tampered | [ ONGOING ] Tseng&Elena

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[ ONGOING ] Tseng&Elena - More Reunions

When; Today [ Backdating ]
Rating; G
Characters; Elena [

lady_turk]& Tseng [

visageofsilence]
Summary; Elena drags Tseng out for a meal, and they talk.
Log;

It was a headache after another and Tseng really hadn't wanted to put up with a lot of it. Granted things had gotten sorted out with Rufus, but that did not mean that things had gotten any better. For better or for worse, he was tired, unable to concentrate, even with the appearance of one of his most loyal Turks coming back to the City.

As he stirred his tea after their plates were taken away, Tseng sighed, moving an elbow over the edge of the table. The strain was showing on his expression. Rufus and Reno fought, Tseng and Rufus fought, he had feelings for Aerith and Rufus was jealous of it, but he cared for Rufus in return, and now Reno disappeared.

"This feels like High School all over again," he grumbled, as he raised his teacup and drank from it. It wasn't as strong as he wanted it to be, and he glanced over at Elena. "And that's a part of my youth I would rather not re-live."

It was relaxing, however, to be able to speak with her again. "Looks like you're caught up with everything though. In Gaia and here. Did you want dessert?"

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Although Tseng could put up a front for most people, Elena would have been able to read him despite whatever facade he might have tried to put up. It came from trust, knowledge, and experience, but the fact that he was willing to actually let the pretense for a necessary mask go by was a fact that warmed Elena down in the part of her that would always hold Tseng with the highest amount of respect. But she was old enough and experienced enough now to simply take such trust as it was and return it in like, rather than stammer, blush, and make a fuss over it.

"I can't say my years would be something I'd want to relive again either," Elena agreed, making a small face. If only because of the pigtails, she'd rather that no one else know about what she was like back then.

Nodding, more for the first part of his sentence than in answer about dessert, Elena brought her own cup to her lips before speaking. She wasn't as fond of teas as she was of coffee, but she did have a few flavors she liked well enough. None as strong as Tseng perhaps, but not weak either.

"Apparently I missed a lot more than I was expecting to. And I had thought nothing exciting ever happened when I'm not around."

Whether she was referring to the issues with Rufus and Tseng, or to the issues of Deep Dive and Omega, it was hard to tell. The statement could have been about one just as easily as the other, but it'd be up to Tseng to take it how he would. She had her own things to say, but they could wait.

There really was no reason for him to be maintaining any sort of masks here though. Apart from the necessary ones to the general public, there was still no reason to keep any in front of Elena.

They'd been through far too much here to really need them, anymore.

He glanced over his cup at her when she spoke, seeming to catch the general reference, and he slowly lowered it, looking back at her.

"There's hardly anything here that wouldn't be considered exciting to at least one person or the other." He commented, chancing a half-smirk at his own words. Leaning back in his seat, he set his cup back in it's saucer, and moved a hand over the edge of the table.

"Of course, coming here got us all into messes I would rather have not experienced the way we did them." Shaking his head, he looked up at her again. "And then there's the matter of Rufus..." He trailed off, looking to a side. "Perhaps what someone said once to me was right. You're never attractive to anyone unless someone else desires you."

Tseng, cracking a joke? Not as unlikely as one would think, not for Elena, at least!

She watched his actions, as she always did, noting the signs that Tseng really had been dealing with a lot the few weeks she'd been gone. Maybe even reading things that Tseng himself didn't even know about, but that was a part of what she, in particular, did.

Raising an eyebrow at the crack, though made lightly, there was probably more said than what could be read as a simple jest. But to just jump into a serious conversation of feelings and desires when Tseng seemed so very tired of it all was not something Elena thought to bring herself to do.

Even if, technically, feelings and relationship was what she wanted to talk about.

"Different messes with different clean-up. At least there aren't any diapers involved," Elena stated casually, keeping the conversation light for the time being.

"Maybe you should test that theory out and try your luck in picking someone else up. Adding attraction to something that's already desirable is sure to work in your favor."

So she was teasing. It was really, really, really hard not to.

"Very funny, Elena."

Grateful for her keeping the conversation light, though he expected it to get deeper and serious because it certainly wasn't like Elena to suddenly drag him out for no reason. But he was going to be patient, it wasn't as though he could get all the time he wanted with his subordinate when he was going through looking after both Rufus and then finding the time when she wasn't preoccupied with Jr.

"If it's all the same to you, I think I'm rather set for relationships for the next six lifetimes." Both Aerith and Rufus were high maintenance in their own way, and while he politely kept that out of his words, he knew Elena would catch it. He intended for her to.

Picking up his cup again, he shook his head. "... it's been strenuous, that much I can say. Vincent reported mostly all of Rufus and Reno's disastrous conversation to me and I cannot say I reacted well to it." He sighed. "... this place has a knack for making someone lose their cool."

He took a sip from his cup, glancing over at her. "It's probably a good thing you weren't here for that. Now, enough about us, I think you're updated enough already. What did you want to talk about?"

Catch it, Elena did. She knew Rufus's habits as well as Tseng did and what with her own affections for Tseng, how could she not know about what Aerith could get up to as well? Not to mention, there was the whole 'capture the Ancient' thing that had it's own lengthy file she'd read through. However, her only response to that was to chuckle softly in the back of her throat and smirk.

"Are you sure? I'm sure we could manage to make it even more horribly complicated than it already is. Maybe we could even get Vincent to help with it as well."

Taking a sip of her tea, the next words out of Elena's mouth were a touch more harsh and bitter, but it was like a parent reprimanding a child or an older sister commenting on their siblings behavior. "I'd almost say that perhaps Rufus would deserved it for the way he acted, but I would not actually wish for him to be that alienated. It's not a very enjoyable feeling."

She spoke from experience on this matter, but Elena didn't really care to bring such a thing up beyond the casual reference and any comments on it in that manner would most likely go ignored anyway. Not that she left any room for any comments, continuing on with the conversation. "Though I've already had a few words with Rufus on various things, that matter included, myself, so the point is a little moot."

Always to the heart of things. A trait Elena had somewhat picked up as well, but it was a pain when the shoe was on the other foot. Especially given the matter that was the heart of what she wanted to talk about.

Taking in a low, deep breath, Elena let it out equally as slow before bringing her hands up to fidget with her teacup. She wasn't quite sure how to start, so maybe she'd let Tseng figure out what she wanted to say.

Her ring glittered faintly, catching some of the afternoon sun's light, but that was nothing new. She'd worn it and it had become as much a familiar sight as the Minerva band she always wore, if anyone still paid it any mind. But what was less noticeable if a person was used to seeing it on her hands, was the finger it rested on.

Elena had moved the ring from one finger to another on her left hand.

It was strangely comfortable, how all of them were so in tune with each other, the way they managed to read just about everything about the others' without needing to take second guesses at them. Tseng knew it was incredibly likely to have a conversation with the fewest of words and them getting an entire speech across if they wanted. That could be exaggerating it a touch, but really, who was listening?

He listened to her talk, quietly agreeing with her words. Alienation wasn't the way to go about things, but in any case, that wasn't a concern here.

As for what she had wanted to talk about, Tseng had wondered about the depth of the topic she was pursuing when they'd come out for this little rendezvous. Observant as he was, he hadn't quite been paying attention to the ring on her hand. He knew she was with Jr., and while he had every reason in the world to despise the overconfident young man, he didn't, and it was perhaps by Elena's mercy that he would not. He wasn't petty about the choices of the people he cared for.

Rufus, however, was another matter entirely.

The gleam of the ring flickered into his vision, alert as always and at first, he thought nothing of it. Out of habit, his eyes went to her opposite hand as though to confirm that it was nothing out of the ordinary for a lady to wear jewelry, when two things stood out clearly.

He wasn't looking at her right hand, and secondly, Elena was not flashy about jewelry. It made him freeze, mid-raising his cup for another sip and then he blinked, twice, before raising his ebony gaze to her.

"..." The silence following was strangely expected, he felt, as he lowered his cup.

"I'm sure you'd take preventive measures to ensure such a thing doesn't happen with you, hm?" Might as well break the ice.

She'd been fidgeting slightly and nervously trying to figure out what she would say if maybe Tseng couldn't figure out what she wanted to say or if he asked, either not intending to ask or not picking up on the topic. She knew he could read her and in all likelihood, pick up on the topic of what it was she wanted to address, but this was a new area of conversation. One which, she hadn't expected any of them to need to breach.

But then, none of them had been expected to end up in a place like the City. Like Tseng had said. This place really did have a knack for, not only making a person lose their cool, but it also had a knack of making a person deal with situations they never dealt with before. Something that, on occasions, made Elena want to bang her head against the nearest hard object.

Right now though, rather than having the desire to bang her head against something, Elena wanted to find something to hide under. Tseng's pause told her that he had indeed guessed on the matter and was thinking about the matter himself. The silence was horrible, broken only by the sounds of Elena's constant movement. And even though it probably wasn't actually that long, it certainly seemed much longer.

Elena practically melted with relief when Tseng finally spoke. She looked at Tseng with so much relief, that there wasn't going to be any way that she could have stopped the smile that graced her lips right then. It wasn't a statement of complete acceptance, but it wasn't an outright dismissal or reprimand. And for Elena, that was the best that she'd been hoping for.

"No! Of course not," Elena said, feeling once more like the excitable rookie being praised. But she calmed down quickly enough with a small blush once she realized just how she might have looked and cleared her throat. "Until it's proven to be impossible otherwise, I wouldn't cut you or the others out. I. That is."

Wasn't she supposed to be the talkative one? And she wasn't the stammering, blushing novice she'd once been, so why was she acting like some kind of little girl, lowering her head and getting all worked up? Mentally smacking herself on the head, Elena cleared her throat once more, shaking her head.

"Whatever changes, the matter of my loyalty and of who I am, won't."

She was a Turk and even if she added a different title to that, she would always still be a Turk.

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[ ONGOING ] Tseng&Elena - More Reunions

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