[Fic] Gift of Opposition(FFVII:OGC) for Haku_kaen
Title: Faith of Opposition
For: Haku_kaen
Medium: Fan fiction
Request(s):FFVII: OGC, Rude/Tifa. With a focus not on them as a couple, but on their gradually getting close enough post-game for it to be even be an option on her end; it can end without them ever even getting together if you'd like, although it would make me happy if they do. Perhaps containing something about the fact that (if she was there when the Turks were gossiping in Gongaga, or if whoever was there likes gossiping themselves) she knows full well that he has a crush on her when he's trying to make overtures of friendship.
Fandom(s):FF7: OGC
Characters/Pairings:Tifa, Rude, and Elena
Rating/Warnings:G
Feedback: My poor nerves would prefer none
Spoilers: FF7: OGC
Word Count:1,304
Summary: Old enemy and old allies sometimes cross
Notes: The request has been stretched a bit.
The precision of her caller’s knocks lent the apartment the right type of atmosphere for a review of financial paperwork.
Tifa gave the door and the caller beyond a brief grin. Back when she had been running the counter at the Seventh Heaven she knew the exact course of action to take against persistent, unexpected business at three o’clock in the afternoon. Given that all the business her current occupation required was her signature, she couldn’t quite stop herself from considering going back to older solutions for such problems.
Her gloves were on the second floor. Given whom was likely calling she wouldn’t need more than the steel toed boots resting beside the door. Of course, the neighbors would approve of her having a tussle on the floor. Such an indiscretion would prove their firm belief of her status as ‘wealthy adventuress extraordinaire’ as the floor’s busybodies would say.
“Hey, we know you’re in there!”
Then again she did need to finish going over all this paperwork before she could make any type of concrete decisions on her plans. After all the city of Kalm couldn’t be expected to pay for the slum trash President Reeve had brought over with him. Running orphanages were what ‘lady adventuress’ were for.
A sharp, erratic pounding joined in with her mood setting knocking.
Tifa considered it all with a frown and slight a sigh.
Her advisors’ projections weren’t as favorable as she had hoped for. Adding in the potential harassment charges certain persons of questionable morals were currently forcing her to consider…
“Ms. Lockhart, my partner and I need a moment of your time.” Selling her shares in Highwind’s launching service would free some funds for use. Cid wouldn’t be pleased. She faced the same outcome if she even considered withdrawing from Barret’s-
Was that a kick to the door?
Gaia, Elena’s manners hadn’t improved. Then why would they if she needed to overcompensate for a partner. If Rude were one of Tifa’s boys he wouldn’t have gotten past the windows.
Children and the orphanage, Tifa could probably make do with a few less staff members than she had originally projected. There was also the possibility of volunteer workers.
Better yet, why not all out adoption. Wasn’t that in vogue for her type nowadays? The irony would be rather delightful. She’d already preached against the corruption of wealth shouldn’t she start living it?
“…if you don’t…”
Cloud would say bitterness didn’t suit her, if he were here.
“…I’m going to kick the door down.”
“I wouldn’t.” Tifa had to deal enough with calming the ever excitable nerves of her elderly neighbor over simple matters of walking past Midgar riffraff on the way to her beauty parlor. If the woman experienced full out Turk drama Tifa would never again have a moment to herself. “Why not?”
Tifa placed her statements down on the coffee table.
“Do I really need to tell you?”
There was a huff at the other side of the door. As expected Elena’s patience didn’t last if she were the one under attack.
“Come on, Rude. Let’s go.” The girl’s voice dropped a few octaves as she conferred to her partner something Tifa avoided hearing. AVALANCHE drama was more than enough for her to deal with.
“We have a delivery for you.” Tifa hadn’t expected to hear from Rude with Elena present. A sign of severity, she considered as she slipped the throw off her shoulders.
“What is it?”
Rude’s customary pause was filled with frank abruptness by Elena’s restatement of Tifa’s question. “Yea-yes, what is it?”
“A file.”
Tifa didn’t need any more of those. A third of her office desk was covered in small piles of files dedicated to Cloud’s history in Shinra and those were the ones Vincent had brought in during his last visit. In her hall closet there was nearly three boxes of files and print offs on what could potentially be wrong both mentally and physically with Cloud Strife and the ways she could deal with it.
She didn’t need any more help from well meaning meddlers with personal agendas which more than likely not-particularly in Vincent’s case--to get up her skirt.
Cloud had been healed. What more could they possibly want from her.
Elena’s voice had started to rise.
“…we have ethics…” Tifa almost could have laugh at that statement. Instead she made her way across the den to the steel toed boots. “….Tseng is going to freak-be very displeased when he finds out you-“
“Elena…” Tifa could half hear Reno’s rely of, “Elena shut up,” in the silence that followed. Conversations like this one were far too familiar for Tifa’s boots. Perhaps, she could merely use the bedroom window as an escape. Vincent had been doing it enough over the last few days.
“Fine,” there was also a rather final and impressive huff from Elena with a surprising lack of violence. They were Turks not AVALANCHE so the response wouldn’t have been entirely similar to her own experiences.
“I’ll see you at the office.” Elena actually said rather than shouted.
“Well…” She shouldn’t have opened the door until she heard the angry slam of the stairwell door. As it was she heard the footsteps stop the same moment she spoke.
Rude glanced down the hallway. Tifa leaned against the door frame and crossed her arms. “What could you give me that would freak Tseng out?”
The footsteps started again.
The file was handed to her when Rude came to the conclusion Elena wasn’t come back to help. It had taken him some time to come to the conclusion. Tifa merely raised an eyebrow at his attempt.
“Loyal opposition.”
“What?” Rude shrugged.
”You’ll understand when you have children.” No one should have known she was considering the orphanage. Even Vincent didn’t have a clue. How could Rude-
“I already have two,” it had become her standard response to the floor ladies questions on the subject. It was true enough as she couldn’t place Cloud and Vincent as much else. The knowing smirk Rude gave was nearly returned.
“Elena says that a lot.”
“I do not.” Tifa could have laughed at that. Instead she reached out to accept the folder. With the way Reeve ran things she would be working with the Turks more than she would have preferred regardless of her decision today.
With a nod Rude turned to rejoin his impatiently awaiting partner. Tifa watched the pair of them wordless bicker between themselves. Loyalty like that could almost be family. Almost something she could get used to.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The majority of the folder’s contents were reports. They were neatly typed out and as impersonal as she had known the people who had written them to be. Tifa didn’t bother to read the reports.
There were several black and white photos of a child maturing into womanhood that would have made a stalker’s collection seem amateur, if not for the awareness of the subject in all the shots. Half hidden and tucked away with some of the colored photographs was a picture of a vibrant child posing with a rather out of place Tseng.
The colored pictures were drawn with crayons and revealed a child’s eye view of the underbelly of Midgar. They all carried notes of all sorts. Expressions of immature affection for Tseng (along with a few proposals), delightful childish questions to entice the silent man into talking, well wishing for Turks Tifa had never heard of. Whatever had been created for Reno hadn’t been included. Tifa could understand why.
There were ribbons and flowers some pressed some decayed. The oddest bit was a wad of gum in a used napkin. Something that should have been turned into the scientific department.
Tifa supposed sometimes to see someone you need to see them from the otherside.
For: Haku_kaen
Medium: Fan fiction
Request(s):FFVII: OGC, Rude/Tifa. With a focus not on them as a couple, but on their gradually getting close enough post-game for it to be even be an option on her end; it can end without them ever even getting together if you'd like, although it would make me happy if they do. Perhaps containing something about the fact that (if she was there when the Turks were gossiping in Gongaga, or if whoever was there likes gossiping themselves) she knows full well that he has a crush on her when he's trying to make overtures of friendship.
Fandom(s):FF7: OGC
Characters/Pairings:Tifa, Rude, and Elena
Rating/Warnings:G
Feedback: My poor nerves would prefer none
Spoilers: FF7: OGC
Word Count:1,304
Summary: Old enemy and old allies sometimes cross
Notes: The request has been stretched a bit.
The precision of her caller’s knocks lent the apartment the right type of atmosphere for a review of financial paperwork.
Tifa gave the door and the caller beyond a brief grin. Back when she had been running the counter at the Seventh Heaven she knew the exact course of action to take against persistent, unexpected business at three o’clock in the afternoon. Given that all the business her current occupation required was her signature, she couldn’t quite stop herself from considering going back to older solutions for such problems.
Her gloves were on the second floor. Given whom was likely calling she wouldn’t need more than the steel toed boots resting beside the door. Of course, the neighbors would approve of her having a tussle on the floor. Such an indiscretion would prove their firm belief of her status as ‘wealthy adventuress extraordinaire’ as the floor’s busybodies would say.
“Hey, we know you’re in there!”
Then again she did need to finish going over all this paperwork before she could make any type of concrete decisions on her plans. After all the city of Kalm couldn’t be expected to pay for the slum trash President Reeve had brought over with him. Running orphanages were what ‘lady adventuress’ were for.
A sharp, erratic pounding joined in with her mood setting knocking.
Tifa considered it all with a frown and slight a sigh.
Her advisors’ projections weren’t as favorable as she had hoped for. Adding in the potential harassment charges certain persons of questionable morals were currently forcing her to consider…
“Ms. Lockhart, my partner and I need a moment of your time.” Selling her shares in Highwind’s launching service would free some funds for use. Cid wouldn’t be pleased. She faced the same outcome if she even considered withdrawing from Barret’s-
Was that a kick to the door?
Gaia, Elena’s manners hadn’t improved. Then why would they if she needed to overcompensate for a partner. If Rude were one of Tifa’s boys he wouldn’t have gotten past the windows.
Children and the orphanage, Tifa could probably make do with a few less staff members than she had originally projected. There was also the possibility of volunteer workers.
Better yet, why not all out adoption. Wasn’t that in vogue for her type nowadays? The irony would be rather delightful. She’d already preached against the corruption of wealth shouldn’t she start living it?
“…if you don’t…”
Cloud would say bitterness didn’t suit her, if he were here.
“…I’m going to kick the door down.”
“I wouldn’t.” Tifa had to deal enough with calming the ever excitable nerves of her elderly neighbor over simple matters of walking past Midgar riffraff on the way to her beauty parlor. If the woman experienced full out Turk drama Tifa would never again have a moment to herself. “Why not?”
Tifa placed her statements down on the coffee table.
“Do I really need to tell you?”
There was a huff at the other side of the door. As expected Elena’s patience didn’t last if she were the one under attack.
“Come on, Rude. Let’s go.” The girl’s voice dropped a few octaves as she conferred to her partner something Tifa avoided hearing. AVALANCHE drama was more than enough for her to deal with.
“We have a delivery for you.” Tifa hadn’t expected to hear from Rude with Elena present. A sign of severity, she considered as she slipped the throw off her shoulders.
“What is it?”
Rude’s customary pause was filled with frank abruptness by Elena’s restatement of Tifa’s question. “Yea-yes, what is it?”
“A file.”
Tifa didn’t need any more of those. A third of her office desk was covered in small piles of files dedicated to Cloud’s history in Shinra and those were the ones Vincent had brought in during his last visit. In her hall closet there was nearly three boxes of files and print offs on what could potentially be wrong both mentally and physically with Cloud Strife and the ways she could deal with it.
She didn’t need any more help from well meaning meddlers with personal agendas which more than likely not-particularly in Vincent’s case--to get up her skirt.
Cloud had been healed. What more could they possibly want from her.
Elena’s voice had started to rise.
“…we have ethics…” Tifa almost could have laugh at that statement. Instead she made her way across the den to the steel toed boots. “….Tseng is going to freak-be very displeased when he finds out you-“
“Elena…” Tifa could half hear Reno’s rely of, “Elena shut up,” in the silence that followed. Conversations like this one were far too familiar for Tifa’s boots. Perhaps, she could merely use the bedroom window as an escape. Vincent had been doing it enough over the last few days.
“Fine,” there was also a rather final and impressive huff from Elena with a surprising lack of violence. They were Turks not AVALANCHE so the response wouldn’t have been entirely similar to her own experiences.
“I’ll see you at the office.” Elena actually said rather than shouted.
“Well…” She shouldn’t have opened the door until she heard the angry slam of the stairwell door. As it was she heard the footsteps stop the same moment she spoke.
Rude glanced down the hallway. Tifa leaned against the door frame and crossed her arms. “What could you give me that would freak Tseng out?”
The footsteps started again.
The file was handed to her when Rude came to the conclusion Elena wasn’t come back to help. It had taken him some time to come to the conclusion. Tifa merely raised an eyebrow at his attempt.
“Loyal opposition.”
“What?” Rude shrugged.
”You’ll understand when you have children.” No one should have known she was considering the orphanage. Even Vincent didn’t have a clue. How could Rude-
“I already have two,” it had become her standard response to the floor ladies questions on the subject. It was true enough as she couldn’t place Cloud and Vincent as much else. The knowing smirk Rude gave was nearly returned.
“Elena says that a lot.”
“I do not.” Tifa could have laughed at that. Instead she reached out to accept the folder. With the way Reeve ran things she would be working with the Turks more than she would have preferred regardless of her decision today.
With a nod Rude turned to rejoin his impatiently awaiting partner. Tifa watched the pair of them wordless bicker between themselves. Loyalty like that could almost be family. Almost something she could get used to.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The majority of the folder’s contents were reports. They were neatly typed out and as impersonal as she had known the people who had written them to be. Tifa didn’t bother to read the reports.
There were several black and white photos of a child maturing into womanhood that would have made a stalker’s collection seem amateur, if not for the awareness of the subject in all the shots. Half hidden and tucked away with some of the colored photographs was a picture of a vibrant child posing with a rather out of place Tseng.
The colored pictures were drawn with crayons and revealed a child’s eye view of the underbelly of Midgar. They all carried notes of all sorts. Expressions of immature affection for Tseng (along with a few proposals), delightful childish questions to entice the silent man into talking, well wishing for Turks Tifa had never heard of. Whatever had been created for Reno hadn’t been included. Tifa could understand why.
There were ribbons and flowers some pressed some decayed. The oddest bit was a wad of gum in a used napkin. Something that should have been turned into the scientific department.
Tifa supposed sometimes to see someone you need to see them from the otherside.