#genesis fell because of sephiroth

[rottenpumpkin13]

Someone pissed off Genesis so badly that he dropped the act and reverted to Banora country twang. What happened?

*Angeal and Sephiroth spot Zack and Kunsel crouched behind an office plant, poorly stifling their laughter. It's the kind of laughter that means they've done something stupid*

Angeal: What did you do?

Zack: Okay, okay, so you know how Genesis made us run extra drills yesterday, full speed up the plate's maintenance stairs because "true warriors conquer their own limits"? We figured we'd get back at him.

Sephiroth: What did you do?

Kunsel: We let a muddy hog loose in his office. That pig is in there right now, tearing things up. Good luck to Genesis trying to maintain his delicate, prim and proper aesthetic now!

*A loud crash echoes down the hallway, followed by the angry squeals of a pig fighting for its life*

*Genesis walks by, covered in mud, hair wild, his entire coat ruined, with the hog in his arms, perfectly calm and limp*

Genesis: Whoever thought they could unnerve me with a bit of livestock clearly failed to account for the fact that Iwas raised on an apple orchard. You think a 'lil mud bothers me? I spent my childhood shoveling compost 'fore breakfast. I been kicked square in the ribs by an angry chocobo and walked it off. I fell from a twenty-foot ladder tryin' to pick the perfect apple. The pigs we raised were the size of motorcycles and could smell fear. When it rained a little too hard we lost power and made do with lanterns. I done wrestled geese that carried generational hatred for mankind. You think a 'lil piglet's gonna offend me? This is the most fun I've had all week.

*He hoists the pig higher—it snorts happily, like it has found its true home—and walks off*

Zack:

Kunsel:

Sephiroth: Can I have a pig?

Angeal: NO.

[lucky-ladybugs-lovelies]

Watching the wonderful Advent Children this morning, I was hit by something absolutely heartbreaking and devastating. This famous exchange between Sephiroth and Cloud inspired the train of thought:

Sephiroth: Tell me what you cherish most. Give me the pleasure of taking it away.

Cloud: I pity you. You just don’t get it at all. There’s nothing in this world I don’t cherish!

But … the sane Sephiroth did get it. He knew what it was to love. He had people he cared about very deeply. They all left him.

When he lost his mind at Nibelheim, no one fought for him. No one tried to get him back. No one believed it was even possible. Zack at least acknowledged something was horribly wrong when he said, “No! You’re not the Sephiroth I knew!” But then, as near as I can tell, he didn’t fight for Sephiroth either. He just “accepted” Sephiroth was a lost cause.

(In Zack’s defense, he’d struggled so hard to get Angeal back and couldn’t. After seeing what happened to both Angeal and Genesis, seeing Sephiroth fall too was probably the final blow and he just lost hope.)

Now, I would like to think that Zack did at least try. During their fight in Crisis Core, you’re actually playing it out, so there’s no talking between them. (I don’t think? I haven’t got that far and I’m dreading it for sure.) But during the actual fight as it would have happened, I want to believe he did try. It would frankly be OOC for Zack not to try, when he never stopped fighting for Angeal.

However, regardless of what one wants to headcanon in there, as far as actual canon shows us, everyone gave up on Sephiroth.

And honestly? I believe that if someone really did fight and fight and fight for him, as shown in @prismaticpichu ’s amazing fic Candle in the Rain , they could have saved him. Sephiroth kept it together far better than Angeal or Genesis did, and yet in the end he fell harder than they did. But he was shown to have loved deeply and desperately. I feel like he needed love more than they did because of his horrible upbringing. He was love starved. That was likely a lot of why Jenova was able to get her claws in him so much; she was filling that void of the lack of parental love that he wanted and needed. And I fully believe real, true love could have reached him and broken that hold.

But no one gave him that chance.

[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.

[phoenixwithapencil]

Angeal is so interesting because he does his damndest to appear as the most unobtrusive, level headed, collected member of the trio.

But he’s bound in his own rigid morals and he bears immense guilt, I think, for the death of his dad and maybe from the way both his friends fell apart at the seams (after he didn’t stop them soon enough that day in the training room— he could have prevented all this—) and he swallowed Genesis’s rhetoric that he was a monster.

He barely shows his degradation until all at once he crumbles. His boss form is not a warrior, like Genesis.

It is not a god, like Sephiroth.

It is a beast named Penance and it wields a trident and its sins.

He tries so hard to be virtuous and moral and chase his dreams and uphold his honor. But in the end, maybe since the beginning, he saw himself as someone sinful who needed to repent.*

And he doesn’t- he doesn’t talk about any of it. Because he refuses to burden anyone. He wants to take care of others, not give them more work. He needs to be there for others, make sure they’re taking care of themselves so they don’t get hurt (again), damn whatever happens to him. But he can’t fall apart, after all, who will make sure that the people around him don’t too?

*my read on the boss forms, esp Genesis Avatar and Angeal Penance is that they are in part shaped by what the character believes themself to be (but OP cool monster design! That’s the why! My friend it can be both and good monster design has thematic reasons for being the way it is)

[altocat]

Au where Genesis doesn't start dying until he's 30. Would an extra five years before crisis core change things?

By then, things have changed for the trio. Angeal's been slowly working on settling down AWAY from Shinra, eventually heading back home to Banora for a prolonged sabbatical. He visits Midgar frequently. But he's tired of constant politics and bloodshed, seeking a well-earned rest.

Sephiroth is seeking permanent retirement, but is still forced to fight, the alternative being that Shinra sets him up with a politically designated "mate" in hopes of turning him into a family man, no doubt recruiting the next generation of soldiers. Sephiroth is miserable, growing increasingly dependent on sedatives and antidepressants to get by, pining for Angeal and Genesis, constantly sent off to war because the battlefield away from home is easier than the figurative one in Midgar.

Genesis has risen in the ranks over the years, finally accumulating more and more of an influence thanks to his mounting popularity. Because Sephiroth is growing increasingly more unreliable and moody, he steps up as one of the most prominent faces of the SOLDIER program. He and Sephiroth see each other frequently, but Sephiroth's depression coupled with Gen's increasingly busy schedule is gradually causing them to drift apart. Genesis mostly participates in speaking engagements and gala events, trying to ignore Sephiroth morosely watching him from across the room, Hojo's gnarled hand slithering possessively across his shoulder.

When Genesis gets sick, it's something of a shock to the system for everyone. It comes too quickly for them to process, brought on not by a playful spar between friends but a sudden fall during a crowded press tour. Angeal flies in to see him right away. Sephiroth never leaves his bedside. But Genesis, deteriorating at a rapid rate, can barely process what's going on. Or why Hollander keeps shooing his friends away. It isn't until weeks later that he finally learns the truth. But this time...things are a bit more complicated. Turns out the sickness was always festering inside him for years, just without physical symptoms up till now. He doesn't have much time left. And at the rate he's degrading, there's not much he could physically do now even if he wanted to. He's too exhausted, too tired to be angry, strangely hollow inside.

Turns out, game is fleeting. He'd achieved his dream of glory and popularity. But Shinra seemed to abandon him completely once he finally fell apart. And why not? They're responsible. THEY ruined his life. If he were just a bit stronger, he'd have killed them for it. Destroyed their entire legacy cinder by bloody cinder.

...he supposes he could tell Sephiroth and Angeal. They have a right to know. This concerns them, too.

....

......

.........

He ultimately decides against it. Not when they're looking at him like that, not when they've forced their way through those cold clinic doors just to see him. He's all but lifeless when Angeal leans down to scoop him up in his arms, cradling him against a warm chest. Sephiroth is pressed so close, wedging Genesis between them, trembling violently. No. He could never tell them. Not now. After all...in the end, they were different. They came. They stayed. They...remained.

His comrades.

His companions.

His dearest, invaluable, irreplaceable friends.

Angeal brings Genesis back to Banora to live out what remains of his final days in peace. Sephiroth is forced to remain in Midgar under penalty of permanent incarceration.

He receives the letter from Angeal a few months later.

He is never quite the same again.

[chocobochaserstories]

Which dog breed (or any animal, it's up to you) would be a good fit for AGSZC to have as a pet?

Zack: Growing up, Zack always had a dog. I headcanon he grew up on a farm, so he always had a herding breed dog. So this means he wanted to continue that trend as an adult. He had so many breeds over the course of his childhood, so he had a hard time choosing! He eventually settled for Lucky, a Mudi he found at the shelter. Lucky was surrendered as his previous owners didn't realize he wouldn't stay tiny and cute, and had boundless energy. Zack loves Lucky and takes him on his multi-mile training runs in the morning.

Angeal: Angeal grew up poor, and so as much as he wanted a dog, he also knew that they could never dream of affording one. He didn't get a dog until his mid-twenties, when Genesis got him a puppy for his birthday (He tried so hard not to cry). The puppy in question was a perfect match for him, as Gen had been hiding questions in their every day conversation for months to find the perfect dog, knowing Angeal had always envied the Brittany Spaniel Genesis had as a child, not the breed, just the fact that Genesis was lucky enough to have a dog. The puppy, named Cricket, is a sweet little boy who enjoys sleeping on Angeal's floor while he cooks and cleans. Cricket is the best trained and fed of the dogs, being on a strict schedule and eating a diet hand-cooked by Angeal. Angeal can absolutely handle a massive dog, but as he spends long hours training himself and students, time spend in his office, and missions, he likes his low-maintenance Cricket- and because Cricket is behaved, Lazard doesn't mind dog-sitting while Angeal is away.

Genesis: Has always had animals. He's been spoiled since he was a child, with animals for status. He's had so many horses and Chocobos, and purebred dogs with champion bloodlines. Only the finest for a Rhapsodos child. That being said, Genesis took his childhood dog, Apple, with him to Midgar. Genesis was twelve when he got his Brittany Spaniel. Genesis went hunting with his father often, and while he never hunted anything too large, Apple was a champion at hunting quail. His favorite pooch was spoiled beyond belief, with only the highest quality, fresh food, even though she's perfectly fine with kibble. She's not picky, ironic for who she belongs to. Apple is well-cared for in Midgar, being dropped of every four weeks like clockwork in Wall Market for the premium package- oatmeal and milk bath, ear cleaning, full manicure (complete with all-natural paw oil for her toe beans), and a trim and groom to keep her flawless. Genesis also has a collection of dresses, collars, bandanas, ribbons, but most often she can be seen wearing her favorite collar; a leather collar in Dumbapple Purple with a matching charm and tag.

Sephiroth: An Afghan hound! Regal and independant, these sighthounds are fancy creatures who aren't too aloof, but enjoy the company of their human. Sephiroth didn't initially want a dog (he's more of a no-pets person, but would rather a cat), but he came across Afghan Hound puppies on a mission in Mideel and fell in love after seeing the mama. His dog is a refined little lady and her name is Luci, short for a name that kept popping up in his head- Lucrecia. He's not sure where it's from, but Luci is a beautiful dog and it fit her. Hojo now has an aneurysm whenever Sephiroth addresses his dog as Luci, as that was what he called his ex-wife.

Cloud: He's from backwater Nibelheim. He has the most obscure breeds no one has heard of. Cloud had Chocobos in Nibelheim, just a small flock, so his dog was always at his side and was good with the birds. He keeps a livestock guardian and protector. Her name is Athena and she is a Romanian Mioritic Shepherd Dog. Her size made her impossible to bring to Midgar, so she lives peacefully with Claudia. Athena is the best guard dog and keeps Claudia out of harm's way (she weighs about as much as Claudia). She's also a strong hunter who helps Claudia in her day to day life. She was definitely Cloud's girl though, and she used to sleep on his bed with him and spend her days with Cloud. She loves when he comes to visit, and she absolutely LOVES Tifa, often following her around the Strife home and cuddling Tifa happily.

[secondarysefikura]

Soulmate au where soulmates can feel the other’s emotions. As a baby Cloud would pretty much cry nonstop because he could feel Sephiroth’s fear every time he was experimented on. Years later Sephiroth could feel Cloud’s hope that the other kids would let him join them, only for that hope to turn to sadness or disappointment when they didn’t, and he even felt Cloud’s guilt after him and Tifa fell of the bridge. Cloud could fell Sephiroth’s desperation as he desperately looked for a way to save Angeal and Genesis from degradation, and his grief after Angeal’s death, and while Sephiroth spent days in the Shinra mansion’s basement Cloud could feel him losing his mind.

Awww, poor baby Cloud, always crying due to emotions he can't even comprehend (and poor mama Claudia, having to deal with a very "fussy" baby.) In later years, I could see Sephiroth living vicariously through Cloud's hope, savouring a feeling he has long since forgotten.

Then when Sephiroth is losing his mind! Poor Cloud is also being tormented by these intense emotions of sorrow, hatred, insanity, etc. And don't forget the intense feelings of betrayal both Cloud and Sephiroth would feel once Sephiroth burns down Nibelheim. They both feel betrayed for different reasons (Cloud because his hero and soulmate just burnt down his village, Sephiroth because he has discovered the "truth" of his creation and had his soulmate stab and kill him.)

Now if we cut to years later, when Sephiroth is alive again, imagine the intense feelings of obsession Cloud is feeling! It's so strong he can barely form his own emotions. Everything is just overpowered by Sephiroth's obsession with claiming him and destroying the planet.

[foreststarflaime]

Can I have 13-15 for AGSZC?

Coming right up! Ty!!

13. Dumbest thing they’ve ever done

Angeal: took care of a fake plastic plant like it was a real one for several days before he noticed. This may or may not have been the result of a prank which he retaliated against in kind with extreme prejudice

Genesis: someone went through all his hardcovers and flipped their covers. He was really out of it one night and picked up one of his hardcover copies of Loveless. It took him much longer than it should have to realize that he was holding it upside down because the cover had been switched around and reading not off the page but from his own memory

Sephiroth: not letting his friends in on what he was dealing with with shinra hthrhrhh probably when Angeal forgot to give him a fork so he assumed the food he had been given (mac n cheese) was just supposed to be eaten with your hands. Genesis has a picture of the result framed in his apartment

Zack: repeatedly runs into poles/doorframes/etc quite often. He gets distracted talking to people or just by his own thoughts and completely forgets to watch where he’s going. Another contender: really liked being turned into a frog by various touch mes back in Gongaga, had to be rescued from this many times by his poor harried parents. Have you ever seen a frog do squats? Sotetsu has. Frequently

Cloud: Sephiroth passed by him in the hallways once. What ensued due to his nerves from that resembled some looney tunes or tom and jerry cartoon in its slapstick physical comedy. He tripped over himself in ways that should not be possible for the human body to achieve. He fell up the stairs

14. Most heroic moment

Angeal: we have not seen it play out in its entirety yet, but—there’s something to the simple gesture of just reaching out to your comrade, a scared, abused kid, and making sure he’s alright. Being there for him even when he pushes you away

Genesis: he was genuinely a hero. He may not have been fighting on the right side, he may have been somewhat selfish in pursuit of glory, but he took care of the people around him. Countless times he pushed himself to the brink of (and even over) mana exhaustion healing his fellow SOLDIERs, and troopers as well, himself. He saved a lot of lives that way, and many loved him for it, and were loyal to him for it—their Shinra-appointed commanders never took such care of them. Unfortunately, their loyalty did not pay off how anyone wished it would.

Sephiroth: I’m sorry I just still cannot get over how devastated he was by that random trooper’s death when they fell off the bridge in Nibelheim. He spent actual hours looking for him. The heights of true heroism right before the fall. I’m going to explode

Zack: dragging Cloud across the entire globe for an entire year straight while he was comatose and Zack himself was definitely not anywhere close to okay. And then making sure Cloud survived even when it seemed beyond hopeless—he could have left him and run and lived but he didn’t

Cloud: I so love that he just saw a sick kid and immediately made sure he’d have food and shelter and kindness and help, even when he himself was hurting too. Denzel <3

15. Worst thing they’ve ever done

Angeal: he did fight in the Wutai War, yknow. He probably killed a lot of people that didn’t deserve it, were just defending their homes. It’s that or making Zack kill him, or not reaching out to Seph when he saw he was struggling.

Genesis: killing his parents and whole village is pretty bad. It’s either that or—depending on how you split the blame between him and Hollander’s influence/lies/manipulation, turning his loyal SOLDIERs who stuck by his side into copies, making their lives a living hell. It might have been kinder to kill them.

Sephiroth: I mean. I think this one is fairly obvious 🔥🏠🏔️🗡️

Zack: again, a lot of the effects of just working for Shinra as a SOLDIER. You have to do some pretty bad stuff fighting for them. I could say stealing when he was on the run with Cloud but he had good reason for that and I don’t think it even comes close really

Cloud: leaving his friends when he wants to curl in on himself and shoulder all the burdens of his life on himself, making them worry and pushing them away when they would have been happy—and probably had more peace of mind—to help him

[todaysgenesisfeels]

Today, Genesis is Feeling Squished Because...

…Sephiroth fell asleep on top of him. The weight is actually comforting. It’sss. It’s like a blanket. It’s very…nice.

…oh! He’s purring again! That is a lovely. Sound.

Annddd….zZzzzzzz*…….

 

  

 

*The power of the Squish™︎ was Super Effective! Genesis has fallen asleep!

[ilminnestrone]

Angeal Hewley.

Angeal Hewley, the child who learnt too early that things like money, toys and food are scarce commodities. That if you buy that fabulous wooden sword from the carpenter, you might not have the money to buy bread. That if you eat more than one slice of said bread with your dinner, you might have to skip breakfast tomorrow. Whose father taught him that values like loyalty, respectability and honour are also scarce commodities that you can't afford to diminish or lose, because they're not easily earned back.

Angeal Hewley, the boy who soon learnt that health and time are scarce commodities too, when the same father fell ill in order to buy something beautiful, powerful and ultimately superfluous to make him happy: an equal exchange, a life for a life-taker, a death for an instrument of death. Happiness, however, was not part of the deal. Tears, however, he used all of them, and never cried again.

So Angeal Hewley, the young man, began to think that everything around him was a scarce commodity. Opportunities and failures. Victories and losses. Friends and foes. Leaving for Midgar meant holding on to the scarce commodity that was Genesis; joining the army, not losing the privilege of his time. Missions were a way out of poverty. Returning victorious was a way out of dishonour.

But he couldn't afford to waste even his days off sleeping in and lazing around. Every free minute was hoarded for the lean times. Every hobby was a way of saving for later: cooking a meal in advance for the bad days when even chewing seemed an insurmountable obstacle; growing plants so that when the time came for them to bloom, there would be something pretty to look at; taking a photograph to remember happy moments when in times of misery.

He couldn't waste kisses on people he'd never see again. Pleasure was a scarse commodity too, lovers just another beautiful thing not to be overused for fear of rusting or scratching them: the rare times, their satisfaction came first, and he was happy with the leftovers, as if it were impossible to enjoy both equally. “Live a little,” someone told him, while he was still buried inside them; but what if he had wasted a little life in doing so?

Angeal Hewley, the man who wondered if love was a scarce commodity when he discovered there were two men he wanted by his side. Who wondered again as he became more father than teacher to a boy too young to play in the war. That he was certain that innocence surely is, when he saw him kill for the first time and saw him realise that it was anything but a game.

Angeal Hewley, who would discover that unspoken words cannot be saved for later. Who  hoped to the last that even pain was a scarce commodity, as he watched the man he had grown up with rotting before his eyes, and the mind of the only other companion he had ever had fading day by day: the day he realised that his body and mind were degrading, he hoped that his suffering might lessen that of Genesis and Sephiroth. Who prayed that death itself was a scarce commodity, when he asked Zack to kill him, and that his sacrifice might spare that of others.

It turns out that if there is one thing that is by no means a scarce commodity, it is the greed of the masters.

[prismaticpichu]

Sleepover question: what does Zack rope Sephiroth into doing to Angeal because Angeal fell asleep first?

Hehehehe!! Good question! 💖

~

Sephiroth: …Done.

Zack: Oooh! Lemme see!

*Zack peeks over Seph’s shoulder, spotting the intricate doodles Seph has sketched all over the snoring Angeal’s face*

Zack: Ohhhh man… That is TOO good, bud!

Sephiroth: Why, thank you :)

Zack: Hehehe! is that a worm on his nose?

Sephiroth: Indeed.

Zack: And it’s crawling out of a dumbapple?

Sephiroth: Correct :)

Zack: And you put devil horns on his temple? :3

Sephiroth: For the irony.

Zack: Hehehe…!

Sephiroth: *snicker*

Genesis: Are you two serious…….?!

Sephiroth: ….

Zack: Erm…—

Genesis: How dare you sully his face without me?!

[rottenpumpkin13]

what would happen if Shinra throws a easter egg hunting challenge among SOLDIERS and Turks just for fun to see who gathers the most?, who throws a tantrum and refuses to participate for being a childish thing? , and who tries to cheat to sabotage the others , extra points if Sephiroth ends taking care of a stray bunny thinking its the mother of said easter eggs and carries it around in a basket during the whole egg hunting without no one knowing.

• Sephiroth didn't want to play. Was just passing by when he accidentally found 7 eggs on his way though. He does find a bunny behind an office plant, likely one someone got to "boost morale," gently places the bunny in the basket and spends the rest of the hunt protecting it from "warfare." Wins the hunt with 23 eggs total. Didn't know there was a prize. Confused when Zack screams "HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS WITHOUT TRYING?!"

• Zack shows up to the event at 5am with camo face paint and a harpoon gun. Three Turks immediately tackle him at the front gates. Tseng is yelling "WHERE DID HE EVEN GET THAT?!" One of them walks away with a dislocated shoulder and a newfound respect. Climbs a desk and sets up a vantage point using binoculars. Yells "I SEE THE ENEMY!" and takes out a drone that Reeve sent for livestreaming with a slingshot. Furious that Sephiroth is "just vibing with a bunny" and still winning.

• Angeal assigned himself moderator duty, wears a whistle and all. Keeps yelling "No shoulder-checking! We are role models!" to the SOLDIERs. Has to physically separate Tseng and Lazard when Lazard accuses Tseng of rigging the hunt in the turks' favor. Someone let 6 eggs fall on the ground, each fell with an unsalvageable splat. Angeal had a nervous breakdown because egg prices are crazy and this is wasteful.

• Cloud sees Commander Rhapsodos cast sleep on Kunsel and steal his eggs, but he values his life, so he pretends he's blind and didn't see anything.

• Reno's whole strategy is "Hey bro, I'll hold your eggs while you climb that tree!" and then disappears with a coat full of other people's eggs. Rude has not spoken a word but found 8 eggs in 12 minutes. Turned them all in at once like a hitman delivering proof of the mission's success.

• Tseng: "This is beneath me." Also Tseng: *Stealthily collecting eggs behind bushes because the VP's personal collection must be the best. Has a flashback involving child Rufus screaming because someone else had a golden egg first*

• Reeve is absolutely not participating because the concept of an egg hunt gives him anxiety (also he witnessed Zack's potentially lifeless body get dragged into a closet by Genesis, who stole his eggs). Cait Sith, however, is having the time of his life, swindled Reno out of four golden eggs in a rigged dice game. "Don't gamble wi' a cat that was born in an algorithm, laddie!"

• Sephiroth intends to keep the bunny as a pet long after the hunt is over. he doesn't care that it chewed through three cables. When someone suggested it might carry diseases, he just said, "So do most of my coworkers." Names it General Fluff, and insists it's "a calming presence in the workplace."

[silverflqmes]

agszc and the flowers they'd give as well as why they would give them?

໒⦂ 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐆𝐄.

notes. hey queen, my knowledge in flowers is baby level but!!! we’re gonna see which flowers the boys would give based on themselves and their love<3

genre. fluff

for @melukonova <3

ft. sephiroth, cloud strife, zack fair, genesis rhapsodos, angeal hewley

gender neutral! reader.

ะ ྂ ❤︎ . ˚˖ you selected.. orchid.

+ reasoning. orchids come in a variety of symbols next to the obvious luxury and beauty, such as strength, mystery — even charm and refinement. more importantly, they bring across how lucky you are to be able to love your special someone.

+ sephiroth had always thought himself to be deplorable for as long as he could remember. growing up, he had countless reminders of how unloveable he was even in spite of shinra’s hero treatment of him. when he met you, however, somehow you had brought this ray of light into his suffocating darkness and had loved him in spite of everything. he was just so lucky to have you in his life — it was imperative he showed you his gratitude. and so, from the many books he read in his days, he’d decided that gifting your orchids was the best way.

+ “it took awhile to find you these, given the state of midgar.. but the search was worth the while. as i recall.. lovers gift one another flowers as an expression of affection, do they not?”

ะ ྂ ❤︎ . ˚˖ you selected.. gardenia.

+ reasoning. gardenia is the type of flower you would use to confess when the words don’t quite reach your lips. basically, an unspoken confession to convey your love. furthermore, it represents purity and expresses beauty towards the receiver.

+ cloud strife.. was never really the best with words, feelings and emotional expression. he preferred to think of himself as an actions kind of guy, and his confession to you boiled down to exactly that. with all the worst behind him, and the whisper of advice from his parted friends, he would have set out one morning to sector five to purchase a few gardenias. flowers and their meanings didn’t come easy to him, but the words he’d received told him these were the ones. the blond’s only hope was that his message would be received and returned.

+ “here, got these for you on the way back from my delivery, they’re um.. gardenias. make sure to change their water every other day or so, if you want them to last, of course..”

ะ ྂ ❤︎ . ˚˖ you selected.. daisy.

+ reasoning. daisies represent an innocent, cheerful and pure form of love. the kind of flowers you would pick fresh from the garden or a patch of grass to bring to the person you cherish most. they can also express true love, beauty and simplicity.

+ zack fair was true to his nickname — a puppy. despite his want for leaving the countryside to join SOLDIER, the days he would spend back home were all filled with memories that he would forever carry with him. a few that stood out most were the times he’d race up to you with a handful of daisies. despite their messy condition, and the apology he would laugh out for tripping on his way to you, his actions are filled with sincerity and love.. even if zack might not know what he’s given to you. with time, however, he will have realized the depth of his gifts.

+ “ahaha, sorry y/n! i didn’t see this rock on my way over, and i might have ruined the flowers a bit.. but they still smell nice! and i tried to salvage the good ones, y’see! peak condition!”

ะ ྂ ❤︎ . ˚˖ you selected.. aster.

+ reasoning. asters, according to myth were associated with a goddess that wept because there weren’t enough stars. the tears that fell became the star shaped flowers we call asters. on the contrary, they symbolize love, charm and sensitivity.

+ genesis rhapsodos — born poet, forced to soldier. flowers and their meanings didn’t fall far from the tree for a man with vast knowledge of the arts, literature and beauty. as someone with a keen interest in loveless, having analyzed and noted it to memory, asters came to be his first choice in conveying his love for you. the gift of the goddess, he would have concluded, and a perfect fit for the one who has captured his heart — you. and so, on his way back from a mission, a singular aster would have occupied his red, gloved hand as he presented it to you.

+ “a gift from the goddess for my beloved.. as flowers have long since disappeared off the face of midgar, amidst the filth and industrialization. are you pleased with my findings?”

ะ ྂ ❤︎ . ˚˖ you selected.. alstroemeria.

+ reasoning. alstroemerias convey loyalty, devotion, support and.. honor. the type of flower you give to remind someone of their strength when they fall on hard times. but, it is also said that receiving an extra sweet one, meant you were beloved.

+ angeal hewley wasn’t exactly one for frivolous love, a stark contrast otherwise, to his friend. the romance department just never really called his attention.. well, at least until he met you. somehow you sparked feelings in him that he wasn’t sure he was even capable of feeling strongly towards another person. it was strange, different.. but a good kind of different. however there was a downside — that being his lack of experience. his familiarity with romance was minimal, but he was determined to provide! and with outside help, he was acquired flowers.

+ “these are alstroemerias.. a mouthful, i know. but they used to grow back where i grew up, in banora. they said the sweeter ones are best to gift to your beloved — so here you are.”

notes. several hours of research and inconsistent writing later, i was able to finish your request.. love how NOBODY had roses but like anyway, this is the end results for agszc with flowers woop

↳ return to main masterlist . request rules . send an ask

[noctunis]

hey again 👀 soooo you said i should send another ask if i had an idea and diva you said that to the wrong person. i have too many lmao

im stressing that u should write this at your own time! no rush :)

but yeah im actually writing a longform seph/reader fic where the reader is from a southern/appalachian coded town near gongaga. my idea id love to have your spin on is a scene where sephiroth (someone raised on protein powder and spinach probably) gets to try some real southern comfort food that the reader makes for him :). im talking biscuits, fried chicken, some kind of creamy noodle dish, just all the unhealthy savory goodness

he deserves it 🥺

ty for the last request again btw✨💕

“ spread kisses like honey. ”

sephiroth (ffvii) x reader

┊ ˚➶ notes ｡˚ 🎼

omg this has been sitting in my drafts sooo long!! this was really cute and i loved writing it, it reminded me of lucy gray and coriolanus snow from hg hence why i put the title as a lyric from her ballad 💕 always look forward to your requests!! thank you againnn!!

┊ ˚➶ warnings ｡˚ 🎼

you and seph being sickly sweet towards each other, sephiroth being utterly in love with you in his inner monologue, kind of not canon because there are moments where i mention how sephiroth talks to genesis and angeal despite knowing zack and interacting with zack ( which like clashes with the entire point of cc .. but shhh i wanted domesticity ), intended lowercase, lmk if i missed anything!! 💕

┊ ˚➶ word count ｡˚ 🎼

1088 words, 5905 characters

. ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄ . ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄ . ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄ . ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄

“you’ve never had this?” you gasped dramatically, your shocked face only to be met with sephiroth’s stoic one. he hesitantly nodded— was that.. a bad thing? did he somehow offend you in some way? the steam that had emitted from the plates below you set on the

“don’t you like pasta?” you asked, still utterly baffled.

he nodded slowly, “is something wrong?” he didn’t understand the confusion. there were a lot of foods he hasn’t tried, isn’t that normal for everyone? you blinked owlishly, lifting up the fork with the pasta noodles stabbed against the metal, the creamy sauce departing from the food in small, slow drips.

“what have you been eating if you’ve never had something as delicious as this?” you muttered, your lips reverting back into a tight ‘o’ as you blew on the fork— before finally slipping it into your mouth. “i’m shocked.” words muffled as you still chewed on your food, at least covering your mouth while you spoke.

sephiroth chuckled amusedly, “we’ve grown up in deeply contrasting places.” he crossed his arms against his chest, watching as you slurped up the pasta with stars in your eyes— occasionally opening your mouth to let the heat escape, soft steam pouring out from the small gap you’ve left while chewing. “still,” said you, “‘s so good.” he could barely make out your voice from how full your mouth was but he still shook his head as he leaned further back in his chair.

closing his eyes, he tilted his head down while he let the strands of snowy hair fell and covered bits of his face, blocking the bright sun even to the darkness beneath his eyelids. sephiroth didn’t pay much mind to the fact that your loud chewing of garlic bread and slurping of buttered food had come to a halt until he felt a strong aroma slip in from under his nostrils, it was only then did he open his eyes to see you holding the fork to his lips.

you held an expectant gaze and he quirked a brow before ultimately leaning forward while he let his eyes rake over the food. it looked a little messy, the sauce dripping over the place as you had ripped a piece of garlic bread off along with it and placed a chunk on the metal twinges of the utensil. he looked up again at you, waiting as you nodded your head and tried to keep your excitement contained. he blew on the fork a little bit before opening his mouth and letting it settle upon the steel. what could one bite do, he asked himself.

but once he had finally tried it, he could’ve dropped dead right then and there. the combination of the salty and savory flavors was perfect, and the way the bread had soaked some of it up too was incredible. sephiroth closed his eyes, letting his jaw work as he let his taste buds be blessed with what was known as your cooking. he had always seen you working your way through the kitchen, using various pots and pans and oils while you zipped around — and when sephiroth had offered help, you simply put a hand up and looked up at him for a split second, trying to simultaneously get the perfect roast as you smiled at him sweetly. that was enough for him.

despite watching you cook a lot ( and the only times he did get to help, he ended up being ordered by you to stand in the corner or measure occasional ingredients ), he had never actually savored something as good as this. being a first class prevented him from doing any good when it came to dinner time, either the timing being too late and you had already gone to bed or you were too tired and he decided not to bother you and he ate something small.

but this, he thought, this was perfection. when it came to you, sephiroth never let his appreciation go silent as he would always thank you or give you sayings of endearment and encouragement. he didn’t have words for this dish, he had never tried anything like it. so in awe, he merely said, “you’ve truly outdone yourself,” as he handed you back the fork. you didn’t mind the simple compliment. it never sounded generic to you when sephiroth would express his gratitude, even when they were mumbled in passing with dragged feet when he had come home from an exasperatingly tiring job, he always made sure to tell you how much he was grateful for you and what you do when he’s away.

he couldn’t wait until he was back at hq to boast to genesis and angeal about how delectable your cooking was. maybe zack, too — although sepiroth had a feeling that the energetic SOLDIER might just end up begging you for food even more. not that you minded, though. you were always so kind, sephiroth didn’t know how you were always able to do it.

“thanks.” you chimed, your voice ever so warm that it made his heart flutter. sephiroth wasn’t exactly what you’d call — expressive. he always held a smooth, cool tone of voice and occasionally threw a sassy remark towards you or genesis, or even that kid zack fair he introduced you to. but you understood his inflection of which he spoke in, you could tell his emotion even when he had entered a room ( and vice versa ). you were one of the most cherished things in sephiroth’s life and it could not go unnoticed.

with his tongue peeking out from between his bottom lip to gather some of the residual flavor that was left behind, his eyes roamed across the table further to more so further treasure your sacrifices ( of both time and food ).

“what’s that over there?” he lifted a finger, almost perfectly manicured despite using his hands excessively in battle, to point over at a small white dish filled with elbow macaroni and a homemade cheese sauce. you turned your head and grinned, reaching over the wooden dining table to grab it and lower the bowl on its side to reveal the contents. “mac ‘n’ cheese,” you replied, “want some?” your eyes seemed to glimmer with more amusement. sephiroth had now developed a new interest in your food and he couldn’t wait to indulge in it.

with the smile and those eyes of yours, how could he say no to one more bite?

𐙚 taglist ; @snoopicle

𐙚 requests are closed — june tenth, 2024

[getvalentined]

I understand people giving Lucrecia the benefit of the doubt with regard to what she did to Vincent, just like I understand people not realizing how undeniably fucked up Gast was, but the important thing to keep in mind about these characters is that the majority of them are written as being in the throes of some pretty extreme cognitive dissonance.

It's not bad writing, it's that they're hypocrites. They reached a moral event horizon at some point, and they did what they felt they had to do when crossing it.

Gast abandoned a child because he wasn't what he wanted—even having raised Sephiroth up until that point and knowing that he was a pretty normal kid overall, as we can see from his behavior as a young teen in Ever Crisis, Gast still couldn't bear to continue to be responsible for a monster. He knew what Hojo was capable of, because he knew about what happened to Vincent, because it happened in his lab, and he left a literal child in his care anyway. Sephiroth's only crime was not being what Gast thought he was, and Gast damned him to a lifetime of torture under a "father" whose only goal was to use him to prove his own genius. Why? Because Gast had a goal, and the goal was what mattered, the ends justified any means he could devise. He was a man obsessed, driven to the verge of madness in his lust for the Promised Land. A religious zealot with the most powerful scientific team in the world at his disposal, ready to prove him right—and then he wasn't right, and the whole world fell apart underneath him. Ifalna gave him back that stability, because she was a real Ancient, and she gave him a new, better child to care for. A child that wasn't a monster, a child that was his, a child that might one day lead him to the Promised Land, if her mother didn't do so first. When Aerith was born, Gast got to be right again, and therefore all was right with the world. Sephiroth (like Genesis before him) may as well have never existed at all.

Lucrecia openly experimented on a man who loved her enough to die for her, going so far as to apparently use data from those experiments to improve her own academic standing, because she couldn't bear the guilt of being responsible for his death. It wasn't about whether it was the right thing to do, it wasn't about whether she loved him back, it wasn't even about her thesis at that point—she just couldn't continue to live having lost everything as a result of her own impatience, her own lack of regard for everyone around her. She killed her mentor through her own impatience, she gave up her son for experimentation, she didn't stop her husband from experimenting on her ex-lover, and she had nothing to show for it but crippling Jenova toxicosis and an equally crippling cowl of regret.

I could even go into Hojo here, how what he did to Sephiroth was a result of struggling to escape Gast's shadow, how what he did to Vincent was a result of him struggling to prove that he deserved his wife, how everything he did was born from the all-consuming need to do just one thing for which no one else could take credit. Hojo got the director position not because he earned it, but because Gast ran away. Hojo got Lucrecia not because he wooed her, but because he didn't have eyes like the unrequited first love that she killed. Hell, Project S only happened because Project G failed! Nothing Hojo has ever had that was worth anything was because of his work, only because the work of others failed. Why do you think he talks about "failures" the way he does? The failure of others is the only reason he's gotten so far, and he knows that any failure of his own will knock him right off that pedestal—and he's terrified.

None of these people are good people. I don't know that any of them ever were. But in their eyes, everything they did was justified, they took the right course of action, because they took the only course of action that their personal understanding of reality would allow them to take.

Were any of them actually right? Probably not. Certainly not, in some cases. But there's no going back on it now. The arrow has left the bow of the goddess, and there's no calling it back.

[altocat]

You keep saying that Sephiroth loved Angeal and Genesis but there's no evidence for that. Yeah they were friends but really that's all it ever was. Sephiroth isn't the type of person who loves anyone I don't even think he's capable because of Hojo raising him.

Sooo the man who

Canonically latches onto people to form his emotional identity

Wants to protect and save his men at his own expense

Offered to be a blood donor

Was unhappy when he COULDN'T be the blood donor

Starved himself from stress

Literally won't shut up about his friends

Becomes visibly upset when talking about his friends

Committed covert treason to protect them

Stood around in the rain calling them

Was about to leave Shinra because of them

Fell apart from a combination of them leaving/them hurting him in Nibelheim

Spends pretty much every waking moment of his onscreen adult life fretting over them/associating himself with them

... wasn't capable of love/didn't love his friends. I'm sorry, buddy. The math ain't mathing.