#ff7 ramble

[accala]

Zack Fair had:

A girl who spent 4 years pining after him to the point she chased an afterimage of him (Aerith)

A girl who looked after his parents and his hometown due to sheer guilt and devotion (Cissnei)

A boy who spent 4 years trying to find him after he went missing (Kunsel)

And a boy who adopted his entire being and became his legacy after his death (Cloud)

Zack Fair was NOT playing.

[getvalentined]

I mentioned this elsewhere but I can get into more detail about it here: one of my favorite things to do when writing fic for a series that isn't placed on some AU version of Earth is to use legitimate but archaic or obsolete terms for things: "dioxidane" instead of hydrogen peroxide, "bhanga" instead of marijuana, "shellshock" instead of PTSD, and so on. I think it gives the work a more realistic air while also solidifying the setting as being somewhere else, and still being something that a reader can look up if necessary.

Also a huge fan of repurposing common idioms for the fictional setting in question. I play in FF7, and these are a few of my favorites:

In for a penny, in for a pound → In for a gil, in for a grand

Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic → Washing windows in Midgar at Meteorfall

A bull in a china shop → A grandhorn in a glass boutique

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth → Don't look a gift bird in the beak

Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that's why I [verb] on company time → Boss makes a fortune, I make a gil, that's why I [verb] while I'm paying the bills

Cold as a witch's tit → Chilly as Shiva's armpit

Hung like a horse → Built like a behemoth

If wishes were horses beggars would ride → If wishes were chocobos beggars would fly

Idioms catch on because there's a particular flow and rhythm to them, so you can't always just swap out a word and expect it to work—you can't just plug in "chocobo" everywhere common turns of phrase use "horse," for instance, because the extra syllables throw off the flow and make the phrase awkward to say. You gotta figure out the pattern in the idiom, where the emphasis hits, etc., and then rework that to work in-universe.

Stuff like this is very silly, but it really makes a difference to me with regard to readability and suspension of disbelief, so I really enjoy doing it in my own work, and it's always fun to see it in someone else's!

[flshmans]

what do you think he wears casually

[dangoulains-devotion]

you mustn't blame yourself

[foreststarflaime]

Yes hello I just wanted to say as a massive sword nerd ily square for making Genesis actually use Rapier like a rapier—you do tend to do a lot of stabbing with rapiers because they’re so long (although you can cut with them too, but he doesn’t really have great rapier cutting form with Rapier so can’t win em all ig, video game limitations) and they actually draw attention to it in this little cutscene. Rapier is also quite a notably long and thin(er) weapon, like an actual rapier. Awesome little details that made me very happy!

Also, I think it’s perfect that they chose a specifically one-handed weapon for him, since as the resident swordmage it leaves his other hand always free to cast spells when needed without dropping his sword’s defense. And I don’t know how to describe it really but he really has a rapier person personality (fondly, ily my more rapier focused friends lmao)

[rosy-crow]

Every time we joke about Sephiroth not knowing crass slang, I’m like “Hahaha yes this is joke” but then I remember that this kid….

LITERALLY DIDN’T KNOW THAT WHISTLING TO ROUND PEOPLE UP WAS A RUDE GESTURE FDGBHJS

I shouldn’t laugh because it’s horrible and clearly Hojo didn’t teach him how to socialize normally, but it’s funny how the “not being familiar with crass slang” thing would probably have been pretty accurate actually. He’s apparently suuuper polite speech-wise in the Japanese translation as a kid, but not as formal in CC, so hopefully Gen and Angeal taught him slang and whatever else.

[crisiscutie]

Hello! I've longed been saddened by the lack of content for Rufus x reader on here and when I saw you wrote him I was excited! Could I please have Rufus with a small, snuggly darling that loves to sleep in unconventional places? Thank you and have a nice day ^w^

Sure, here's some headcanons.

Okay, you were definitely the reason why Rufus was late to some conferences. You tend to get sleepy on the drive or flights, and your sleepiness is CONTAGIOUS.

Your tendency to sleep in odd places led to him creating a game of where the hell you could be sleeping at when you're nowhere to be found. Even the Turks got in on it, since they're sometimes sent to retrieve you.

Don't ask how, but somehow you've managed to fall asleep while hiding in his trench coat during some important business meetings.

Despite that, he finds a way to keep them going even though you looked incredibly cute while snoozing away. Expect him to discreetly slide his hand under his trench coat to stroke your head occasionally.

And no one is gonna say a damn thing when he carries your petite body out of the room when the meetings are over. Kinda because they're already used to your weird sleeping antics.

He'd get a little antsy about you going into small spaces like cabinets because he couldn't go in there to cuddle with you.

He already pampers you, but expect for him to buy you luxurious blankets made from the finest silk to ensure your comfort while sleeping.

You almost missed his inauguration because your sleepiness struck you at the worst time, but thankfully, Tseng managed to bail you out.

Sometimes, yhe sudden silence in Rufus' office always makes Reno and Rude feel uneasy as they cautiously approach. They fear that they might interrupt a... "certain" moment between the two of you. Through, much to their relief, they often just find you and Rufus snuggling.

Rufus switches between being the big and little spoon, depending on how draining his busy day was. You're happy to adjust for him either way.

Sometimes, he will have to sneak into bed with you to sleep. Once he's in your embrace, he'll have a tough time getting out of bed in the morning.

[rottenpumpkin13]

Sooo do you guys think that after Angeal died, Sephiroth believed he was cursed because all his loved ones kept dying and he was the common denominator behind why he was alone? And that maybe he pushed Zack away and never fully committed to the friendship because he saw Glenn's brightness, Genesis' determination, and traces of Angeal in the sword and the honor, and couldn't stand losing them all again, or....?

[izunias-meme-hole]

Can we just talk about how bad of a father Hojo has been to Sephiroth since the OG, and how much WORSE he is in the Compilation and Remake continuities?

Between treating his own son like a science project, keeping every last cell on his body in cylinders, the entire Silver Elite bullshit, assisting him in absorbing the lifestream, etc, its clear that he's the type of guy that would make Shou Tucker cringe in disgust, right? So like why does the larger fandom rarely go into detail about this guy when talking about Sephiroth?

I'm not mad I'm just baffled.

[altocat]

On the heels of countering Angeal-hate, I'm also putting it out there that I have seen more than a few people in this community attacking/complaining about Tifa in Rebirth for

Having trauma???

Being sad about her dead dad??? (you know, after losing her mom)

Having survivor's guilt????

Having emotional hang-ups/grief about LOSING HER FAMILY, WATCHING HER HOMETOWN BURN, AND NEARLY GETTING SKEWERED TO DEATH AS A GODDAMN TEENAGER

Like seriously wtf. And these weren't even Clerith people going after her. They just thought that her being rightfully upset/depressed in certain scenarios was "annoying" or somehow taking away from Cloud's trauma or the group's or something. Like god forbid any of these characters have mental health issues that influence how they interact and engage with conflict. Seriously, Tifa is an entirely blameless party in every one of these games and the fact that I've actually seen posts where her being upset about HER FATHER DYING is somehow a detriment to her character...seriously what the actual hell. And then the same people adding on that Brian Lockhart is apparently a dick for being protective and uptight about his daughter (still legally a child at the time btw) after recently losing his wife. Like??? That's completely understandable dad behavior?????? There's literally nothing wrong with it????????

Seriously, this community sometimes smh. Characters should be allowed to have internal conflicts. They should be allowed to feel things and narratively express those feelings without everyone dogpiling on them.

[thatrandombystander]

Zack is from the warm tropical jungles of Gongaga, while Cloud is from the chilly stony mountains of Nibelheim. What I'm taking from this is Zack would totally cuddle Cloud like a hot water bottle in the winter

[soundcrusher]

This scene just stuck with me, when playing DoC.

The tenderness of the moment, despite the eariness of it all.

Vincent came to Edge without anyone being there, and the only knowledge he had was Reeve telling him about how many dissappeared and that there were screams being carried by the wind (which is another scene that kind of stuck with me).

And then this. The last moment of a soldier, who saw Vincent come closer and reported all he could, before dying. And Vincent not only payed him his last respects, but also stayed until the end.

I don't know how to say it, but in that moment, I'm sure the soldier was happy to not die alone and found some kind of closure reporting what happened to someone who could do what he couldn't anymore, help.

[getvalentined]

Thinking about Sephiroth's motivations in Rebirth and getting super emotional because fuck, man, I get it. I get it. It doesn't excuse anything, but I get it in a way I can't even describe.

The Gi establish that those who aren't native to Gaia can't join the Lifestream basically at all, they're held separate entirely; the Gi have never been in it directly, their ghosts wander in a little liminal space they crafted for themselves. This is because they're entirely foreign—the Gi appear to be interdimensional travelers that were somehow marooned on Gaia at some point in ancient history, where they died and were left as ghosts, lingering forever unable to move on.

Sephiroth is slightly different in that he was born on Gaia and he does have human parents as well as Jenova, so he can force his way into the Lifestream as we saw in Lifestream Black and Advent Children, but he can't disseminate into it. He's still conscious and cognizant in some capacity even as the Lifestream fights to strip away the parts of him that belong on the planet, the parts of him that were human. This is, presumably, why his memory is all fucked up postcanon, whether we're talking novels or spinoffs; the Lifestream has been trying to take him but it can't, because there's too much Jenova in him, so the parts of him that have survived are just the parts that are the son of Jenova. He hasn't been fully worn down by the time the Crisis rolls around, likely because his body is still partially intact in the Northern Crater. (Again, see Lifestream Black, as well as the OG.)

And here's where everything starts to hurt.

He's alone. No matter what Sephiroth does, he's entirely, completely alone. There is nothing in the world like him, the planet won't accept him—it's not death, it's a homecoming, and Sephiroth has nowhere to go home to.

And he's done this before, this is a repeating timeline, he's been through this before over and over and over. And he's always alone in the end. He's always there at the edge of creation, the end of all things, the kindling of a new universe, and he's still there. All alone.

So this time he's calling for the ultimate Reunion. He's not just calling his Clones home, he's pulling all of time and space together into a single planet, bolstered with the lingering Lifestream of hundreds, thousands of others, timelines where things fell apart and Gaia sat on the precipice of death before Sephiroth found her and tore the Lifestream loose to feed the timeline he's chosen as the most likely to survive.

Three friends go into battle. One is captured (Genesis, in Deepground), one flies away (Angeal, who chose his own death), and the one who remains becomes a hero.

Heroes save the world.

But it doesn't matter, does it? Because he's going to be alone. Zack asks how he could turn his back on everything, and he says "Easily." Aerith asks how he could possibly want an eternity alone—because she doesn't understand, that's what Sephiroth has waiting for him anyway. That's all he's ever had waiting for him.

Sephiroth is going to save a world that will never accept him, because that's what heroes do, and then he's going to be alone forever. But this time, for the first time in every timeline he's experienced, he's going to do it on his own terms. He knows what he is, he knows how this ends, he has no questions of that. But for once in his existence—and it's a long existence, unending, eternal in a way that neither human nor Cetra could never even comprehend—he's going to control exactly how that happens.

Sephiroth knows he can't control whether or not he ends up alone, but he can choose how it happens. He can do things right this time. Maybe if he saves the world it will be different. Maybe the planet will accept him. Maybe he won't be alone.

And if he is (and he knows he will be), at least it was on his own terms.

At least, for once in the whole of creation, Sephiroth had a single flicker of control over his own existence. For once in the entirety of existence, Sephiroth made a decision for himself.

He'll have to live with that decision, alone, for eternity—but it was his.

[strayheartless]

Things I’m learning on my most recent play through of VII remake (listen, I don’t have a social life… like at all.) is that Tifa really has no idea just how isolated Cloud was as a kid. That is in no way her fault, and in a lot of ways her attitude helps him get past his hang ups. However, it’s still obvious that she has no concept of Clouds little defensive coping mechanisms.

A lot of Clouds reticence to interact with people in the beginning come after they have either been rude to him or they have yelled at him. When Marle see’s him with Tifa -even though she’s talked to him previously and was nice enough- she looks at him with distain and says “oh, he’s with you”, she then insults his abilities and yet Cloud is the one being told to “be nice” when he defends himself. Now, Tifa knows that Cloud can be quite blunt and dry, so she’s likely just trying to gently remind him about his tone. But I imagine for Cloud it is deeply triggering to be spoken to like that after leaving Nibelhiem.

When the weapons shop owner Yells at him, Cloud’s immediate reaction when it’s suggested he go back there is to hit the brakes and resist. He’s clearly upset by the way he’s been talked to and the suspicion people have put on him when they don’t know him. Again, that must be a deeply specific and personal trigger for Cloud.

Now we all know I’m on the “cloud is autistic” train, and I think it’s possibly at its most obvious when he first arrives in sector 7. To Cloud, what he said was just a turn of phrase. It’s sarcasm that everyone has used against him, or a way of speaking he picked up in the military as a trooper. He’s very dry, but in Crisis Core it’s obvious that he’s not like that all the time. When he’s a trooper he’s actually very gentle and soft spoken. He even smiles at Zack a lot, and properly.

Tifa grew up being the Village princess because of her fathers position, and also she is genuinely just a really smiley positive person. She likes to help and be involved, she can handle people and small talk efortlessly. All things Cloud has historically struggled with.

I think I’m a lot of ways the game really demonstrates Tifa coming to understand that Cloud is not an asshole, he’s just deeply hurt and possibly traumatised. And as the game goes on you see her learn to handle that even when he’s at his most unstable in rebirth and is sure she’s not real. She doesn’t always react well, but she learns each time she does react and she adjusts her reactions to him accordingly. Especially after she remembers what actually happened on the mountain as a kid.

I dunno man, I just like how their relationship develops and their understanding of each other grows.

[do-you-know-this-adhd-character]

Do you know this (noncanon) ADHD character?

Evidence is below the cut!

Submitter links this post which is very compelling, as well as listing the following things:

- stims/fidgets by doing repeated squats; whenever he’s stressed or bored he does squats

- Has difficulty controlling his voice volume and with being too loud; for example, he was on a mission (he’s essentially a super soldier) that required stealth and talked too loud, alerting the enemy

- he will consistently forget important things in excitement; his sword and his materia (which lets him do magic) are some items he’s forgotten

- He acts very hyper—constantly moving, talking fast, etc

- He will often interrupt people

- On the mission that opens the game, he’s told by his mentor some information then a few minutes later seems to forget it

- he is often reminded by his mentor to focus

- He hates sitting still and waiting (he broke cover on a mission to pace)

- impulsively jumps to conclusions

[foreststarflaime]

Thinking about how Sephiroth’s wing is on his right and Genesis’ is on his left, so they’d made a complete set of black wings when standing side by side. They were meant to stand together not apart