#there's this bit when he and Angeal duel atop the ShinRa tower

[featherlumina]

Genesis Headcanons: His Wing

Hooboy, I have so many thoughts and feelings about this boy's extra feathery limb. Here we go!

His wing is huge. I did measurements once but the thing is like, at least twice as long as he is tall, which makes it near 4 metres / 13 feet (welp, this is more of a fact than a headcanon, but there ya go.)

Instead of preen oil, he has powder down feathers (like cockatoos or pigeons), that he needs to consistently apply. Gen's a dusty boy.

He does a full feather moult once a year and is always impressed at how freaking huge his primary feathers are, despite how he might otherwise feel about his wing.

When his wing first bursts from his back, he is able to both hide and manifest it at will. However, each time he does, it becomes increasingly painful, and it becomes permanently part of him after Modeoheim. Clothing modifications become a must after that.

Once he's healed he regains control over manifesting it, but the longer he leaves it hidden, the more uncomfortable it becomes - like a deep, burning ache mixed with itchiness. My post-DoC headcanon is that he ends up leaving it out nearly all the time, as a way of openly accepting who he is and what he's done.

The little feathers at the top of his wing are extremely soft and velvety and I want to pet them oh my god-

Preening and maintaining his wing takes up a lot of time. His relationship with it might be fraught but he can't make the most of it with it in poor condition. It becomes something of a calming, grounding ritual as the years of degrading wear on. Also, his copies help. If he's feeling charitable or in a good mood, he helps them too sometimes.

If Genesis is in good health and his wing is properly maintained, his feathers are gorgeous. Mind you, they really start to show stress bars, break in odd places and disintegrate far more easily the worse the degradation gets.

He definitely uses it as a blanket or shield from the world when he wants privacy.

At the place where his wing merges into his shoulder, the feathers also sprout towards his spine, down his back and over his shoulder. There's a sort of radius or gradient of feathers that get smaller the further you get from the wing itself.

Early on, he refined his flying skills by studying monsters, especially griffins.

He's a bit miffed that his wing doesn't have any interesting patterns or colours like those of hawks or owls (he especially wishes it looked a bit flashier like Phoenix) but he's always had a fascination with ravens, so he can't really complain.

His favourite time of day to fly is night, as he's far more inconspicuous and blends in to the sky - and his night vision is excellent, given he's a SOLDIER.

At one stage, he fashions one of his feathers into a basic quill. He uses it specifically for writing LOVELESS notes.

I probably have more, but this post is already rather long. XD Hope you enjoyed!