Lazard gets what he wants with a combination of sheer, dogged determination and a general apathy shared by every executive save Reeve. He haunts the halls of the Urban Development levels until Reeve gives in to his conscience (or his political acumen) and lets him in with a sigh. Lazard manages to look as though he hasn't been unscrupulously commandeering the attention of every one of Reeve's secretaries by virtue of being dangerously well-dressed and typically eloquent.
Such is the scion of kings, Reeve thinks wryly as Lazard breezily informs him that, should they submit the plans for the 49th level together, the President really should not have any objections, etcetera etcetera.
'All right,' Reeve says at last, when he realises that - unlike when speaking with Scarlet or Heidegger - the tirade of reason and logic from Lazard will not relent. 'All right, enough, I'll design your floor overhaul. If you'd been here a few years earlier you could've saved us the trouble.'
'I take the development of SOLDIER very seriously, Director Tuesti,' Lazard says solemnly. 'You have my word that this will not go to waste.'
Reeve laughs it off, reaching under his desk. 'If I were you I'd be more worried about getting my proposal approved by the President than fussing about whether resources are getting properly allocated. You do Shinra a disservice.'
'Do I?' Lazard asks with a neatly raised eyebrow. Oh, Reeve thinks, he does get that from his father.
'You do,' Reeve nods, pulling out a long document tube and unsealing it. 'What will come of our history of decadence if your generation tries so hard to streamline?'
Lazard's smile is forced out of him, Reeve can tell. It's surprised, and also slightly pleased. 'We can't just stand on the shoulders of giants,' the Director of SOLDIER defers. 'Changes to the system can and should be good things.'
'Whether the system wants to get changed is another thing altogether, Mr. Deusericus,' Reeve points out. He draws out a set of blueprints, but stops before spreading it out across the table. Reeve looks up at Lazard. 'Shinra's a settled hierarchy generations old.'
'Should shooting stars beware?' Lazard asks with a turn of his lips.
'No,' Reeve shakes his head. 'Only bastard sons.'
He doesn't look up to watch the expression cross Lazard's face; Reeve knows it's there. Instead, he unrolls the architectural blueprints for the potential revamp of the 49th floor, and waits for Lazard to speak.
'That's,' Lazard says, hesitant for the first time that day, 'a very large room.'
'It's a --' Reeve hums. The change of subject doesn't bother him. 'I took the liberty of going through some of Hollander's files, and the reports from the recent field missions. I hear of a few young men rising through the SOLDIER ranks.'
'Ah,' Lazard nods, looking more comfortable on familiar ground. 'Sephiroth and Genesis, I presume?' He looks satisfied, like a proud parent. 'And Angeal, of course.'
'Three very capable young men,' Reeve agrees. 'With an emphasis on young men. That room's a virtual training ground. It was a little bit of a jog for Hojo's men to come up with a plausible physics and bio-feedback engine, but those people like a challenge if they like nothing else. Call it a playpen,' Reeve laughs. 'I'm sure it'll be seeing some action.'
'I'll owe you for this,' Lazard says, gathering up the blueprints. He holds out his hand. 'Thank you.'
'No need to thank me,' Reeve says, reaching out to shake. 'Not when you're in debt to me.'
Lazard, young and full of brightness, catches Reeve's eye. 'I won't forget that.'
Reeve squeezes the man's hand, and then lets go. 'I hope that you don't, Mr. Deusericus.'
Lazard submits his request for moving the Directorial Offices of SOLDIER down to the same floor as shared by general SOLDIER staffers to the President the same day that he submits the final findings from Hollander's SOLDIER-linked genetic research. He places the latter on top of the former. President Shinra ends up signing all the documents without much care for the 14 million gil budget set out for playpens and babies' toys.
Reeve chuckles while reading a message off of his PHS, which makes Veld look up from his food.
'What is it?' the Turk asks.
'Do you ever tire of being right?' Reeve asks Veld, putting his phone away and picking up his fork and knife once more.
'Very often,' Veld says, narrowing his eyes.
'Lazard's managed to convince the President to agree to his demands,' Reeve muses.
Veld sips from his glass of water. 'You think it's only the beginning.' He has a way with words that turns questions into statements.
Reeve raises his own glass in toast. 'To the young,' he says.
Veld shutters his eyes and thinks of Tseng. Their glasses meet, half-and-half way across the table. 'To the young. May they quickly grow old.'
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Still, I like the way Reeve's pessimism played out against Lazard's stubborness and ambitions. And the last two lines are made of win.
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Playing Crisis Core is actually very worth it if you have the time! Tseng is a sexy beast in it.
Reeve's crept up on me; he's one of those characters I never expected to find fun to write until he came and beat me on the head with politics. 8D Whee!
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*hic*
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Anyway, lovely job there. I like it when some gen-fic comes my way. (or any Lazard fic but that should be obvious by now.) And that last line was such an evil little twist of the knife...
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♥ Thankee!
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And I realize it's a good thing we'll never see him or Rufus end up like their father in the looks department. (not like either of them could get a mustache to work anyway)
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I'd dearly love to see Rufus and him in the same room though!
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Reeve was delicious in this. I'm of the opinion that we could all do with a little more Reeve in our lives. And Veld, as always, was a treat. I've never played with the idea of him and Reeve being companions before but if I recall hints in CC, they would've been directors at the same time. It suits them quite nicely.
Also? It made me smirk that Veld could somehow turn a light moment into something morose. The boy clearly needs out more. :P Still, it was a very nice line to end on. Congrats on making the BC/CC/OGC timeline make sense. That's an art in and of itself.
All in all, very nicely done. :)
-T. pirate
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Lazard, like Tseng, always felt like someone who needs a little push off the characterisation cliff. \o He's quite fun, if a little hard, to write because of it. :D And Reeve, Reeve is my new best friend. He's inherently and politically awesome.
♥ Thankee!
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Like I said, everyone needs a little bit more Reeve in their lives. I think he could win the fandom's most unappreciated awesome character award. There needs to be more Reeve love out there!
-T. pirate
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*g* I fully intend to give him some leg room and exercise in the next few FFVII fics that I write. I love me some Reeve almost as much as I love me some Tseng and Veld. :D
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You're brilliant.