And oh, man, it would totally fuck with his head. Because on one level he knows he's been trying to create his own liege lord for years, because he's self-aware enough to know that he's the type of person who needs something to put his faith in, unassailably, instead of being left to hold his honor on his own ... but he never quite expected Rufus, and Rufus has exceeded every hope he had. And along with Tseng's essential fury at the gods for how They have used him (he's trying to be an atheist, dammit; he's trying really fucking hard), another defining characteristic is that he's so, so very bad at having hope, because it always, always fucks him in the end and he can't make himself stop.

I am totally going to get you to write this, yes, if I can. *G*

Probably easiest for me to just pop you on the draft filter. Lemme clean some stuff up (I haven't updated the compilation posts in a while) and I'll PM you with the basic guidelines (essential rule is, nothing critical about anything while it's still in draft, squee and thoughtful commentary only) and the links.