#and that's the thing!!! the potential is still there!! all zack has to do is realize that angeal was talking out of his ass

[rocketbirdie]

man. now that i think about it. crisis core sure did do that to zack's potential as a character huh

[rottenpumpkin13]

Hello dear! I absolutley live your Soldier sgort stories, they are hillarious!

I dont know if you are at all interested in any more AGSZC prompts, but how do you think they would all react to be taken on a space tour with Cid in the Shinra rocket?

Sephiroth: Truly a dream come true for him. Staring out into space, eyes glued to the scenery, realizing that no matter how lost he feels in existence, he's merely a speck in the vast universe. Sephiroth is in awe of how much remains to be discovered, so of course he's going to be spitting out space facts left and right.

Genesis: Wow…isn't this beautiful? Sephiroth: Objects in space travel at speeds over 25,000 km/hr, making any collision potentially catastrophic. Even the smallest piece of debris can puncture a spacecraft at incredible speeds, causing catastrophic failure and rapid decompression. Genesis: Sephiroth: But you should not fear such phenomenon. Just as you shouldn't fear your blood, your bile, and eyeballs boiling furiously should you exit the aircraft. Genesis:

Angeal: He'd absolutely love it. It would be a reverent experience for him. He’d be pressed against the window, reflecting on the vastness of the universe and how small they are in comparison, contemplating their humble existence in the face of such grandeur, he'd marvel at the importance of honor and legacy amidst the infinite—

*Sephiroth informs him of Shinra's concerning track record when it comes to space and aeronautics as well as the time Palmer drunkenly confessed to him in a men's bathroom at a Shinra function that his degree is fake*

Angeal, banging on the window: "LET ME OUT!"

Zack: The minute Cid realized Zack isn't the type who can't sit still and asks a million questions, he's given a pair of binoculars and told to "watch out for aliens." Hours of entertainment and Cid can fly at peace.

Zack, with binoculars: I don't see any aliens. *Zack turns around and points the binoculars at Sephiroth* Zack: Oh! I found a huge one! Sephiroth:

Cloud: He "looked trustworthy," so Cid decides to teach him how to pilot the spaceship. The problem is that Cid's method of teaching involves shouting instructions, while Cloud’s method of learning is half-listening and figuring things out on his own. There's a lot of yelling.

Genesis: Wants everyone back on Gaia to know that he's been in outer space, so he brings his camera and takes photos to be able to brag about it later. He takes so many of them; a photo of Angeal passing out in the spaceship; a photo of Zack by the window doing a thumbs up, but Genesis has photoshopped an alien in the background to freak him out later; a photo of Cloud piloting the aircraft into mortal peril while Cid yells at him. It's the little things.

[wannaeatramyeon]

You hit the nail on the head! I‘ll ask for more professional assessment: honest opinion on Crystal?

Following on from my ramblings about Sally Park. Oops! Edited to add in Zoe too.

Well written female characters in Lookism? Uhh...

When the bar is at an all time low, it's really not hard to step over it.

At this point, I've been pavloved to think that any female character that expresses a personality trait other than 'simp' is pretty good. Simp is fun when it's part of a list of characteristics (Zack, Ryuhei). Not so much when it's the only thing.

Long live PTJ, the greatest feminist. Anyway.

Female characters I like

Mary Kim

Love her. Empress of 2 seconds. Queen of my heart.

Surprisingly kept a platonic relationship with Vin Jin, showing quite a healthy mixed gender friendship. Sassy and smart. Loyal. Good taste in men (Jace). Is shown having a life and interests outside of a man.

On my hands and knees praying that PTJ doesn't ruin her. Kinda glad she hasn't appeared in a while so she is kept away from his incessant need to turn everyone into a love interest.

Lua Im

Once we got over the odd Johan panels, which I heard the Korean audience didn't like and I'm quite happy about, she's fine. And it's not that I care that much about Johan staying a single dog-dad, I just needed a coherent reasoning/build up why they would be interested in one another.

Lua has potential.

Sourcing intel, even impressing the likes of Gun? A little Muay Thai knowledge? Jake and Jerry scared of her? Lol. Ok. Good. Let's build on this.

Just please don't white knight her.

Crystal Choi (meh)

And Ms. Choi, because anon specifically asked. I really don't mind her? I know she's meant to be anti-Lookism but still judges people based on their looks eh. That's fine. Pretty realistic actually. Whatever.

She can be a bit bitchy for no reason. So can I. Handwaving all that.

What I do take issue with though, is her so called title of Business Genius. Please show me the chapter where she actually does something to earn that title besides the one where other people ooh-ed and aah-ed over her in the meeting with DG.

Wow she's sooooo gorgeous. Ok good for her. If that's the route they're taking her character then at least OWN. THAT. SHIT. Use her beauty and looks to sign deals and get what she wants. GOOD. DO IT.

Zoe Park (also meh... Wait)

Sorry anon, I think 'really well written' is a bit of a reach... She does have some decent character development, starting as quite a flighty, shallow girl and then showing that she has a heart of gold, liking both Daniels and. Huh.

Wait. You're right. She is pretty well written. She's selfless and kind and loyal to her friends, putting up with Logan's bullshit. There's enough of a character arc for her from the Zoe we're introduced to at first.

And I do like that she's good at maths too.

Wasted potential

Minseong Kang (Jake's momma)

Appreciate this is the older generation and from a much more conservative culture. Saying that, I am so over the slighted and bitter housewife rotting at home while her big powerful husband cheats on her.

And then some sort of marriage redemption cos they pop out a kid. Whatever. (Sorry Jake bb, I love you).

If you were going to do that, give me the most toxic red flag shit where they are constantly at each other's THROATS. Show me how they are equals. Can't live with or without one another. That's the good kinda shit.

Leonn Lee

I just. What the fuck was this.

A girl in Burn Knuckles? A group that reeks of testerone and (positive) masculinity? Show us why she joined! Show us why she stays. SURPRISE. Main character trait?? Having a crush on Vasco.

She could have been SO interesting. And she obviously trains, why not get her to fight?

Hate for irrational reasons

Joy Hong

Listen, she's not really in enough or significant enough for me to really feel one way or another about her. BUT. The reason I HATE her is because I was trying to write a headcanon involving everyone and then I got to Joy and I was STUMPED.

Sub in a plank of wood, and it would have the same depth of personality.

Truly. Who is she apart from Jay's sister and a Daniel simp? At least everyone else has something.

Others

I don't really think about them. Sera Shin has potential I guess.

And of course a special mention to Daniel's momma. She's not exactly a unique character, but who doesn't love her?

LET. THEM. FIGHT.

Lastly. Why can't we see women fight? Like the men's fights are realistic LOL. Ultra instinct? Smashing through walls? So why are women fighting men outside the realms of this.

And yes yes. Men are SoOoOoOo strong. But can they take a kick to the balls?

Are you saying Gun Park has been training his dick and balls and would be able to eat a hit there? He wouldn't go down like a heap of shit??

HUH. TELL ME THAT.

In Summary

Mary by and large is pretty well written. Lua has improved.

I don't care much about anyone else.

And I wanna see Gun, Goo, Sammy, Vin etc. get kicked in the balls in a fight.

[dutchdread]

Hey Dutch what is your opinion on crises core reunion ? I had few ca tell me it didn’t do anything for zack and aerith relationship it just made things worse ? I don’t know we’re they get that belief from but it’s there opinion. Did you think the story was ok and gave good context on what they mean to each other?

People give too much flack to Crisis Core. I only played the original CC back on the PSP so I can't say anything about whether or not Reunion made it better or worse, but I enjoyed the original. But part of that is because I simply had lower expectations for portable games than I do for AAA pc or console titles. I won't deny that the game has a bunch of stuff that could have been done better (Cough, genesis, cough), but it had its strong points as well. I think some of the basic concepts of Crisis Core are good in principle, like theme of hopes and dreams, and watching how Zack through adversity unwillingly becomes the hero that he always wanted to be. But the execution was often lacking. I love the idea of watching a several friends slowly break, and I think there is potential in tying that story into them being "monsters" and exploring what it really means to be a monster vs being a hero. But again. The way it was handled made it rather ridiculous and overly obtuse. The constant quoting of Loveless, ESPECIALLY without it ever getting a clear meaning that allows the player to connect with it, Angeals random dramatic self-pity, and a bunch of other stuff just made it so that storywise a lot of the bad overshadowed the good. But I played CC for Zack and Aerith, and they were perfect in my opinion.I loved seeing Aerith like an actual 16 year old girl and how her time with Zack rubbed off on her and caused her to start living every day to the fullest. I still think that the scene with Aerith hugging Zack from behind is one of the most romantic scenes in FF, simply because of how viscerally real it is. Her trying to make small talk, him just being there, choosing to mourn in the presence of the woman he loves, not needing to be consoled, but just needing her presence. And then that hug "sometimes you don't need words to tell a person how you're feeling" indeed. This is also a part of the reason I am convinced Aerith was still projecting Zack onto Cloud at the end of Rebirth "our place", "the church", Yeah right. For Cloud and Aerith the church is just a place they happened to spend about 5 minutes at one point, not even the place they met. Meanwhile Zack went there to see her for I think about one and a half years. He goes there instantly in intergrade, he goes there in Rebirth, we see him waiting there for Aerith at the end of rebirth, the core visual for Crisis core was changed to TAKE PLACE IN THE CHURCH. But the Church is Cloud and Aeriths place.....yeah right. Either that is an intentional hint that Aerith is still projecting, or the writing has fallen off a cliff. Then we have the other character moments, Cloud and Tifa pining for each other, the parallels between Cloti and Zerith. Zack promising Aerith he'll come for her underneath the water tower. And my favorite Aeriths "23 tiny little wishes", all encompassed in the one with to "spend more time with Zack". Which is then ultimately fulfilled via Cloud in the OG/rebirth. And then of course there is the ending, my favorite ending of any game ever aside from Nier:Automata. Man I bawled my eyes out. So yeah, I like Crisis Core, it's messy, but it's messy with a lot of gold in it, and for a portable title I think that's not half bad.

[altocat]

What do you think Sephiroth had to do to be good, assuming he couldn't simply quit ShinRa, him staying meant he had to kill his friends who deserted and him deserting meant he had to kill his friends who stayed with ShinRa and were sent to eliminate him? And Rufus was itching for a new war in Wutai?

I mean obviously, the same thing Rosen and Angeal did, but other than that?

I think "goodness", at least in the context of fiction and not reality, is a more morally gray concept in the world of FFVII. Sephiroth kills people under Shinra. But it's not personal. It's not because he takes pleasure in the act of killing. Even our heroes kill people. And there's a lot to be said about the real world ethics of people who kill in the line of duty when at war or under orders, which is honestly subjective. Whether you view people who kill under orders as "good" or "bad" is honestly up to the individual. You could certainly make a case for either side of the debate.

So with that said, I personally believe that while Sephiroth's actions were inherently awful under Shinra, within the moral framework of the universe and story, he's still a somewhat decent person. "Good", but because I can separate his morality as a singular entity from the actions he's forced to take. A person who has likely committed several atrocities, but is mainly a product of an environment in which he has no real agency. Angeal and Genesis are also in there, but to lesser degrees. Glenn and Zack below them. All of these characters are "bad" in theory for their actions under Shinra. But they WANT to be "good" and are shown to at the very least be capable of great kindness or potential. Some of them even die because of it. And when your in-universe moral afterlife features the same endgame for everyone, then yeah. You can be lenient. I think the lines would blur way more significantly if they were real people, but they're not. They're fictional characters. So the viewer can choose to engage with their shaky morality on a more personal level that leaves room for empathy.

SO with all that rambling out of the way, I do think Sephiroth had options. He could have retired. He could have bided his time and waited for the organization to eat itself. He could have joined Genesis under the pretense of "helping" him while actively collaborating with Zack. And he honestly could have just booked it out of there. He's strong enough to where he could at the very least held Shinra off for a time, grueling and exhausting though it would have been. There are parts of the globe that Shinra still hasn't gotten its hooks in. There was what was left of Glenn's team. And Avalanche. Sephiroth had OPTIONS, there were just various factors that delayed his decision. Sephiroth was still in the process of fully questioning his role under Shinra. And just as he's about to commit to an idea the Nibelheim Incident coincidentally takes place, likely thanks Hojo's manipulations. It was bad timing all around. The worst possible circumstance at the worst possible time.

[prismaticpichu]

For your ask! Platonic Seph Zack and 39! 😊❤️

Ahhhhh!!! Thank you, Zim!!! 💕💕 You know what my heart wants to write well shhdhhhhdhh!! <333

Let’s do this!! LATE NIGHT FLOOF TIME!!

~

Prompt: Things you forgot to say

Patrolling the base had been a part of Sephiroth's duties at ShinRa since time immemorial, wherein every night he took a circuit around both the corridors and training grounds of headquarters in search of any wayward behavior or potential suspicious activity. Seldom was the latter ever found; more times than not, it was drunken fights in the barracks that he ended up having to pry apart—followed by dishing out the appropriate punishment for said "wayward behavior" (also known as enforcing locker room duty upon teenagers who would indignantly not even remember why they were given it the next day). Needless to say, the task could grow very tedious very quickly, especially on nights where there really wasn't anything amiss. He would much rather be sitting in his quarters reading a good book as night turned to deeper night than watch inebriated SOLDIERs wrestle on the floor like burly, helmeted chimpanzees.

So... why was it that he kept doing it after all these years?

Why did he not bestow the honor on other personnel?

Why did he not simply stop, when he had every right and the power to do so?

"...Okay, so! Get this: after the guy gives the dragon some delicious fish to eat, he coughs some up and tries to share the meal with his new friend."

Well, because it finally got interesting after a while.

Sephiroth's lips curled into an amused smirk, one ear listening for any abnormalities while one ear (more intently) listened to Zack recount the plot of his latest film fixation, the sound of armor shifting to the beat of their footfalls ringing in metallic harmony throughout the mazy hallways of the building.

"...Heh," Sephiroth chucked quietly as they sailed down one of these hallways. "I do hope this friend knew better than to eat something regurgitated from a beast."

"Oh no! He ate it. Ate it all."

"...You are kidding."

"Nope!" Zack smiled jubilantly. "He gobbled that fish up so the dragon wouldn't feel bad. And then the dragon gave a big, gummy smile!"

"Oh, Gaia..." Sephiroth shook his head, silver bangs dancing with the motion as the smirk held tight to his lips. "Where do you find these outlandish films?"

"Nooo! It was so good! Really!" Zack took a quick survey around the corridor—doors, doors, a vending machine, a water fountain, some guys playing chess, no monsters, no spies—then exuberantly turned back toward his older friend. "It's so wholesome! They learn to bond and trust each other, even after the guy initially shot him down! He makes a prosthetic tail for him everything—and they go flying together!—but then the guy has to fight a dragon for real in front of his clan, and his dragon pal comes to protect him, and then they have a fight a giiiiiinormous beast together, and the dragon flies into a giiiiinormous blaze to save his friend!! All except for one of his legs, so then they're twinsies with artificial limbs!"

They had rounded another corner by the time Zack was done narrating, officially crossing the threshold from the lounge area and over into the much more scarcely occupied hallway that housed the training facilities. Beads of artificial nightlight were the only thing to illuminate their path as they made their way through the gloom, the air all but still barring the continuous ripples of Zack's infectious laughter, echoing softly yet with an indisputable richness off the steel walls.

"You gotta watch it, Seph. For real! You'd love it."

Sephiroth offered him a playful sidelong glance. "I think I'll have to pass on that one."

"Aww, c'mon. You'd really like it!"

"I just don't think it's necessary."

"What's that supposed to mean? Why not?!"

They continued their trek down the corridor, Sephiroth's smirk growing even softer against the mechanical darkness, green eyes gently aglow with calm and contentment. "Because you just narrated the whole thing for me."

".Wha...? So what!" Zack playfully swatted his arm, his own eyes electric with amusement. "That's so stupid! I can't just tell a movie like an actual movie."

"Heh... debatable," Sephiroth smirked, and then added after a thoughtful beat, "You do have quite a knack for storytelling, you know: very vivid imagery; always equipped with interesting things to say; always know how to deliver such things in an entertaining manner. It's quite the skill."

in a matter of seconds, Zack's expression softened tenfold, the sapphires sparkling. "Aww, shucks. You really think so?"

Sephiroth nodded. "Of course. Why else do you think I allow you to ramble on about your nonsense on patrols?"

"Aww!" Zack chuckled, this time playfully poking his friend's wrist. "Listen to that. You're such a marshmallow!"

Almost reflexively, Sephiroth's tried to steel his expression, the faint trace of coral blessedly veiled by his bangs as he turned his head aside. "...I am not." Marshmallows didn't make for very good Generals, he knew that much.

"Sure you are!" Zack chirped, his lieutenant clearly teasing. "You're the biggest marshmallow I know."

...Oh great. Now he was one of those jumbo marshmallows.

Sephiroth crossed his arms, huffing.

Seeing that the warrior wasn't built for such analogies, Zack backed off on that train, his smile instead brightening to that of genuine pride as he crossed his arms behind his neck.

"Well, anyways, I'm glad I can entertain! That's what Zack Fairs do." He then dropped his hands, tossing the sunny smile at his pal. "What about your stories, bud? How about you tell me something."

Sephiroth blinked in surprise, caught-off guard by the question. "Me?"

"Yeah, you!" Zack chirped. "You hardly ever tell me stories! Think of a real good one."

Thoughtfulness eclipsed Sephiroth's eyes as, for a decent swath of time, he was left to ponder over Zack's words. Not digging for a story to spin, no—but instead musing over the first part of his statement, wondering why he never shared his own stories or experiences when Zack always did so willingly. Ludicrous dreams, wild antics with his friends, even hurtful nightmares... Zack shared them all with him, wholeheartedly and without hesitation. Oh, yes, they were very different people (no question), but it wasn't as if Sephiroth didn't have "interesting" stories to share himself. He had countless, from humorous games he'd seen his men play to eccentric dreams to even reoccurring nightmares that plagued him from time to time. So why not share them? Why couldn't he...?—

No, actually... now that he was thinking about it... he had shared some stories before. Two. One was when Zack was sick, having caught a bug that was going around the base, and he had sat on the foot of his bed recounting an old, victorious battle from the war at Zack's request. And yet... that hadn't been much of a soulful story; more of something to help lull his feverish friend to sleep, an old memory he arbitrary picked out like a nameless book on a shelf. There was no catharsis that came with telling that old battle; there was no sense of relief; there was no burden that was lifted from his heart.

That... that had been when he—

His eyes flickering, Sephiroth lifted his gaze, fading back to the present.

And his heart leapt.

"...Bud?" Zack blinked, noticing his friend had stopped in front one of the gym doors. "You alright?"

Sephiroth's eyes traced the cold stretch of metal, its jaws locked.

"The company training room..."

...That was the only other time he confided in Zack. The only true time when his heart had been genuinely aching, so lost and confused amid Genesis and Angeal's attacks... And Zack had been there, a comforting presence, his aura soothing and kind in spite of all the bitterness that had festered between them. He had listened to him vent wholeheartedly, never once interrupting, even asking follow-up questions to allow him to continue sharing what needed to be shared. He had... he had simply been there—an ear, a shoulder, a net. He had been all those things when no one else was there to be them. He had been all those things when Sephiroth had needed them most. He had been there... and he had made him feel, since the last untainted time he'd seen Genesis, as if he wasn't alone.

Did he... Did he even ever...?—

No.

No…

He hadn’t.

Gaia.

Oh, Gaia…

After all this time, too…

What was wrong with—?

"Hey..." Zack's voice had grown delicate, softened with concern and sympathy, reaching out to place a soothing and kind hand on his shoulder. "You thinking about them again, pal...?"

And Sephiroth turned around, turning toward his treasured friend, watching him reaching out to comfort him.

And he watched that hand, watching it reach for his shoulder.

And he blinked.

And he swallowed.

And he beat that hand to it—

"...Seph?!"

—...And he pulled Zack into his arms, pulling him into a fierce and grateful embrace.

“Thank you..." he mumbled into his friend's hair, cloaked in the comforting night, squeezing the First tight against his chest. "I—I apologize I never said it before. That was... my mistake. My own forgetfulness. Forgive me.."

Meanwhile, Zack had grown stiff in his friend’s arms—not out of fear, not out of discomfort, but out of the complete and utter shock that had engfulfed his entire being—his muscles tensing, baffled beyond words that Seph would ever… ever pull him into an embrace without him being the one to initiate it. Whatever had come over his friend had come on fast, abruptly tearing his heart open between its beats, leaving it gaping and bleeding in the desperate call for solace.

Which was exactly why it was only seconds later that he was sinking into his friend’s arms, melting into his coat, the words finally catching up to the gesture and washing over his ears like a warm, unexpected tidal wave.

“Hey, hey…” Zack gripped the back of the leather collar, understanding that Seph was pretty darn emotional right now. “There’s nothing to apologize for.”

Sephiroth shook his head, argent bangs brushing against charcoal. “Don’t be ridiculous. You were there that day. You listened… You listened when no one would. You gave me the space to share. And here I am, all these months later, never once showing you my appreciation for that. Do you have any idea how many times we must have passed that training room on patrol? I… don’t know what is wrong with me. It’s unacceptable. Completely unacceptable. I’m…—“

“—Hey. Bud. Listen to me… okay?” Zack pulled back just a bit, gazing into his friend’s wide and vulnerable and guilty eyes. “You’re my friend. My best friend, Seph. Never do I ever expect thank yous for anything; I do what I do because I love you, and because that’s what buddies do. No other reason.”

Sephiroth swallowed, almost silently. “…No. We weren’t close back then. You deserved to know.”

“I didn’t deserve to know nothing, pal. You were hurting… hurting real bad. I let you vent because that’s what you needed. And—and I never want to speak for you or anything… But you seem a lot better now. So much better than you did all those months ago.” Another smile spread across Zack’s lips, squeezing his friend tighter. “Is that okay to say?”

Another swallow threatened Sephiroth’s throat as he let his gaze drift away, silence dogging, the emerald eyes glossing over in rumination. Was it okay to say…? Of—of course it was. He had never been healthier in his life; his weight had never been better, his skin never a healthier complexion, his eyes never less shadowed. But what did that have to…?—

Small, he turned his attention back to Zack, answering with a question nod. “…It’s an accurate assessment.”

“Good.” Zack’s smile softened, giving him yet another loving squeeze. “Because that’s all I care about, bud. You healing. That’s all I ever want in return.”

“I… I don’t understand…” Sephiroth’s voice was laced with nothing but genuine confusion. “I’m trying to… thank you—“

“I know you are, bud,” Zack returned gently. “And you’re very very very welcome. But I can also tell how guilty you feel right now—that you’re beating yourself up for not thanking me over something from a different universe now. And that makes me sad!”

Sephiroth blinked, slowly. “…It does?”

“‘Course!” Zack nodded vigorously. “I don’t ever want you feeling guilty over anything in our friendship. Because… because you know what? You’re one of the most amazing friends I ever had. And you have been nothing but that since we really started getting close. You don’t have a single thing to apologize for.”

He patted his friend’s back for emphasis, gazing back up at the kind and vulnerable emerald eyes, and the younger First watched with a warm swell in his heart as he saw the guilt seem to dissipate from those Mako irises like stormclouds giving way to the beautiful light of the sun.

And he watched the man slowly smile, a rainbow beyond the haze.

“Thank you, Zack…” Sephiroth said softly, genuinely. “Truly.”

…There is nothing on this planet I did to deserve you.

Sure… he was not going to say it aloud, given all that Zack had just enlightened him with.

But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to believe it.

Concurrently, Zack was lacing his fingers together, locking his loving grip around the warrior’s collar as he pulled Seph close, took a nice deep breath, and rested against the crook of his neck.

“Aww, pal…” he smiled, clutching even tighter. “I love ya.”

He could practically feel the way Seph’s heart bloomed in his chest, the rhythmic drumbeat pressed against his own, blue eyes falling shut in the shelter of his best friend’s arms as he felt Seph’s tighten around him in turn.

And his own heart just about exploded as he rested his cheek against his hair, murmuring so softly as if to not even be detected by the air between them.

“…I love you too, Zack.”

Zack’s eyes were wet and glistening as they fissured open, his smile sloppy and made of dough.

“I’m so glad we’re buds…” he murmured into his neck, muffled but audible in the space between them. “You have no idea.”

“Heh,” came that classic, amused grunt of Seph’s. “Well… I believe you have Ifrit to thank for that.”

“Ooooh! Yeah!” Zack pulled away in a playful, eager jolt, beaming sunrays at his older friend. “Can you tell me about that story?! Y’know, when you found me being all stupid?”

In an instant, Sephiroth’s smirk resurfaced, gazing down at the vibrant and heartfelt teen with a fondness and affinity that could never even be dared captured by the human tongue. “Did I really never tell you that story before?”

“Nope! And I wanna hear it! C’mon!” And Zack was pulling him along, eagerly resuming their patrol as they made their way through the training area and merged into another corridor, the harmonious laughter ringing like kind ghosts through the sleepy night of the base all again.

“Alright, alright, Fair. Patience. Let me see… Well, to begin, never did I imagine that such a somber night would be the very same I met my most precious friend…”

[theaviatorthatcouldnotfly]

I miss Milo Murphy's Law :(( did you have any Season 3 ideas?

jsbfksjflls I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS ANON YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE-

of course milo and zack getting chased by something big and round in the first episode (maybe some topiary thing because it would be spring)

milo and his new telepathy!! chad feels kinda down and milo gives him a hug and tells him he hopes he feels better soon. joni is uncomfortable in class because it's way too cold and milo gives her a spare jacket. bradley is nervous about not doing well on his math test and milo wishes him good luck and tells him he'll do great. amanda forgets her eraser at home and panics for a second before milo, from across the room, tosses one onto her desk.

(and all the whole everyone's just like ".........how'd you know when I didn't even SAY anything" and milo's all "well, what doesn't kill you on an alien planet only gives you telepathy!" and no one can tell if he's joking or not)

oh and speaking of bradley: an episode where he and milo get trapped in a classroom or just have to spend the entire day together and within the span of 11 minutes of one-on-one interaction with milo he kinda has a "huh. you're not so bad" kinda moment. he even lets milo hug him for an entire 2 seconds at the end!!!!

for the sake of continuity some recurring character/s have their "a big round thing is rolling through the school and it may or may not be caused by my own actions so I need to stop it before things get destroyed!!! also 'just roll with it' is magically playing in the background idk how that happened" subplot

an episode with the kiddos (the entire mid-afternoon snack club group + chad pls) spying on mr drako (chad insisted) to determine whether he really is a vampire. in the end there is still no definitive answer and everyone but chad is tired

i need dakavendish follow-up i need them to be the biggest losers in existence with each other

they absolutely have to call each other "balthazar"and "vinnie" at least once

joshua pruett mentioned that they were playing around with dakavendish being promoted and actually getting opportunities to save the world but they (particularly cavendish) end up hating it. I need that to happen. I NEED IT. the angst potential has entered the room

ZALISSA FOLLOW UP!!!! a bit of awkwardness perhaps bc they are dorks. romantic directness on the same level as S2 milanda please

also more milanda more milanda more milanda im-

another school dance episode!!

zack has to take care of his twin siblings for the day and they want to meet the other two members of the infamous trust triangle so he goes and invites milo and melissa over. chaos ensues and by the the time milo and melissa leave the house the front section of zack's lawn has been burnt to a crisp and the twins have fallen fast asleep even though it's barely 7 in the evening

MEETING YOUR SECOND DIMENSION COUNTERPARTS???? since season 3 was supposed to be directed towards interdimensional stuff??

bonus points if dakavendish is canon in the second dimension

milo goes over to amanda's house to work on a project at one point and amanda already warned her parents about murphy's law and told them to baby proof their most prized possessions. they both end up taking a liking to milo and his positivity while also being slightly terrified of him. by some miracle the project does get finished but not without the typical dose of chaos and fires

an episode dedicated to bradley, mort, chad, and amanda and what they do all day when they're not actually part of the main plot

and more bradley mort chad and amanda in general I just love of all of them

more saneal!! I need them and milo to go to a dr. zone comic con together and dress up and be the gigantic loveable dorks that they are together

doofenshmirtz still needs to continue his professor time arc so he's still gotta be there ofc but give him less screen time than s2 pleaseeee. it's milo murphy's law and at the end of the day the focus should always be coming back to milo, zack, and melissa as well as dakota and cavendish

MORE JUST GETTING STARTED!!!

dakavendish finally gets that trip to hawaii

the murphys go on vacation for spring break and yet again total chaos ensues

more school field trips to the museum

for the sake of middle school shenanigans and continuity another sports-academics thing. I'm coining the term cherography (chess-marathon running-geography) but literally anything would be fine by me

the kids go to a public middle school so the inevitable standardized testing episode must be done

I'd love to see a school talent show or a school play episode (run by amanda and assisted by milo of course)

episode/s where melissa is just trying to go about her day with milo and zack when she suddenly disappears after getting caught up in the newest Time Travel Related plot of the week. zack and milo are confused until suddenly she and savannah reappear out of nowhere to deliver an out of context warning ("DONT GO NEAR THE DUMPSTER" or "GO BUY COTTON CANDY NOT ICE CREAM") before disappearing again to fix things

just more melissa and BOTT shenanigans in general honestly i love to see it

an episode focusing on the mml gals!! it could be brigette and sara it could be amanda and melissa and lydia it could be all of them it could be other characters but just an episode like that!

there's a mandatory science fair thing and milo and zack are partners so they decide to go with the most convenient option possible which happens to be a potato-powered lightbulb. somehow they literally flood the school gym with their potato-powered lightbulbs but as it turns out half the class didn't bother to or forgot to do their projects so they just take the lightbulbs and use those as their projects. by the end mrs. murasaki gives everyone a 'C' for functioning but unoriginal projects apart from melissa and bradley as well as amanda and joni

yeah that's all from me but first and foremost I wish mml would get renewed!!!!! for s3!!! usvfkajnfkajmfmalmdlanfms

[wherevenusholdssomeofficespace]

"I'm afraid of squeaking and shaking" - Sara Murphy …y'know considering her childhood where anything squeaking and shaking would inevitably lead to catastrophe, reasonable fear.

In all seriousness though her being really jumpy is almost out of character considering her typical nonchalant responses. But she was really high strung about Murphy's law in her debut episode, its really seems she just gets really high strung about stuff, and when Murphy's Law can conflict with that, she gets high strung about that.

I think more specifically she tends to get anxious about the potential of Murphy's Law (see debut episode), like the squeaking and the shaking is a warning sign, than she is about Murphy's Law actually occurring. Because she can't address Murphy's Law until it actually happens. But once its happening, she can actually do something about it. She tries to plan for it, but she's not really as good at it as Milo is, though she's more purposeful with it. Murphy's Law doesn't like to adhere to predictions.

Speaking of Milo, Milo's establishing character moment is saying he doesn't tend to scream. But he also screams a lot during the show. Even during relatively casual situations, like hanging off a cliff. Like with the finger trap.

I think its that the Murphy kids still get scared like any other person, they just deal with being afraid better because they live most of their life afraid. So they also sometimes just don't get afraid in certain situations because they are familiar with them. But do in other situations where their not. And Murphy's Law loves throwing new situations at them. And their not ashamed of their fear, they just deal with it. Which of course being constantly scared and stressed can't be good for their health but I guess it's better than being dead. Long term screaming hurts the larynx but a good shout in surprise alerts anyone nearby of possible danger. And sometimes its just fun. (Like when Zack and Milo look at the cliff, look at each other, and then scream. It's like a weird social ritual more than anything). Though Zack keeps yelling, Milo quickly goes back to his normal tone. It's just height. He knows how to deal with that. But he does get upset about aliens potentially eating him (though admittedly that's only once they tell him they're going to eat him), and about Melissa potentially being a robot.

But they're still susceptible to jump scares because things that jump out are actually threats to them, and supernatural threats aren't something the Murphy siblings usually deal with so that's also an unknown. I also think generally they tend to get less scared in group settings but I'd have to actually think about that. But in situations where they are with their family they rarely get too upset, probably because on some level they feel safe with the Murphy adults around. (Murphy Family Vacation, Murphy Family Christmas, Game Night). Even when things are getting a little weird (see Game Night). And also maybe a more meta reason of it is that they scream when its funny, and its funnier when the whole Murphy clan isn't screaming but it still gives us a potential character detail.

On the other hand, Zack doesn't get scared easily by halloween scares, even though he usually gets scared by Murphy's Law more than anyone else. Zack has been getting jump scared since a kid, but things jumping out at him isn't really scary, especially stereotypical halloween things. Because its all a performance that he's gotten acclimated to. Not dangerous. But things like getting chased by actual rocks or dangling in high places is an actual threat. So he acts appropriately. But the Murphy siblings are more used to those things so have some idea on how to handle them.

Which maybe on some level, it makes sense that Zack having grown out of being scared easily would now be getting his kicks from Murphy's Law after he got over the whole "real actual peril" part.

[browniefox]

ooo i used to be really big into classpecting in my homestuck days. off the top of my head, id say cloud: maid of void, tifa: mage of blood, barret: seer of doom, aerith: heir of hope, yuffie: thief of time, red: knight of breath, zack: knight of void, and seph: witch of light!! (unfortunatley i dont have a super great hold on cid/vincent/reeve as characters soi dont have a really clear idea for them). happy 4/13!!

Whoa! Thanks! Hope you don't mind me digging right into these.

Cloud: Maid of Void, I can definitely see this as someone filled with nothing or battling with the sense of nothing inside of him. I actually could also see him being a Prince of Blood or something along those lines, a double-edged sword where he starts out destroying his relations with other people, but then being able to use his bonds with others more as a 'power of friendship' style weapon. Also possibly Doom, intially dooming himself but ultimately utilizing it to doom and destroy Sephroth...?

Tifa: Mage of Blood. I love this as Tifa being away of her connections to others and trying to utilize those connections, be the glue that's keeping people together, and especially utilizing that to keep Cloud together. I could also see her being a Maid of Life, especially in regards to how she ultimately is the one who heals Cloud's mind.

Barret: Seer of Doom is such an interesting choice! Like, how he can see the state of the world, which makes it all the more interesting how much he strives to change things. Another could be Knight of Hope, by the way he's sort of the face of the AVALANCHE, which is hope, and how he can provide that hope and drive to others.

Aerith: Heir of Hope, super goes with Aerith and just totally embodying hope for the team, and then how that hope takes a hit with her death. I'd suggest also Heir of Time, with the connection of death and fate really matching her, especially in regards to Rebirth.

Yuffie: Theif of Time. The girl is born to be a theif lol, though giving her such a death-connected aspect is super interesting. I could maybe see Theif of Mind or Space better? Yuffie's a hard one to match up tbh. Mind because it has to do with karma and intelligence, and I think it'd combine interestingly with how Yuffie is often underestimated, as well as the retribution she's seeking for Wutai. And then Space because she strikes me as creative I guess haha (and let's be real, I am a little bit trying to get both Time and Space into here).

Nanaki: Knight of Breath. Fuck yeah give the one who was trapped the freedom aspect. No notes, I love this.

Zack: Knight of Void. I like how this connects him to Cloud, but I'm not sure how I like it for Zack. To me, he hits me more as a Page of Light or something that actually reached his full potential, with Light and fortune kinda going well with the DMW and then how it fails him in the end.

Sephiroth: Witch of Light. Super interesting take! Controlling fate! I think you could also easily make him a Witch of Doom, which is also kind of fate-inclined, but if I recall correclty Doom is often more towards oneself. Still either way I could see it.

Cid: I don't know him super well either, but I could see him being Hope or Blood considering he becomes the leader after Cloud is gone and kind of needs to rally the troops. Maybe a Rogue, being able to take those aspects and share them around to the group?

Vincent: Considering his whole deal with the various beasts inside of him, I'd be tempted to say Heir or Prince of Rage. But then, considering he's still alive despite everything he's been through, i could also see him being a Life player.

Reeve: Easy, Mage of Heart, aware of his power of splintering himself and utilizing that with Cait Sith. Also possibly adding to how he's at the 'heart' of a lot of the problems aka within Shinra Tower.

If anyone has any other thoughts on the matter, would love to hear them!

[glowyjellyfish]

I’m slowly inching my way forward in Rebirth, and I have to say I am actually really delighted with Cait Sith so far. It’s not like I know yet how he works in this canon, but still… lol I see you Reeve. “It feels good to do good”? Hanging his head in shame at the sight of the Avalanche wanted poster? Giving an impromptu lecture on the history of Corel Prison and lamenting that it’s not living up to its potential? I see you Reeve.

Also, Cait Sith is friggin adorable, singing a meow song to guests with his little Scottish voice and having to jump to reach elevator buttons.

Progressed a little further and OMG they showed us Reeve doing his thing. He appears to indeed be doing both genuinely joining Avalanche and spying for Shinra at the same time, if enjoying himself too much and showing too much of himself is anything to go by. Plus, Tseng is clearly aware of what he’s doing and went from him to Rufus to report on Aerith’s position… although it’s not clear yet whether anybody but Tseng knows this, and we DO know the Turks have some mixed feelings about lots of things, so it’ll be interesting to see where this goes. I’m pleased they managed to keep “Cait Sith invites himself to join the party” while also making it more plausible, ie he joined up by being aggressively helpful.

Also, everybody knows that Cait Sith is being controlled by somebody and is something resembling a robot, like without even questioning it. L O L. Of course, they lightly questioned him and he immediately jumped to I AM NOBODY IMPORTANT JUST A LOW LEVEL SHINRA EMPLOYEE WORKING A JOB DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT, so maybe they assumed he was an autonomous robot not unlike Chadley until that moment, who knows. The excess of magic and whimsy in Rebirth has made me realize that these people do indeed live in a world of magic that is sometimes very silly, they’re not gonna question the existence of a sentient magic cat robot person, it’ll only be a shock when they realize one of the Shinra directors was expressing himself by helping them and singing a silly meow song. And also reporting on their movement to Tseng, because if he doesn’t prove his loyalty to Rufus his job could be in danger. So what if he helps them a little too enthusiastically and has an absolute blast doing it?

(Hahahaaaaa my fanfic Reeve is much better at and more concerned with hiding this than canon Reeve, I can’t even tell if he’s actually hiding it from people who aren’t Tseng or not. He’s at least hiding it from his assistant, probably. Oh dear I knew I should have finished my fanfics before Rebirth, even though they aren’t supposed to be fully based on the remake trilogy I am definitely gonna feel obliged to do some rewrites.)

(It does please me to note that there is so far zero reason to see Cait Sith as a separate person from Reeve, very clearly he just basically is Reeve, and we were also shown that he was using his computer to photoshop the wanted posters at a time he also should be actively controlling Cait Sith. Yayyyyy headcanon accurate so far!)

It really does delight me that Reeve is having way too much fun doing this. Of course he is, the man’s horribly repressed.

And Cait Sith is indeed fun to play!

Look, there has been so much else incredibly good and fun and interesting about Rebirth, but Reeve is, still, my favorite, and he’s undoubtedly not as common to talk about as, say, Zack, so I am just gonna commit to being a person who just rambles about Reeve on tumblr periodically because I love him.

I’m just at the desert sidequests section after completing all the Good Saucer/Corel Prison plot—fantastic job with Barret’s character development, by the way—and I am so psyched for the 1000% more Reeve content this game is bestowing upon me. I’m just gonna state for the record real quick that as of right now, I think:

-he controls Cait Sith with his mind, with a magic ability, and Cait Sith is also largely a robot

-he is playing both sides, attempting to mitigate his guilt and the evil things Shinra does by helping Avalanche, while also passing information on them to Tseng (who passes it on to Rufus) probably to prove his loyalty and keep his position

-I haven’t totally decided whether this was all his own idea or if somebody told him to go spy on them, but he is clearly way too into the Join Avalanche part of the plan and is going above and beyond on his own initiative

-because we were directly shown Tseng’s involvement, if the Marlene kidnapping happens, I think it will 100% be something Tseng sets up as insurance. It wouldn’t be Reeve’s idea, not with how sympathetic he is towards Avalanche, and Tseng has some history there and knows where Marlene is and how much she means to them.

Okay, I suspect I started repeating myself at a few points in there so I’m gonna stop. Prepare yourselves for me to just lose my mind and ramble every time Cait Sith and/or Reeve do anything remotely important.

[rainbowcarousels]

I'm going to need your thoughts Sephiroth for the character asks 🥹🖤3 <3 <3

Sexuality Headcanon: Gay. So gay. Did I mention he's gay? I mean I think there is some potential wiggle room with Aerith but that's because her balls are bigger than his.

Gender Headcanon: I think in practice from an outsider POV, more agender than anything else. Gender is not really something that he thinks of and interacts with other than his discomfort with how he gets portrayed in the media. That said, I think if you asked him, he would say CIS male because that's how he self identifies so I'll respect that and say CIS male.

A ship I have with said character: Have I mentioned Genseph to you lately? No? Then I must be dead. Like I love AGSZC, I do, and even more than that, I love AGS in general because I believe they balance each other out but I could happily ship Genesis/Sephiroth on it's own maerits, but I can't see Sephiroth/Angeal on it's own. It's not a notp or anything, it just doesn't work in terms of balance for me. Genesia and Sephiroth fire and ice in balance and it just works. They push and pull at each other, both literally and metaphorically, and what they say and what their body says are sometimes in total contrast which fascinates me. Genesis is quite literally the choatic colour for a monochromatic world and Sephiroth needs that chaos to find himself so he doesn't get the desire for human smores.

A BROTP I have with said character: It's a toss up. I would say Aerith because that same feral energy comes from her (family trait clearly) but they both also have this shared experience of being former Shinra lab kiddos and her enthusiasm is only rivalled by Zack's. I feel like Sephiroth always needs someone to just grab him and move instead of asking him to come along and Aerith does that. That said, professionally, I'm fond of him and Tseng interacting. Like they have so much to deal with between choatic red heads and Heidegger being a few fries short of a moogle meal at his job, let them bond.

A NOTP I have with said character: Vincent. I can't ship something where 'that's not how your mum used to do it' is a response that could be canonically correct.

A random headcanon: Understands so much more than he's given credit for. I love to write roboseph as much as the next person, but I feel like he leans into it in a very Captain Holt type way and it's become part of his sense of humour to fuck with people by pretending he doesn't understand something or that he's not understanding their meaning till they get annoyed and let him be or call him on it. This is helped along by being so deadpan that it's almost impossible to know when he's being serious. He is a study in microexpressions and few people understand them.

General Opinion over said character: I think one of the things that throws me about Sephiroth is when people can't see CC era Sephiroth being the same guy as OG/AC era Sephiroth, but for me, this is one of the things that drew me to him as a character. That he is someone who got broken into pieces and is picking them up, emulating people, trying to rebuild a sense of self but clinging onto this belief that he's special because he's always been special. Like this is a person who is horribly broken in a lot of ways and one day, I want to write AC era and give him an arc with that but I think my main opinion of him is that I love that he's got all of these facets of his character.

He is the kid looking for validation and family from TFS, he is still the awkward dude from CC, he is the person who lost everything and chose to just get a meteor and start over and he's someone who is afraid of losing whatever he has of himself left. Like he contains multitudes, he's a fascinating character made all the more fascinating by the more normal things about him.

[masterjarthub]

Chuggington Headcanon: Rosa

Tonight, we'll be talking about Rosa, the Spanish crane chugger introduced in the 6th season episode "Not From Around Here" where she moves to Chuggington from her home of San Locomota, to try and find jobs that utilize her to her full potential, and in the end, she is recruited by Zack as part of the Chuggineers.

In my headcanon, Rosa never joined the Chuggineers.

The reasons for this is because with how many characters and locations were written off and Herschend's rather mixed writing quality and their overall depiction of the world of Chuggington, (I'm not normally much of the reviewer type, but that elephant in the room shall be covered some other time) It really feels like they were hastily scraping the bottom of the barrel with the choice of having Rosa join the Chuggineers...

Another thing to note:

Notice how the Chuggineers all match each other, Zack, Fletch and Tyne all have matching stripes and certain parts. Even Brewster has the Chuggineer attire to some degree, but Rosa does not. She still wears that brightly colored Carribean styled paint job.

Some of you fellow Chuggington fans who have been around a hot minute on the internet may remember user TranquilSkies, or on here, @chuggingtonfanatic , who is no longer active in the Chuggington fanbase as far as I'm aware, but around the time of S6, she used to write some headcanons for Chuggington herself, and I was greatly inspired.

In her headcanons for the Chuggineers, she mentions that Rosa turns down the Chuggineer livery in favor of her own, due to her still being very attached to her homeland. I very much see this being canon and while I agree that Rosa would have good character dynamics with the Chuggineers, having her part of this team just felt kinda forced and doesn't exactly sit right with me, especially since Fletch and Tyne were two of the characters cut from S6 and Rosa pretty much replaces them...

Now, I DO NOT mean to say this out of bias in any kind of offense, but I'm sorry- I... I just can't get over how trippy this feels... They did Fletch and Tyne dirty...

So now, this begs the question: If I am not having Rosa become part of The Chuggineers, what is her new job in Chuggington? Where will she go?

Well recently, I finally found the answer: An underused character, and an EXTREMELY underused location, both of which were ALSO absent from S6...

...Yeah, I think it's already safe to say I'm gonna have to post a re-write of "Not From Around Here" someday, as well as the other misfires from S6, but anyway, here's what happens:

In this re-write, the episode plays out mostly the same, albiet with more characters of course.

After caring passengers with Koko, Wilson, on his way to deliver extra safety barriers, shows Rosa the quarry of Rocky Ridge where Speedy is working, and she helps him with his work. After deciding hauling heavy stone is not for her, Brewster meets up with Rosa and asks for her help; The Chuggineers are repairing a wooden bridge in the countryside and need some timber, so Rosa offers to pick some up from The Timber Yard while Brewster is busy collecting ballast.

Little did she know, she would not only encounter a familiar face on the way, but a VERY close call as well...

As Rosa heads down from the quarry after getting directions to the Timber Yard from Brewster, she comes across Rocky Ridge Rickety Bridge, which is just before the quarry.

Speedy was coming out of the mine and crossing the old bridge with loaded hopper cars. Then there was trouble...

The weight of Speedy and his heavy stone cars made the old bridge sag and creak, and only after he made it safely across, a chunk of the bridge snapped off with a CRACK, about to crash down on another chugger!

Rosa rushed in and caught the falling wooden beams just in time. But when she saw who exactly the chugger she saved was, she could not believe her eyes...

The chugger was none other than Skylar, whose model was reused for Rosa. Although we've known him since the 3rd season, he unfortunately did not get much focus due to the advanced training update in S4-S5 before he was written out. Regardless, he and Rosa are indeed siblings.

Thankfully, Skylar was not hurt, and he and Rosa were very happy to be reunited after so many years. Skylar did live in San Locomota with Rosa for a period of time before going of to The Training Academy in Tootington, to pursue his career of becoming a trainer.

By this point in the show, the trainees of Chuggington would become less dependent of both Dunbar and Skylar as their trainers.

As we know, Wilson, Brewster and Koko have well already joined Chug Patrol, The Chuggineers, and Speed Fleet, respectively, and Hoot and Toot are recently promoted to advanced training as shunting engines in The Depot, giving Dunbar the extra set of wheels he needed. Even little Piper would have completed the basics of training and find her own role in Chuggington becoming a frequent helper for Mtambo at The Safari Park.

With the younger trainees needing less and less lessons from Dunbar and Skylar, Their time would go completely into their work. Skylar became The Timber Yard's designated chugger, which would explain his semi-regular usage after S3, since The Timber Yard has not been seen at all since the first season.

Rosa and Skylar head off together to The Timber Yard and load up the timber to take to The Chuggineers. It is then Rosa finds that she really enjoys working there - loading and pulling logs was the perfect job for a crane chugger, and even better, she had her own long lost brother to share it with; she had found just the right job for her in Chuggington at last!

The two set of with the timber for not one, but now two bridges in need of repair, catching up and Rosa getting to know The Chuggineers for the rest of the day, which raps up the episode.

To this day, Rosa and Skylar work happily together at The Timber Yard, and while neither of them are part of The Chuggineers, they do help them out with certain construction jobs around Chuggington from time to time, and become very close friends indeed.

Although Rosa can be a little shy around those she's not too familiar with, it doesn't stop her from proudly sharing her heritage of San Locomota with all her fellow chuggers who welcomed her with open arms, and her experience and knowledge from navigating complicated routes to keeping loads even does wonders.

She wasn't sure at first, but while she is indeed still attached to San Locomota, she can now safely say that she is proud to call Chuggington her new home.

(Oh, and before we close off, I should also mention that Rosa and Skylar's close call with the bridge was also based one of TranquilSkies's headcanons, so credit to her)

[jumpywhumpywriter]

A Life in the Hands of the Enemy -- Villain reluctantly saves Hero's Life part 12

Warnings: violence, bleeding, near-death experience, captivity whump, cruel Villain whumper

She knew that her teammates wouldn't stand half a chance without her fighting alongside them. After all, Amber was the strongest member. The winning card in every match. Without her, her team was vulnerable. They could get themselves killed trying to fill in her place. And none of them had accelerated healing like she did, they physically couldn't take too much of a beating before potentially succumbing to injury.

Zack steepled his fingers, giving her his full attention as she continued.

"Listen, I'll give you anything you want. If you let me go, I promise I'll never bother you again. You can disappear off the map forever and I won't try to track you down or stop you as Hero ever again. Whatever you want, name it and it's yours." Amber hated how shaky she had gotten, worry about her friends overriding every other thought. She NEEDED to help them. Couldn't he see that? And wasn't she offering him a good deal? He wanted her to leave him and his evil deeds alone, didn't he? She held her breath as Zack looked thoughtful, but her hopes sank when she detected the hint of pitying amusement hidden in his face.

"A tempting offer, but... no deal," he said impassively. "You are the only thing I want in my possession... Your unique powers are mysterious beyond belief, I find it absolutely fascinating to study. And to hold so much raw power in my hands... I wouldn't trade that just so you can go play Hero again and save the day. I have too many experiments and theories to test out on you as a 'lab rat', for lack of better words."

Amber failed to suppress a small shudder, wracking her mind for anything else she could possibly offer to convince him to release her. "What if I promised to come back once I had helped my team stop New Villain? Willingly give myself up to whatever crude experiments you would put me through, and gave my word that you will have my absolute compliance through it all?" She tried to bargain for her freedom.

Zack leaned back on the couch and stretched with an exaggerated yawn. "Still no. Even if I DID trust you to return yourself to me when the fight was over and not find a loophole around it, your 'friends' would never allow it. I've seen how loyal they are. They would do anything to stop you, even if it meant physically restraining you to keep you from coming back, for your own safety."

"But there has to be something el--" Amber started to argue, but Zack cut her off with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"There isn't anything else you could offer me that I want. I already have you here, magic and all. I'm not risking that opportunity passing me by." He stood up and walked over to stand in front of her. "However, if you do exactly what I say when I say it, we can get through my experiments rather quickly, and then I plan to strike down New Villain with you at my side, willingly or not. Hopefully I can run my tests and you'll be out on the battlefield in no time at all. You might even beat your friends to it, save them from painful deaths..."

Zack intentionally trailed off, letting her imagination run with the idea. It was one of his favorite tactics, letting unknown variables do the work for him, uncertainty clouding his victims' judgements. Dangling a carrot of hope in front of them for motivation. Hope that they could save their loved ones, or save themselves from further pain... There were so many possibilities!

He'd never been particularly skilled at physical combat. His wars had always been fought with his IQ and quick-thinking genius brain. He liked to understand the minds of his enemies, seek out their greatest fears and desires, and twist them to his liking, alter perspectives and distort realities. "So... will you cooperate?" He asked in a smooth, honeyed voice, stepping even closer to his prisoner so that he stood menacingly before her.

Amber held his gaze unflinchingly, eyes narrowed to twin slits of pure hatred, and when her answer came, it was forced, as if it physically pained her to say it. "Begrudgingly..."

Zack smiled in that malicious, but not quite hostile way of his, his too-perfect face almost charming if Amber didn't know a venomous viper lurked beneath the stoic facade.

"Good to hear," he purred coldly. "Then let's get started... shall we?"

The End... for now? (Sike! After this story has been on pause for months on end, I finally continued it!!)

⏪️ Back Next ⏩️

Masterlist

[wannaeatramyeon]

Okok so I read in another post a hc of all the lookism boys (+ Yenna) living in a house together and i thought what if 👀 there was a den mother of some sort. Like an older little hispanic lady that sees them in her house and just decides that yes these are her kids and she will help them find their way back. Obviously Yenna is her favorite ans she can do no wrong. I haven’t caught up with Lookism completely (just htf and mk) but i feel like the unacknowledged mommy issues have potential. Only if you can of course if this isn’t something you can vibe with i totally get it.

Oh anon, you mean THIS PIECE OF ART from Ying/@mymxnfgh?

Anon, you really asking for WWIII with all these boys vying for your attention huh. Let's give this a go, I think I may be waaaay off the mark.

Lastly, I really wouldn't be able to write hispanic well. British? Yep. East Asian? Sure. So... just casually skipping over this part of the ask.

Lookism Boys living together + vying for your attention dynamics

Platonic. From least chaotic to most. Based on this hc from Ying/@mymxnfgh

Daniel Park and Jay Hong don't really have any mommy issues, so they stay away from the general chaos. They're the 'quiet' ones (especially Jay). You make sure to keep an eye on them so they don't get left out.

Honestly, absolute sweethearts. If you want anything done, then you know you can count on these two. Low-key your faves as they don't cause any headaches.

For Eli, Warren and Yenna, family comes first. And family is Hostel. They're initially guarded, but ultimately they're still children looking after a child. You have a lot of patience for them and take them under your wing, especially Yenna.

You spend a lot of time with Warren trying to help him with his speech, and you absolutely forbid Eli from cutting anyone's hair. You threaten if he so much as touch a hair on Yenna's head then he's dead.

DG is too cool to make any overt bid for your attention. Makes a lot of sly comments to try and sow dissent, but just gets on with his own thing. He gets more enjoyment out of watching the general chaos.

The subtle rivalry of Vasco and Zack would return. Vasco, thinking Zack is a bit of dick, and Zack would of course think of Vasco as an idiot.

Their rivalry is relatively harmless, but causes a lot of headaches day to day. They would fight over washing the dishes, but somehow break everything. Doing the laundry and everything is pink. Cook to impress you but nothing is edible. You appreciate their intentions but your life would be so much easier if they just left it to you.

What can we say about Johan. We all know what this guy would be like. He is THE mommy issues. Jealous that he doesn't get your undivided attention. Clingy and needy, constantly around you. Sulks and throws tantrums if he doesn't get his way. Luckily you have Zack, Jake and Daniel to tell him to be reasonable, and Gun who threatens to beat his childishness out of him.

Having you around as a constant, comforting presence eases Johan's psyche over time. It doesn't completely undo all the hardships but it's healthy for him to realise he has someone there for him.

Goo would absolutely try and pull rank over Samuel over who gets to spend time with you. Sammy is all smiles and 'Yes, Sir" but as soon as Goo turns his back, Sammy would be immediately sucking up to you.

They never seem to fight, but they constantly snipe at each other. The insults escalate from barely veiled to full blown expletives and cursing. It's surprisingly creative. "Samuel it's a good job you killed you dad and he's looking up at you from hell because you are a disappointment." "Goo, the smell of bullshit coming out of your mouth is putting Y/N off their dinner."

(Jake and Gun loves these exchanges)

Jake and Samuel would be politely smiling at each other one moment, and then trying to kill each other the next. It's less to do with you, and more to do with their own brand of communication.

Jake, on his own, you find simply lovely and Samuel has his charms. But together. JFC.

You do try and help them work out their differences. All this mess with Gangsters and Gapryong Kim but turns out that they would fight over anything. Even something as mundane as how to cook something the 'correct' way. It's easier for them to just duke it out. They always make up in the end... but inevitably will be fighting again in the next hour.

Gun and Goo are surprisingly helpful to have around to help keep some of the others in line. And it's not like they really have any mommy issues and they can be respectful.

Peace doesn't last though. They have a short fuse, and will use ANY excuse to fight each other. Jake and Samuel throwing punches is one thing. But you worry about Gun and Goo literally blowing up the house to spite each other.

Of course this is when DG decides to speak up and egg them on.

BONUS - Seo Haesu is the stray scruffy kid that seems to always be hanging around outside. You disapprove of his dirty clothes, his overgrown bangs (No, Eli. No scissors!), and feel bad for how he's constantly hungry. You offer him free meals and somewhere to sleep.

He's wary af as first. Uses the excuse that he wants to suss you out to hang around.

Would get on well with Zack, Goo and Jake. 'Well' might be an exaggeration, but these 3 have teasing big brother vibes. Their lively ways would help to draw Haesu out of his shell... or he might strangle them.

[kimberlyannharts]

actually I would love a rant about how JJ sucks as a character

Merry early Christmas to you then, Anon!

Like I think what makes everyone clutching their pearls over the sanctity of JJ’s character and place in the canon so ridiculous is he is barely a character in the first place.  He is a plot device in SotD, a narrative goal for Tommy, as the story wasn’t about JJ developing into someone worthy of the Dragon Shield or even an SPD cadet - he's already done all of that. The story was about Tommy realizing he should retire and hand over his stuff already.  And you have a son who’s pretty good at being a ranger, so……….he should take it!  Great!  That’s it. I genuinely don't know why they didn't do some kind of Goofy Movie-esque father/son journey together, especially if you really wanted to discuss this idea of him feeling like he's in his dad's shadow. His existence in the show amounts to namedrops and one voiceover line in the Ninja Steel special, and the only bits of characterization these amount to are he’s a kid who goes to karate camp.  To me it comes off like people are attached more to JJ’s POTENTIAL as a character rather than HIMSELF as a character, in like a “well, maybe one day they’ll give him his own book/show/whatever” sort of way, which….it’s been five years since SotD.  Hasbro is gearing up to do a reboot and even then, as we’ve talked about many times, they don’t want to put focus on cop characters.  Unless some stuff is getting retconned, I am not holding my breath.      

The reason I call Minh the superior legacy character by comparison is because there actually was time and space dedicated to showing how she stands out as a person and a character beyond her being Trini’s daughter; in fact, her being Trini’s daughter is the least interesting part about her (in no small part because Trini herself was handled very badly by that special.)  What makes her interesting is her personality, her relationship with Zack, how she’s suddenly thrown into the deep end of the PR world by way of great tragedy, and her arc from a vengeful kid to a true hero (the special’s shaky writing of this arc notwithstanding.  But at least I get what they were TRYING to do here.)  JJ did not have anything CLOSE to that.  

Something else about him that’s funny but also frustrating because it’s obviously not intended by the writers, but still happens WAY too often for my liking, is how his existence is honestly a detriment to a lot of women in this franchise kjkfdj he was the catalyst for the old SPD ranking drama, as him being green meant Syd and Z had to stay as pink and yellow (and no, them throwing in some random female OC no one remembers as blue does not make up for it.)  And then….Kat……well…..I think this belongs in a discussion that covers more than just JJ, as in a way how they handled Trini in OaA is a very similar situation, but the fact of the matter is that since JJ’s inclusion in the canon Kat’s existence has boiled down to being his mother rather than a veteran ranger with her own life and work, no matter how many times the show and books TRY to be like “No look!  See!  She’s a super cool badass wife who keeps everyone in line!  She’s off doing her own things, too, we swear!”  my brother in Christ the same 30th anniversary story that tries to show off how cool and independent she is ALSO has a scene where she’s like “it’s okay honey, you take care of the Ranger missions while I stay home with JJ, it’s fine :)”  They’ve made it very clear that JJ is Tommy’s son, Tommy’s legacy, while Kat is his stay-at-home caretaker, WHICH IS FINE FOR A WOMAN TO BE, but not in this narrative, where Kat’s time as a ranger is treated as irrelevant compared to Tommy’s. (A good example is how, in SotD, only Tommy was listed as JJ's emergency contact, with no mention of Kat. I'm almost certain there was an early draft of this book where Tommy did not have a wife.)  How do we have two (2) comic stories where we have married TomKat but Kat doesn’t morph.  And not as a plot point or character bit or something (I think it actually would be very interesting if Kat not having much attachment to her time as a Ranger was actually intentional) but just in a “we don’t feel like involving Kat in her husband’s adventures” situation.  Hello????????  I know that kind of feels off-topic to why JJ sucks but trust me, it’s partly his fault.  And it’s why I’m making such a big deal over the potential mother/daughter Ranger teamup for Kim and Olivia, because the alternate mother of Tommy's alternate kid has gotten such a raw deal.     

And the SPD/Dragon Shield combo is ugly.

[pen-and-umbra]

idk if everyone checked out latest halloween special, so SPOILER alert ahead. why do you think sephiroth stuck w/ shinra for so long with all the crap they out him thru? i mean ec is EXPLICIT abt sephiroth suffering mistreatment at hojos hands, not to mention those lies shinra created abt him being this hero figure. and he only starts thinking about *maybe* quitting on the eve of Niebelheim mission, like whyyyyy??

Who can say? There could be numerous reasons.

For one thing, I believe Sephiroth understood he couldn't truly escape ShinRA's clutches and sever all ties with the organization. He was too valuable to lose, the pinnacle of ShinRA inventions, a source of non-degradable cells; they wouldn't let him go. At best, he could hope for a life like Aerith's: loosely free but on a leash, watched over by Turks and whatever other means of surveillance were available. It doesn't help that half the places in the area have a strong ShinRA presence, and Sephiroth is a well-known public figure with an eye-catching appearance. He couldn't just blend in with the crowd because he was too famous and well-publicized. Perhaps Angeal and Genesis were not the first SOLDIER members to desert active duty, and younger Sephiroth witnessed other deserters being chased to hell and back (I have a theory that the FS trio might eventually face this fate). If such an incident occurred, it could have left an indelible mark. After all, living under constant surveillance or a threat of pursuit is not exactly the normal life Sephiroth desired.

One could argue that ShinRA couldn't do anything against him if he chose to quit or flee. I disagree to a point. They did manage to bring down Zack — it took an army, but they did it, and Zack, mind you, held his own against Genesis. Now Sephiroth is on a whole other level, but he is still human — at least before Nibelheim events. He requires sleep, sustenance, water. If a direct confrontation is out of the question, ShinRA could always resort to subterfuge. Poison, gas, sedatives, in water/food/air when he's less vigilant — you name it. The only issue left would be containment. If they wanted him for cells and tissue, they could just arrange something to keep him comatose. Not to mention that the remake makes it abundantly clear they have no regard for collateral damage. They could burn down an entire town just to get to him. ShinRA most likely had dirty tricks up its sleeve that could cause problems even for SOLDIER members — not necessarily in the form of firearms or other weaponry.

Another reason could be one of existential nature. Sephiroth had been raised his entire life to be a killing machine. He lacks both the vision and the skill set to be anything else. Ever Crisis openly states that Sephiroth had little prior experience with people prior to his first field mission with the FS trio, meaning that it was mainly lab and training staff that influenced him during his formative years. As a true psychopath, Hojo is a master manipulator; in FF7R, it is he who suggests using psychological torment to break Aerith, so it's fair to assume a young child might have also received a chunk of that. Knowing Hojo, I wouldn't be surprised if he made it a point to instill this belief in Sephiroth: you're only good for killing, and without ShinRA, you're nothing (or maybe it was even more personal, with Hojo substituting ShinRA for himself). Those ideas are very likely to have become absorbed into the very core of Sephiroth's sense of self as he matured. And once something has been drilled into your head since childhood, it is difficult to break the mold. When you combine that with the fact that his legend began as a deceptive marketing ploy, you have a potentially damaged sense of self-worth. You'll get someone who is confident on the battlefield but lost beyond it. Fighting, as short-sighted as it was, gave him a sense of purpose. It sufficed for a while, being as good a reason as any other.

There's also the matter of belonging. Sephiroth's obsession with finding his family stems from a sense of rootlessness and an unsatisfied need to belong. The game is subtle about it, but it's still there: it's his sense of being different from others, his inability to relate to normal experiences (having a hometown, for example), his sensitivity to cyborg comments (the implication here being that the question of his own nature was salient for Sephiroth already back then), and his reaction to "it's not cool to ask about mother" (which implies that people teased or berated him for wanting to know). Still, as bad as ShinRA was, it gave him purpose and provided whatever meaningful relationships he had. It gave him stability. Unlike the world outside, it was a known variable, and as the saying goes, better a devil you know. As far as my guess goes, Sephiroth was in no small part simply reluctant to shift the status quo and go for drastic changes, which is very human in hindsight. Humans are conformists by nature; uncertainty generally frightens us, so we avoid it. To him, the outside world may have appeared to have no place for him: no place to belong, no place to mingle, no skillset for a living other than wielding a blade. He eventually considers leaving once he realizes that whatever anchored him to the company is no longer there, with his friends gone and ShinRA completely discrediting itself with human experiments.

It's tragic in retrospect, too; as Ever Crisis points out, Sephiroth knew the company was using him from a young age, but his need to belong and have a purpose was strong enough for him to willingly turn a blind eye to its questionable ethics.