Caius only shrugged in exchange when Yuffie insisted that this was perfectly normal in Wutai. Well, it definitely wasn't normal here. But he supposed there was no point in debating that. It would be a sizeable waste of time. If that was her culture and there was nothing wrong with it to her, well, there wasn't a reason to question her. What did he know about her world? Well, bits and pieces, like about how it was dominated by Shinra at one point. But he knew nothing about Wutai. And while she was a little bit rambunctious, there was nothing outwardly wrong with the young girl. Odds were that Caius had more wrong with him than she did.

He smiled slightly with the faintest hint of a chuckle when Yuffie doubled back after finding that she wasn't being argued with and quickly caught herself. He had learned much about her in this. One such thing was that while she tried very, very hard to be a grown-up, she was still a kid inside. She wasn't like him. Nothing like how he had been at her age. And perhaps that was a good thing. Not everyone had to grow up too fast.

Apparently though, he was taking the Cloud situation out of... Complex? Context, she probably meant context. Then came the lore dump about all the crazy, insaneo s*!t that Sephiroth had done to Cloud, including many murders, many more attempted murders and also murdering at least one of multiple crushes. And in the middle of it, Yuffie actually began to become visibly emotional as her façade began to break. Even if only for a moment.

She definitely had been through a lot.

Still, this was just great. He had casually walked by another planet buster. But it was weird, Sephiroth was weird and cryptic, but he seemed to just be minding his own business.

Or at least seemed to be. After all, something he had said at the end had given Caius some instinct that something was happening and he had told Celes this. Celes wasn't always the most understanding, though she tried, but she understood a gut feeling about impending disaster when she heard one and had been on her way immediately.

And his gut instinct had been right. Even if it seemed that Cloud had been the one to start the fight. After hearing this, he supposed he couldn't blame him for starting a conflict... Even if he wished he had acted more tactfully and not put innocent people in danger. That blatant disregard couldn't be overlooked just because of the personal history behind it.

"Chocobos it is" he spoke softly, taking a softer tone to let Yuffie settle down after spilling something that was clearly deep in her heart like that. Tomoe would go over the records a moment. "There's a... A..."

Tomoe couldn't help the continued fit of giggles and Caius cocked his head with suspicion. "Is there something funny, Miss Tomoe?"

"I-No sir! It's just... Well, if I'm being honest Mr. Caius. I'm not used to seeing you without facial hair. I always though you were... Well, older. But you're hardly any older than me! You look good, I swear, I'm just not used to it! W-w-what-what prompted the change, if I'm allowed to ask?"

Caius couldn't help an exhausted sigh in response as he scratched where his beard had once been. "Somebody crashed through the door screeching about her accolades while I was trying to clean up" he answered bluntly, slowly turning his head to look at Yuffie. "Oh. Oh..." answered Tomoe, cringing at the thought. "Ohhh... And you had to-Ohh.... Shoot. So that wasn't intentional..."

Caius made a face at that. "Nope. Job please?"

"Right! Right, right, um... There's a chocobo farm out in Provo that keeps getting hit by bandit raids. Just came in today. I think it would be a good basic test for a new recruit. And it's not too far from the capital so you can check on Yuna. Does that sound alright, sir?"

Caius nodded as he took the file when it was handed to him. "Yeah. We'll take it, thank you Tomoe."

"Yeah, I heard you" Caius promised with a nod of his head when Yuffie would go off about how Sephiroth is loose in Zephon. "He's not the first planet buster on our radar, believe it or not. Speaking of..." he trailed off as he turned to Tomoe. "Tomoe, I need you to put out a message about watching out for a Sephiroth. Extremely long silver hair, sword longer than both my arms put together. You'll know him if you see him. If he shows up in Torensten, I want to know about it. Level 5 threat. Do not let anyone engage him unless he is actively causing trouble, and if they do, diversionary tactics only."

Yuffie claimed that he was acting weird and like he had amnesia? Strange, it did match up with the man that he had met before... But he couldn't know for sure. It was better to ensure their members were keeping an eye out for him.

"Metaphor, by the way" Caius corrected Yuffie in turn. "It's pronounced metaphor."

By the end of this he was going to have at least two adopted kids. Even if at least one was being a very serious pain in the behind. Caius only glared at her when she boasted about causing him to shave off his beard, and said nothing.

"You had just better hope that there are chocobos to rent. Otherwise we're going to have to fly there" Caius remarked in jest towards Yuffie's remarks about the assignment being easy. Scaring her just a little might help with the ego problem. There were probably chocobos though, so he wasn't worried. Worst case scenario, he could ask Serah about borrowing her's.

"Prepare your equipment and meet me by the city gate in an hour" Caius then instructed her. "We'll convene there and be on our way to Provo."

Yuffie of course did her usual thing when Caius called Sephiroth a "Planet Buster", but she would soon switch track when she realized he had mentioned there being multiple. She then asked why they weren't out there getting them right now. "We could marshal a force if we knew where they were" Caius pointed out at that. "Even if someone sees them, they can't engage them alone either. They would just be killed. If someone can destroy a planet, then it's highly unlikely that anyone of us is defeating them alone. We need to be able to track them, and to set up a force built for destroying them. That takes time and resources, and ensuring that we have the right people for the job. Otherwise we would just be throwing people's lives away" came the short lecture offhand.

Yuffie then asked about their identities. "Aside from Sephiroth, the other person on our list is a man named Kuja. We don't know where he is just yet, but he's already destroyed a planet and attempted to destroy another. If you see him, you report back and do not engage" he brought up, staring a hole through Yuffie at that moment as if to hammer in the fact that no, she should not try to fight Kuja. "You can't be part of the task force for beating them if you're dead."

He doubted the logic would do more than go in one ear and out the other, but it was worth a shot.

"For now, we handle what threats we can. Bandits, Fiends, whatever it is we can. We get stronger, we build and train our forces. And eventually we'll handle the planet destroyers. But it's going to take time."

Yuffie said something about Sephiroth's gooey alien monster mother, and Caius wasn't sure how to register this information so he just nodded his head slowly. Right. Good to know. But the more Yuffie complained about flying, the more funny it became. When it came to their departure time though, she had everything she needed except for any amount of patience.

"Ninja also require patience" Caius calmly pointed out in turn. "You may be ready now, but I am not. I need to get my equipment ready, ensure Vordun is fed, and have word sent to Yuna that we're coming. Otherwise your spiky friend could get up and leave before we get there" he pointed out.

Her twirling act was impressive, though. Sort of.

Either way, Caius would take his leave for the time being, reminding Yuffie to meet him at the city gates. When the meeting commenced, Caius had already rented a pair of chocobos.

But what probably took up the attention was the arrival of an actual dragon. While smaller than most dragons, not much bigger than a horse at that, Vordun was definitely imposing on first impression.

Caius knew Yuffie had arrived by the screaming about a dragon. Well, at least it was impressed screaming instead of fearful screaming. Vordun snorted at the sight of the tiny screeching human, smoke blowing from his nostrils in turn. "Weren't you unable to fly because you get sick?" Caius pointed out, quirking a brow when Yuffie would insist on going to Provo aboard Vordun instead of taking the chocobos. The chocobos that Caius had literally just paid for. The rental guy who hadn't even walked away yet, shot Caius a look that said "Yeah, why didn't you just take your dragon instead of wasting my time?" and the mercenary just sighed in turn. "Keep the coin and just call it a reserve for another time" the mercenary told them, which got an irritated look from the rental guy, but at least he was still getting paid as he led the chocobos away.

She was definitely going to get sick. And then she was going to complain while they were in the air. And only after a series of "I can handle it" a few times she would either demand they land, or throw up aboard the dragon and then they would need to land anyway. He just knew it. But instead of considering these possibilities, Yuffie would hand over a slip of paper with an... Interesting depiction of her plan to beat Kuja. And an interesting depiction of Kuja.

Caius had to contain his laughter at the depiction of Kuja.

"He's a bit skinnier than that" Caius joked, but otherwise pocketed the sheet of paper if allowed. It was stupid, and yet very much what he should have expected from Yuffie. "I'll add it to my research notes, thank you Yuffie."

He actually would. It would make for a good laugh that he could certainly use when going through stressful strategy. So with that, he would motion for Yuffie to approach Vordun.

"This is Vordun. You should probably get to know him before he lets you ride him. Hold out your hand, he won't bite it. Don't be scared, just relax and let him come to you."