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[nimbuster]

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CLOUD STRIFE | 21

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[nimbuster]

I guess being sociable is overrated.

[Wait a second. When did Squall even do this? He only just got off the phone with Cloud not even half an hour ago. ...seriously, Squall? Wow.]

I didn't send him, if that's what you're wondering. I can fight my own battles.

[fearedheir]

I assumed as much. I believe he did it out of concern for you and a desire to hear my side.

[nimbuster]

[A desire to hear Rufus' side. What, like Cloud and all the others whose lives were destroyed by Shinra weren't enough? Did Squall think perhaps they were exaggerating? Being unfair to the tyrannical megacorporation and the cruel, greedy bastards in charge of it?

...but he's relaxed enough and removed enough from his initial kneejerk reaction to seeing Rufus here that he can take a moment to think. Sephiroth did say that Shinra had helped take down Jenova, and presumably Rufus was still president then. And he said that Midgar was destroyed, and the company along with it. Cloud can't even imagine a world without Shinra in it.]

Hear your side of what, exactly?

[fearedheir]

Mostly about SOLDIER and if I did anything to stop it and what I would have done if I could have. Why I fought you on that rooftop.

[nimbuster]

[About SOLDIER? Cloud didn't think Rufus had much to do with it, considering it was Lazard's department and there's no way Lazard would have let his brother have a hand in anything. Still, he was the vice president and had the Turks in his pocket, he had to have known what was going on. And Cloud has a hard time believing he gave a shit.

And if Squall ended up threatening him, his answers probably weren't great. But Cloud would be lying if he said he didn't want to hear them anyway. Not for Rufus' sake, but for everyone who deserves to hold Shinra accountable for everything it's done.]

You've got my attention. But I'm gonna need a drink. Meet me at Rosie's.

[And maybe this time they'll actually get around to the drinking part...ugh.]

[fearedheir]

My, that place is popular. Be there soon.

[And he is! With Darkstar, of course.]

[nimbuster]

Yeah, because Rosie doesn't doctor the drinks.

[Unless you ask her to, anyway. But also, Cloud's still not bringing Rufus to Seventh Heaven. No way.

Cloud's DTF stays in its earring form, so it's just him walking into the bar by himself, dressed down in more casual clothes than his uniform. But of course, Rufus has his dog. 'Maybe three,' indeed. Still, Cloud's carrying Buster as always, so he doesn't really have room to talk.

This time, he picks up his drink first before he slides into the seat opposite Rufus and watches him warily.]

So talk.

[fearedheir]

[Rufus has some sort of decent beer in front of him, with D at his feet.]

About which part?

[nimbuster]

All of it.

[But then Cloud glances down with a frustrated little exhale.]

What you told Squall. About...what you would have done, if you'd been president then. And why you fought me on that rooftop. And...the future.

[fearedheir]

Well, I fought you mostly for appearances. You were terrorists and we were planning on telling the people you had killed my father. They wouldn't have believed us if we told them Sephiroth had done it, after all, and with the reactor explosions...AVALANCHE was the perfect scapegoat. We tried to take Aerith back for the same reasons as we always had.

[Well, you did ask. Also he was kind of bored but.]

But I'm not much older than the SOLDIER program myself and vice president was a ceremonial title. I couldn't have done anything, but it would have started with firing Hojo.

[nimbuster]

[The first bit isn't surprising, and as much as Barret would rant and rave about it, it's sensible. Besides--Cloud shrugs.]

Not like we wouldn't have killed him if we'd had the chance. Sephiroth just beat us to it.

[After he pulled a gun on Barret, anyway.

The mention of Aerith gets Cloud scowling, but he doesn't interrupt - which is just as well, because the mention of Hojo gets him scowling more.]

Firing him out of a cannon is what he deserves. But it was Hojo and your father who wanted Aerith. So you were gonna just pick up where they left off?

[fearedheir]

At the time, I wasn't sure. From what I know of the Neo Midgar plan...probably not. But if I had my way, Hojo would have been shot out of a cannon, yes. Like I told your boyfriend, I understand the appeal of super soldiers even if I prefer my Turks. But there's a limit.

[nimbuster]

A limit.

[Cloud watches the liquid swirl around in his glass for a second and takes a drink.]

What about the plate? 'Your Turks' were the ones who dropped it. Destroyed a whole sector, and your father didn't give a single shit about rebuilding anything. You telling me you do?

[fearedheir]

Well, I am the one who funded most of the the building of Edge, after Meteorfall. Anonymously, of course, because Shinra money is poison to most people of the Planet now.

[nimbuster]

Of course it is. You expect them to just forget how that money was made? Lot of people would rather go without than rely on a fortune made at their expense.

[It might be surprising to Rufus that Cloud isn't particularly up in arms about this, though. Like he doesn't include himself among 'them.']

Still don't know what Edge is. And don't think I didn't notice you didn't bother giving an opinion on dropping the plate.

[fearedheir]

And you won't hear about Edge until after Meteorfall.

[Just saying.]

As I said before, there's a limit. My father, however, disagreed.

[It's Rufus, Cloud, he is very good at weasel words. Still, he does take a moment and then, with a sigh:]

The death toll from the plate drop was obscene.

[nimbuster]

[Oh, Cloud's aware. But he's not in the mood for Rufus' weaseling.]

Hm. So you are from Sephiroth's version of things. He said the same thing, but that's not what happened where I came from. We evacuated most of the Sector Seven slums before the plate came down.

[Cloud gets lost for a second, staring into his drink and vividly remembering the wreckage stretching as far as the eye could see against the setting sun, and the grim determination of the survivors after it was all over, when they returned to try to put their lives back together again. Fighting their way up the pillar only to fail...to lose two of their own...

After a moment he shakes it off with a literal shake of his head.]

And the meteor's not gonna fall. Not this time.

[fearedheir]

You evacuated the slums. No one evacuated the plate itself.

[Just saying.

But Cloud's comment about Meteor...]

Do you even know who summoned that thing?

[nimbuster]

Maybe not. Dunno, I wasn’t plateside. But in Sephiroth’s timeline, the slums didn’t get evacuated, either.

[Cloud’s brow furrows as he tries to sort through things he’s been told, things he’s half-seen in flashes of Whisper visions, things he remembers from the flood of memories in the jungle…]

…yeah. Jenova. But we’re gonna change things.

[fearedheir]

[...honestly, correcting him about it being Sephiroth isn't worth it.]

How did you hear of that? I doubt Sephiroth would have said anything.

[nimbuster]

[Cloud’s not sure how to handle this. He could explain how Sephiroth has changed, isn’t the person who did all those things, but he also knows that to those who were there for those things, it barely matters.]

You’d be surprised. Sephiroth’s…different here. He and Genesis told me some of it. But…

[Dammit, he knows how crazy this is gonna sound. He tries to keep it nonchalant.]

Seen some of it myself, too. Visions from the voices of the planet.

[fearedheir]

[...visions. From the Planet.

Actually, never mind. Given the rest of the bullshit Rufus will just accept that. He may need another beer, though.]

I see. Well, that is about what I told Squall. I think he expected more regret than he saw.

[nimbuster]

Well…if we do change things, might see what a Shinra with you in charge would be like. I’ll make up my mind then.

[Cloud takes another drink, thoughtful.]

After the meteor. You said you funded some rebuilding efforts. That all you’ve been doing since then?

[And what have the rest of them been doing?…the ones who survived, anyway…]

[fearedheir]

[Rufus thinks, debating on if he should tell Cloud about Geostigma. There'd be no point, since either he prevents the Stigma or he gets it himself and then everything with Kadaj happens.

No.]

A WEAPON attacked Midgar, and the tower specifically, while I was still inside. I've been recovering from that for the last two years, so donations are all I could really afford to do until fairly recently.

[There. No sign of weakness. Anyone would be out of commission after having half the tower dropped on them.]

[nimbuster]

What kind of weapon? Was it Sephiroth?

[Sorry, Rufus, this dumbass still knows jack shit.]