Any amusement Reno might’ve had with the thought of Tseng dressed in such clothes dissipated with Rufus’s next words. Shit. Why the hell did the President have to choose now to suddenly decide to be so blunt?
It was only with the mention of his being close to Elena, though, that he realized it wasn’t just about last night. It was more than that. He had, in effect, chosen to look after Elena more than Rufus, but—
“Fuck, it isn’t like that, all right?” he said, managing to keep his voice low as not to be overheard. The last thing he needed was for some outsider to witness this. “The problem isn’t you. You’re my President. We’re off by what, several months? A year? Elena’s off by a whole lot more, and I don’t know what the hell to do with that. She’s smart for her age and she’s even somewhat trained, but training doesn’t mean shit when you don’t have field experience. Besides, she’s still a kid. She’s sixteen, for God’s sake. Hell, I hadn’t gotten hurt that badly at sixteen, and I lived in the goddamned slums.”
He paused, taking a deep breath and raking a hand through his hair. “As it stands right now, I trust you can handle yourself better than Elena. At the very least, I know you can think clearly under pressure. It’s why I have a closer eye on her than you. But my loyalty remains with all of you and I’ll only say this once, but I do care about all of you, too, okay? The only reason it’s never been a damned problem is because you were the only one I had to watch out for. Now we’re in the heart of hostile territory, and I’ve got to watch you and Elena. I can only do so much. Don’t make me fucking choose who the hell I’m supposed to protect like we’re in some sort of goddamned protector-protectee twist on the love triangle. I can’t do it.”
For a moment, he watched Rufus, unsure of what he was searching for. He ignored the topic of Special Counselling and Kadaj for the time being.
“Now, my question is where you stand with me. We may not come from the same timeline, but I’ll be hard pressed to buy that any doubts you might have stem solely from the fact that there’s a bit of a gap, if you’d already trusted me at the point where I came from, and you still trust me at the point where you came from. Either something happened in between that time, or you haven’t trusted me up until the events I missed out on.”
no subject
It was only with the mention of his being close to Elena, though, that he realized it wasn’t just about last night. It was more than that. He had, in effect, chosen to look after Elena more than Rufus, but—
“Fuck, it isn’t like that, all right?” he said, managing to keep his voice low as not to be overheard. The last thing he needed was for some outsider to witness this. “The problem isn’t you. You’re my President. We’re off by what, several months? A year? Elena’s off by a whole lot more, and I don’t know what the hell to do with that. She’s smart for her age and she’s even somewhat trained, but training doesn’t mean shit when you don’t have field experience. Besides, she’s still a kid. She’s sixteen, for God’s sake. Hell, I hadn’t gotten hurt that badly at sixteen, and I lived in the goddamned slums.”
He paused, taking a deep breath and raking a hand through his hair. “As it stands right now, I trust you can handle yourself better than Elena. At the very least, I know you can think clearly under pressure. It’s why I have a closer eye on her than you. But my loyalty remains with all of you and I’ll only say this once, but I do care about all of you, too, okay? The only reason it’s never been a damned problem is because you were the only one I had to watch out for. Now we’re in the heart of hostile territory, and I’ve got to watch you and Elena. I can only do so much. Don’t make me fucking choose who the hell I’m supposed to protect like we’re in some sort of goddamned protector-protectee twist on the love triangle. I can’t do it.”
For a moment, he watched Rufus, unsure of what he was searching for. He ignored the topic of Special Counselling and Kadaj for the time being.
“Now, my question is where you stand with me. We may not come from the same timeline, but I’ll be hard pressed to buy that any doubts you might have stem solely from the fact that there’s a bit of a gap, if you’d already trusted me at the point where I came from, and you still trust me at the point where you came from. Either something happened in between that time, or you haven’t trusted me up until the events I missed out on.”