#So I think Chadley's upbringing probably had a huge effect on him

[shwoo]

Writing this Final Fantasy 7 fanfic is kind of a weird experience, because I try to stick to the tone of the original work, and Final Fantasy 7 can get darker in tone than what I'm used to. Do I warn for "Canon Typical Hojo"???

Actually, I notice that there's quite a few Final Fantasy 7 stories on AO3 tagged with "Content Warning: Hojo", or "Hojo Being Hojo", so I guess I do? Also, "Bad Dad Hojo", which is relevant since the story is about Chadley. Hojo is not winning any father of the year awards in that one scene in Rebirth where he acknowledges Chadley's existence. Enslaving your kid to work in your evil science lab is also not great parenting.

I don't normally dislike fictional characters, but I think I do dislike Hojo. I don't really... want to look at him. Is this one of those "confront characters" I keep hearing about? It was hard to even analyse him so his actions would make sense in the story. I think he's someone who once experienced not being the smartest person in the room, and made it his life's mission to make sure that never happened again.

This story is also making me like MAI, after being indifferent to her for a while. I'm going with Chadley accidentally creating a person while trying to create an AI assistant, with neither of them having realised it yet. That gives them an interesting dynamic! At least to me.

I just hope I have the energy to edit this story into making sense, so I can finish it. And also to keep playing the original game up to when this story is set. The canon story stuff is happening in the background, and I know roughly what happens, but I really should play through it as well.