afterlaborday | For backwatertrooper

For backwatertrooper

There was a saying about "idle hands," wasn't there, and how they related to the devil? It wasn't a saying Rufus had paid much attention to in the past, and it didn't entirely fit the situation at hand, yet it still came to mind somehow as he poked around the staff record he had in hand.

Honestly, he didn't really care who was coming in and out of ShinRa on a small scale, but on a larger scale he kept track of what he would be inheriting if his father finally bit the dust - something he was actively working on handling - as well as what, or who, he might be up against.

This particular record he had landed on, however, was of quite a curious nature; not an entirely unexpected one, but curious nonetheless, and he honestly had to thank the incessant gossip of the office ladies for once.

It had also led to his having to pull a few strings to have the person on the staff record assigned as one of his guards for this meeting he had to attend, and, as he knew the other guards assigned to him at least somewhat, Rufus had sent for this particular one and was now waiting for him to show up.

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Taking the folder with some hesitance, Cloud's intention to flip through it quickly died nearly instantly, and instead he just... stared at every page for a long time, completely dumbfounded. There'd been jokes in his squad, of course, but there were even more dumb jokes about chocobos, so he'd shaken those off.

Listening to the rumours over the last few days had been annoying, but now...

"... And this isn't a joke?" Cloud slowly looked up, face scrunched into something that was halfway between an incredulous stare and a confused grimace.

He wasn't sure, but maybe he would have preferred the chocobo jokes to be true.

Rufus remains quiet while Cloud takes in the information, moving to lean against the desk in the room with his arms crossed and wait.

"It would be a rather lame joke, wouldn't it?" He keeps his eyes on Cloud as he speaks, and if Cloud tries to judge his sincerity he will find he's very sincere.

"Don't think that's ever stopped people from making 'em. Or lame pranks," Cloud muttered, looking down at the folder again and skimming through it, but nothing in it changed and he shook his head slowly.

Incredulous and confused still.

He supposed, technically it didn't matter. It wouldn't change anything, really. Trying to think of a man he'd only seen at a distance or on TV as his biological father was just... weird. Distant.

"... What happens now?"

Looking back up at Rufus - at someone who technically was his brother as weird as that was to consider, Cloud frowned.

"I'm not lame, Cloud." Or he honestly didn't believe so, and barely admitted to being a bit of an asshole, or at all. He's probably honestly quite low-key right now, considering he could be pissed or having fun right now.

"As to what happens, I don't know. I can tell you flat out, however, that my father wouldn't admit to what's in that file. Or at least that it created offspring."

He couldn't help it; he snorted softly, but at least he didn't smirk. Mostly because this was definitely a little too big to wave off with amusement.

"That's okay," Cloud said, shaking his head and snorting again, but it was sharper, more decisive this time, "I don't care who he is."

A pause as Cloud frowned, fiddling with the edges of the folder. That wasn't quite right.

"... She said he was dead, so I've not... exactly been wondering what it'd be like, if he was around. It hasn't mattered, but... I did kinda wonder who he was. So I guess, that part matters."

Privately, he wondered if he would need to do something or if his mother had been... as okay with it at the time it happened as she could have been. Claiming whoever his father was was dead was probably easier when it came to dealing with Nibelheim's population in general, no matter who he'd been, though.

It was also probably safer to say Cloud's father was dead, rather than admitting who he was, since every potential advantage was countered by multiple disadvantages; the biggest, at least in Rufus' eyes, was being related and having to deal with the man.

Then again, he had always been bitter, or at least he would tell himself that, as he had few memories which didn't feature some negative emotion when related to his father.

Of course, that had no true bearing on this situation, so he merely shrugs again. "I figured it would be best to be honest in this situation, about what I found."

"Why?" And then, after a pause, Cloud leaned back in his seat and raised an eyebrow. "Would you have said anything at all, if I'd said I had other ambitions than the ones I do have?"

Ambitions that would be more of a potential threat, though admittedly in that case he'd definitely started in the completely wrong end of the company. But then, he hardly had the sort of education that'd allow for much else to start with, at least.

That was a good question, if Rufus was honest, and he shows it with a smile and a small laugh, before smirking at Cloud in his usual arrogant way.

"I probably would have still said something, yes. I'm not afraid of a challenge, and know you wouldn't be one... or anyone, for that matter.

"But I'll admit I also wanted to see your reaction."

"Wow." Voice flat, Cloud shook his head. There was someone with an over-abundance of both arrogance and self-assurance. Cloud... might envy him that certainty, a little.

Not that Rufus was wrong, he would hardly be a challenge.

"It's..." Shrugging, Cloud looked down to the folder on the coffee table again, chewing his lip. "Still seems like it ought to be a prank."

Mostly because of how completely improbable it felt, how utterly out of left field. It'd make more sense if his father had been someone random - a maintenance worker for the reactor perhaps, or just from one of the surrounding towns.

Cloud had the advantage of not knowing the president of Shinra as well as Rufus did, and the fact the man seemed to have a way with women. He had even had the advantage, until now, of not having to wonder why anyone would want to sleep with such an ugly mug. Honestly, Rufus was glad he had taken after his mother in the looks department.

"Trust me, this is not my idea of a prank." Rufus moves to sit down on the couch in the room, watching Cloud as he speaks. "I'm more likely to invite the person I wonder about to be my guard, then drop the same rumors I heard so he could hear them too..."

"... What?"

It wasn't quite a full squawk, Cloud was not relaxed enough to react as openly as that, but his voice cracked upwards. Staring at Rufus for several second, Cloud slumped into the couch and crossed his arms over his chest.

Then, with another glance sideways to Rufus, rolled his eyes.

"Y'know, that's needlessly complicated." It was freeing to not have to add in 'sir' anywhere. He wasn't on duty and right now, he wasn't even here as an employee, so like hell he would. "Do you invent plots when there isn't any, to keep yourself entertained, too?"

He's beginning to think he might need to keep Cloud around, what with the fact the kid has him laughing again at that look. So pouty. And that spike in his voice? Magnificent. If this were another situation, and he had more liquor in his system, he probably would have leaned over and flirted just to see how fast Cloud would go red; because as much as people saw him only as calm and collected type, his temperament also often led to obnoxiousness.

As the situation was what it was, he refrains from that little game of awkwardness.

"Complicated is much more amusing, but I don't make up plots. I have plenty of real ones going on around me at all times that I don't need to."

Not that Cloud wouldn't have been as started and wary about that happening without the current development, but with it... well. Definitely weirded out, even if this was certainly the longest he'd been in Rufus' company without the layer of employer and employee between them.

"Of course it it." Flatly wry, though less accusatory and just exasperated. "You really do like what you do."

It's a comment, slightly thoughtful, but also another flat assessment, and Cloud's hasn't yet perfected the ability to look removed and aloof; he looks a little wary instead, frowning slightly. Not surprising, he supposes, considering Rufus position and the sort of surroundings ShinRa must have cultivated to get where it wanted.

"Is it wrong to enjoy myself?" He remains amused, wondering what Cloud must think about his personality, and what he does. Likely, he believes Rufus to do the occasional business meeting and otherwise ride his father's coat tails.

Honestly, he does do some of that, but he's still considered the vice president and has duties as such. But he has all his side stuff, as well, though what he does would probably chill Cloud.

Or he just suspects that ShinRa can't be all above board, which would be highly accurate, but not lend to Cloud remaining in the army and trying to become SOLDIER; meaning the first is much more likely.

Well, even if he did suspect that, there's a difference between "a little crooked" and the sort of things ShinRa actually gets up to. Cloud just wants to be strong so he can fulfill his goals, get certain people to see---

But that's neither here nor there.

"Doesn't that depend on what sort of amusement it is, and what you did?" Cloud huffs, annoyed but not outraged. In the end this was really rather mild in terms of things he's had to endure at his own expense.

"But, um..." Frowning again, Cloud shifts on the couch, rubbing the back of his neck. "So it doesn't matter... for the President... why does this matter enough to you?"

Looking up, as uncomfortable and confused as he is, Cloud just looks serious, right then. Maybe a little suspicious again, too.

Ignoring the first, the second question is quite sound, and earns Cloud a quiet stare and the shrug of shoulders, even as Rufus moves to stand again, moving to a small fridge and grabbing out two bottles of water, tossing one to Cloud.

"It doesn't really. Not in any way you'd think reasonable."

Does he want to know? Cloud frowns, catching the tossed water bottle without thinking much about it.

"... What do you mean?"

Apparently he does want to know. At least that'll give him more of a basis to how to think about this. What, if anything, to do with and about it. If he can do anything about it.

Maybe it'll end up being basically nothing, merely the knowledge and that's... fine, actually. He knows that much, in the middle of all this. But it seems there should be more than that, maybe?

He doesn't know.

Rufus considers the question as he drinks some of the water he pulled out, wondering if "curiosity" was a legitimate reason, and knowing if that was all, he could have said nothing to Cloud. And saying it was for his own amusement, although true, wasn't the entirety of it.

"I suppose," Rufus caps his bottle, and gives Cloud a smirk that seems somehow different from his other ones. "I suppose there's this this little side of me that's curious what the other offspring my father has produced are up to. How different they are from me."

How Cloud takes that is up to him.

Meeting that smirk flatly, Cloud just waits. The answer does make sense, in a way, doesn't it? Even if nothing will be changing at all, or there was no other reason... Cloud would probably be curious too, if he'd found out about it first and was in Rufus' position.

"About as different as you can get, then," he says with a snort, shaking his head. There might be a small grin on his face, however. He's very different from Rufus, after all. Doesn't even come from Midgar, which he would assume would be the place most, if there would be any others at all, of Shinra's bastards would be found, simply because of closeness.

"... Aside from colouring, I suppose." Glancing up to look at his own bangs, Cloud shrugs at his own addition. His hair - and suddenly he's very glad for it, even if he's never actually disliked it being spiky - is both very different, and pretty similar.

"Yes. That similarity is probably what started the rumors." Rufus walks back towards the couch, watching Cloud a bit, reaching over to try and pat his head as he gets there.
"Although why they would think some squirt like you is a Shinra, I don't know, hair and eye color or not."

"Which is ridiculous... a lot of people are blond and blue eyed," Cloud mutters as he finally unscrews the cap for his own bottle of water, and is right in the middle of this when Rufus comes over. Which means he's stuck choking on his drink of water, trying not to spray anything everywhere (or on himself) as he ducks away...

"Hey---!"

Maybe not quite fast enough, but fast enough to mostly avoid it. His reaction time has gotten good, since he usually has to try and avoid Zack, who's often using his enhanced speed.

"I could---" Coughing, he huffs and glowers up at Rufus. "I could still get taller!"

He hopes he will, anyway. At least so he ends up average height... if on the shorter end.

That was not the reaction Rufus was expecting. In fact, he thought such reactions like that were reserved for comedies. Which unfortunately means he can't respond well to Cloud, too busy laughing.

If it'd been Zack who'd burst out laughing, Cloud wouldn't have thought much of it. It'd still have been embarrassing and annoying, but he knows Zack.

This, though?

Cloud slumps into the couch and glowers at the floor, roughly screwing the cap back on the bottle.

That face is even better, and it seems almost like Rufus won't stop laughing. Eventually, however, he plops himself down on the couch beside Cloud and seems to find some of his usual self-control.

"You're cute. Like a..." He seems to search for a word, takes a moment to find it, and finishes. "Like a cat, almost. Aloof, but testy."

Ugh.

Scowling, Cloud crosses his arms over his chest, keeping his flustered, annoyed glare at the floor, even when the couch slumps under Rufus' weight.

"Yeah, 'cause that's... what?" Looking up, Cloud scrunches his nose, squinting at Rufus before he slowly shakes his head, mostly muttering when he continues, "... Well, that one's new."

Jury's out on whether it's a good new or not. The novelty alone makes it easier to accept it, though. Even if it's ridiculous, still.

For backwatertrooper

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I'm so sorry, Cloud...

He's so unimpressed pfftt

Rufus aims for impressive or "impressive" - honestly, he has a dark sense of humor

neither of that from Cloud, for now pfftt

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Sorry Cloud... xD

wow RUDE

No, Rude's the big bald guy... /shot/

such an easy joke to make haha

Yup... and finally dragging myself back

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