#strifra

[thecloudstan]

I am a mere mortal, how can I survive this (bless rikuka)

[empyreandarkling]

TREAD SOFTLY - TheGoldenAppleofAsgard

Chapter 12 is up!

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Fandom: Final Fantasy 7: Remake

Pairing: Rufus Shinra x Cloud Strife

Rating: Explicit (Please note all of the tags)

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“Look at me.��

Cloud did as commanded on the authority in his voice alone, which was surprising, and Rufus gentled his grip around the sharp cut of his Little Bird’s jawline, musing at the newfound pliancy. 

Cloud had been both strong and capable before Reno had brought him down, able to fight confidently, make decisions and follow them through, even if they were to his own detriment. There was a lot of strength in his character when they had first met that seemed to be mostly absent. Perhaps the shadow of it was there, but the entirety of it had not yet been rediscovered, though it seemed it would only be a matter of time. 

Even after everything, loss of memory included, Cloud had been snarky to the point Rufus would have sorely liked to tumble him protesting over his knee until he showed some respect.

Perhaps, if that mouthy little creature returned, there would be time for that later.

Perhaps he would provoke it on purpose, just for the pleasure of educating his Little Bird on how to keep his petulance in check.

--

[empyreandarkling]

I feel this pain intimately. Perhaps too intimately. May have to write some...

*sighs deeply*

[thecloudstan]

No matter how many times I go back to the Gold Saucer fight, I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING HIS DRAMA QUEEN ASS! 🤣 He calls Dio during Rude and Elena's fight, told the Turks NOTHING about his plans to enter the ring, made the most FLASHY entrance in the entire game, and proceeds to blatantly flirt with Cloud IN FRONT OF EVERYINE'S POPCORN. I want to thank the FFVII development staff so much for giving us these glorious President Rufus Shinra scenes/lines.

He was really playing in everybody's face with it, the man clearly lives for a fucking audience...it's insane.

Actual pyrotechnics and a spirited introduction 😂 his need for that one-on-one was keeping the man up at night or SOMETHING.

[thecloudstan]

The Rest is Shadows

Chapters: 3/10 (for now) Word Count: 11,618 Fandom: Final Fantasy 7 Remake Pairing: Cloud Strife/Rufus Shinra Rating: Explicit

Cloud Strife, under a stage name, has quickly become one of Andrea Rhodea's star performers and escorts at the Honeybee Inn, and whose attention should he snag other than THE Vice President of Shinra Electric Power Company, Rufus Shinra. Remake universe canon divergent au in which Jenova does not exist, the Wutai war is long since won, there is no impending threat from Sephiroth, and Avalanche as we know it is in its infancy. Cloud is 21, Rufus is 30.

Read on ao3

I grew anxious with this and have the urge to share part of what has been completed. No posting schedule for now, but I would say what's posted is about 1/3 of the final vision. Enjoy, and thank you <3

[thecloudstan]

Just sitting here at work marveling over the fact that, on just their second meeting, Rufus propositions Cloud.

I’m sure from his perspective that went in his head something like ‘he’s obviously formidable, let’s get him to go search and destroy this wayward Shinra asset,’ meanwhile that asset is Sephiroth. It’s just a business deal! Right?! Right????? Of course he thinks this way. I’m tickled.

“Cloud, I own you. Cloud, you’re making me sweat. Cloud, I read your file. Cloud, you’re so fascinating and clever. Cloud, do my crimes for me.”

He’s kind of obsessed with that lil blond binch and I don’t blame him. Goes so lovely with Cloud’s propensity in Advent Children to use ‘needing to meet with Rufus’ as an avoidance mechanism.

[thecloudstan]

One can argue that Rufus and Cloud did have an instant attraction upon their first meeting, given how sexually charged their fight was in "Remake". XD What heterosexual explanation can be given to lines like "I own you", "just the two of us", "naughty, naughty", and "let's make it a night to remember"??? RUFUS WANTS THAT SOLDIER BOY BAD, LMAO.

Oh my god, and even Cloud throwing it back, “think you got my number?” (And Rufus saying “not at all, you’re making me sweat). 🥵🥵🥵

Cloud: let’s get this over with.

Rufus: don’t say that.

Cloud: that’s a new trick.

Rufus: like it? ‘course you do.

Then Cloud beats up his dog and is like “NOW it’s the two of us” uwu

Rufus: let’s make it a night to remember.

Cloud: it’s on for real now?

Rufus: yeah. you should be honored.

Then ofc all of Rufus’ fun in-battle things like “naughty naughty,” “you’ll like this,” and “now, where were we?”

It’s a fic writer’s gold mine tbqh. They didn’t have to make Rufus such a flirtatious dominant bastard but they chose to, and I think that’s amazing! 🙏🏼 sorry to be repetitive, your ask made me want to rewatch the Remake fight and I couldn’t help but share the dialogue again 😂

[thecloudstan]

gotta catch ‘em all!

I am particularly fond of the one with the Highwind

[thecloudstan]

No one brought this up yet, so we GOTTA talk about how the staff is emphasizing the bond between Rufus and Darkstar! I thought it was adorable how Rufus called Darkstar "D" (he even does in "Opera Omnia") during the first game, it's so adorable to see D always at Rufus's side. I squealed when I saw Rufus pet D at that one Shinra meeting and growled at Hojo for getting too close. D wanted to jump in from the get-go during the GS fight and jumped in partway to save Rufus. Their bond is lovely. T_T

I am really glad they did this as well. It's another little narrative device that gives a window into Rufus' psyche. And that Gold Saucer battle is such a bitch because of it 😂

I will say I'm a bit sad that the name 'Dark Nation' didn't stick because it's just so EXTRA, but the nickname D is good, regardless. Rufus and his weird desire to subjugate powerful things and then dote on them...

[thecloudstan]

The devs are gonna need to hold an overnight brainstorm session to figure out how top Rufus and Cloud's flirty interactions in Part 3 to be even better than the one in "Remake" and "Rebirth". XD If you've searched for Rufus/Cloud tweets on Twitter, I see people talking about how some fans were pleasantly surprised by them flirting, and some had to pause the game to process the fact they're witnessing a seduction in the middle of a boss fight. I love these two dorks so much and want to see more!

I’m REALLY curious about it, because there are a handful more incidents in original canon in which Rufus injects himself into the fray (Rocket Town and Northern Crater, especially). I’d love for them to meet again while Cloud still has his wits about him, but as it stands, he’s got a lot of spiraling to do in part 3 before things hit an upswing. Rocket Town is probably the last, best place for them to clash before Cloud is kinda lost to the thrall for a while (unless the devs add a ton to Wutai, which seems highly plausible given Rufus’ meddling in their politics).

And damn am I nervous to have to sit through the culmination of Midgar vs. Diamond Weapon…I’ll be biting my nails the whole way through…

In short, I agree, I hope they find a way to sneak some more in, I wouldn’t be opposed at all!

[thecloudstan]

Think it's been mentioned before, but it's hilarious every single time Rufus and Cloud have a scene together, Rufus doesn't give to flying shits that he's blatantly flirting with Cloud in front of other people! This goes all way back to their fight on the rooftop in "Remake", where he goes "I own you" and checking out Cloud's body in front of troopers to every scene they have in *Rebirth", including the GS audience. Rufus will greedily stake claim/flirt with Cloud in front of everyone. XD

It’s been mentioned before but it can never be mentioned enough. Thinking back on it always makes me giggle. It makes me mad with glee, actually. The way I used to feel like I needed to justify the potential for this ship…I honestly feel so vindicated by the way Remake has characterized their interactions. I felt all this stuff from OG through Advent Children, but the seeds for the ship felt so subtle. I was okay with that, I was happy to work with subtle.

It doesn’t change the fact that I’m so happy the team decided to show more of them, and in a way that really confirmed SO MANY of my beliefs (suspicions?? DESIRES??)! Sure, they’ll never be this astronomically popular ship, but I don’t really need that. I’m just so intrigued by their dynamic, I truly do love them so much.

[thecloudstan]

I’m sorry you’re stressed! I hope you’re feeling a bit better now. I like to think that after cloud beat Rufus on the roof he gently bullied the Turks to help him train so when they eventually fought again (he made sure it would happen, like literally i’m imaging him thinking about how fantastic it would be in the gold saucer) he could wow cloud with his ability to hold his own, even without Darkstar at first. Like the man was legit acting like a peacock, especially when he was showing off his new gun, Kamui.

I’m giggling because this is SO literally what happened, I mean???

Rufus was clearly spoiling for that second fight, oh my god. I’m SO glad they decided to add another clash with him in Rebirth. Genuinely such a great idea, and it’s a fun window into his personality. I think (OG and 7R) Rufus pretty much immediately showed that he was interested in Cloud (and Avalanche already) and saw him as a worthy enough opponent to be a threat. Can’t take him out, recruit him. Can’t recruit him? Back to taking him out. STILL can’t take him out???

idk. Ask him on a date or something 😂

[thecloudstan]

If NSFW scenes are okay, then I'd love to see an art of Rufus and Cloud's car sex scene or the bathroom sex scene at the gala! If you do SFW scenes, maybe an art with them sleeping together in bed or the scene where Rufus and Cloud share a hungry, deep kiss from the end of Ch. 18?

thanks for the asks, anon! I went with a nsfw one so I cannot post in full on tumblr. enjoy the preview and click here for the full on my twitter!

[thecloudstan]

look how cute 😭 if you’re a fellow rucloud and you aren’t following kawakawa, I highly recommend remedying that oversight! very friendly and lots of cute captures <3

[thecloudstan]

In the OtWtS and TKAA novels, Rufus is really kind to those who are kind to him, and in each instance, they're both women (the woman Pamela who was kind to Rufus) and Kyrie (who showed sympathy for his geostigma). I think he has a lot of respect for good mothers, because he clearly loves his mother before she died. If Rufus meets Claudia, he treats her with the utmost respect, because he respects that she's a loving single mother who went through a lot of hardships in the village to raise Cloud.

This is a good point. The only OG moments I can remember off the top of my head in which we get Rufus interacting with women is like…him and Scarlet, who he thinks is an idiot because he treats practically all of his father’s old underlings like idiots, and maybe…Tifa? The planned execution comes to mind, but that was a Rufus for whom battle lines were very clearly drawn, and without Cloud to use as a sacrificial lamb, the rest of Avalanche was probably good enough meat to the slaughter, in his eyes. So not particularly good indicators of his feelings toward or standard treatment of women. I like to think he can pull off chivalry and extreme acts of kindness, it’s just reserved for certain people.

And of course, throughout postgame into Advent Children, he suffers and changes so much. Some of those barriers to his softer insides simply must have come down.

In other words, I agree, he would be very kind and proper (enough) around Claudia. Especially if he and Cloud are officially an item at the time, and especially if Cloud had already confided so much to him about her/his childhood. In a world in which she was never taken from Cloud, at least ;—;

[thecloudstan]

Lol, I think some of Rufus's Japanese lines for the GS fight is probably kinker. I think the English line for "Let's see, shall we?" (said in that super seductive tone...) is "It's time for punishment/discipline" in Japanese? And the "muzzled" line is literally "It's time I put a collar on you"? ASDFGHJKL, my Japanese kinda sucks, but that's essentially what it was. It's so funny, too, because I remember fans saying that the ENG made Rufus's WAAY more hornier than his JPN lines in Remake! XD

I LOVE to hear this, for all the reasons! My Japanese is so-so but I should search videos of the JP dialogue. As if muzzling wasn't enough, collaring is my true weakness 😩

Thanks for sharing!