January 2, Babylon Temple, the High God's living quarters.
All of Babylon was on holiday until January 7. Aside from a few positions staffed in shifts, most of the work was left to the Mechanical Servants.
Sephiroth even worried needlessly about triggering some sort of Men of Iron rebellion, and gave the Servo Angels, who possessed a degree of self-awareness, appropriate time off as well.
Although the calendar said it was winter, the sun had stubbornly shone down on Babylon since morning.
"Hmm? Nojiko... didn't you go out with Nami and the others?"
Sephiroth was reading a book for leisure at his desk. When he noticed Nojiko arrive, he looked up and greeted her.
"Oh, they're going on an adventure in the 'dungeon.' I didn't really feel like going there..."
Only after hearing Sephiroth's voice did Nojiko emerge from behind the bookcase, inching toward him in something close to a shuffle.
"The Shandia Ruins, huh..."
The temple where Sephiroth currently lived had actually been built on the dilapidated Shandia Ruins. The space beneath the temple connected to part of the ruins.
Sephiroth's policy for the ruins was to excavate them while preserving them. The result was something resembling a "dungeon."
There was currently little danger inside. The main issue was that no sunlight reached it, so it relied entirely on artificial lighting.
"Don't worry, Angel Bro. Mr. Kuma went with them."
Sephiroth made a quick scan with Mantra and found that Kuma, Kyros, and Genzo had taken Bonney, Rebecca, Nami, Carina, and Perona exploring.
Perona seemed particularly fond of underground ruins like these... and with no natural light source, Bonney could play without worry too.
Keeping warm wasn't an issue either. Even in January, Babylon's temperature was fourteen degrees Celsius.
Angel Island in the White-White Sea and Jaya Island in