#I also need to sort out things for aerith

[aequitaes]

When I get chance to come back, if you see me adding Joel from TLOU, Rachel from LIS: BTS, and Barney from HIMYM (((((((((:

@inibicion

[prismaticpichu]

The fact that Zack was only ~17 when he was forced to kill Angeal (☍﹏⁰)｡

So, like, yes: I unabashedly love to explore and accentuate Zack’s puppyish nature for my own catharsis, but…… goddamn. Local 17yo speaking here, and I just wanna say: WE ARE STILL VERY FRAGILE BEINGS, SURPRISE. We are not very mature; we are still developing; we are just little silly guys, y’know? And the fact that Zack, at this still tender age, was forced to essentially carry out a death wish for his best friend is fucking brutal, as is the fact that his job (and role as being the smiling, sunny SOLDIER) never allowed him to ever, well… seek the proper solace that he needed ;-; Like, this just-old-enough-to-drive-alone teenager is oceans away from his parents, and the only person who prolly was any sort of father figure to him, well… he just extinguished the life from ;-; ;-; ;-; And while he does go to Aerith for some comfort, I personally don’t think that’s proportional to the kind of comfort a parent or guardian can provide—which Zack is never given in any shape or form. He genuinely has no rock to lean on… because he IS that rock to so many others around him. And that’s all before he’s even legally an adult.

So, sure: Zack is energetic and spirited and may have boat loads of childlike energy—but what about the other things that still make him young? What about the natural way we younglings crave some kind of rock in our lives? What if Zack had endless nightmares about Modeoheim, replaying the moment Angeal stopped breathing over and over and over again, night after night after night? Who is supposed to comfort him…? Because it really doesn’t matter how fast you’re forced to grow up, bc (at least from my experience), you can’t just suction up the way your brain would naturally function at that time. If anything, it’s in a very similar vein (albeit less extreme and circumstantial and Hojo-manipulated) to Miniroth wanting to carry around a locket of his mother.

Case in point: Zack was damn YOUNG when Modeoheim went down—even younger when Angeal first deserted—and I find it genuinely tragic how he was never able to really properly grieve and act his age, despite how outwardly juvenile he may appear to be. (The same can also all be applied to Cloud, who faced even BIGGER trauma at an even younger age. I’m just kinda more into dissecting Crisis Core tbh shdhdhdhshh.)

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Also this is why Sephiroth is his mentor/best friend in my la la la land lmao

[secondarysefikura]

What was Aerith’s relationship with everyone?

Took me a brief second to realize you meant the sefikura child au lol. I was really confused for a moment. This one is a bit long so I'll put a split here.

Cloud: Growing up, she has a good, strong relationship with her 'dad.' While he can be a bit weird and distant at times, she loves spending time with him. He often teaches her life skills such as basic mechanics or how to control her strength.

When she gets older and finds out that her dad is really her mom, the relationship gets a bit strained. She holds some resentment towards him for lying but still loves him dearly. The two get into more arguments, although she's quick to drop things since Cloud is in a pretty bad state and Sephiroth has convinced her that Cloud doesn't really know what he's talking about. Eventually the relationship gets repaired and she understands why Cloud hid the truth from her, but, you know, classic teenage "ugh I hate my parents."

Tifa: Before Sephiroth shows up, Aerith is really close with her 'mom.' As a child she always wants to be with Tifa, clinging to her legs or playing nearby. As she gets older she likes to help Tifa in the kitchen, wanting to learn her 'mother's' recipes. Tifa also teaches her some self defense basics, although she makes Aerith promise to never strike first and to avoid fighting at all costs. Even if another kid tries to strike her, it's better that she dodges rather than hits back. Aerith has a lot of strength that she is still learning to control after all, so she needs to be absolutely certain she won't seriously harm someone before she properly fights back.

When Sephiroth shows up, her relationship with Tifa turns sour. She stops calling her mom and avoids her. She gets into all sorts of arguments with Tifa and yells at Tifa that she hates her. Poor Tifa is heartbroken, because even if she knew Aerith was getting to the age where she would start to push back, it seems like this personality shift happened over night.

When Aerith starts living with Sephiroth (and an unwilling Cloud), she grows even more resentful towards Tifa due to the things Sephiroth tells her. Tifa is the reason her real mom lied to her all these years, Sephiroth says. Tifa was the one who manipulated Cloud away from Sephiroth! She grows very resentful of Tifa.

Sephiroth: When Aerith meets Sephiroth/begins to hear his voice, she very quickly falls under his sway. He tells her the truth and supports her strength. He teaches her to fight not just to defend herself, but to strike fear and stop anyone from so much as looking at her wrong. She adores him and is quick to call him 'dad'. Even when she witnesses Sephiroth acting a bit weird towards Cloud, her blind hero worship of the man who 'fixed' her family makes her ignore the red flags.

Marleen: Marleen is like an older sister to Aerith. Even though Marleen is a lot older than her, the two often played together growing up. Marleen would give Aerith her old dolls and clothes too, just like a real big sister would! Also, when Marleen gets to the age that she starts to wear a bit of makeup, she practices her skills on Aerith. Which of course is the coolest thing ever when you're a little kid.

Denzel: Aerith has a similar relationship with Denzel as she does with Marleen. He's like an older brother to her and he teaches her how to play all sorts of card and board games. He can be a little bit weird though, randomly getting quiet or distant from her. Her 'dad' says it because Denzel has something called PTSD, just like him. Apparently before she was born, Denzel had an illness that could causes really intense visions. Although he's better now, the experience was difficult and left a lasting impact on him.

Her dad says he had it too, although he's pretty certain Aerith won't get it. At the very least, he explains, even if she does get it the cure has been found and she won't get sick like him and Denzel did.

Barret: Getting into her 'extended family', Barret is like an uncle to Aerith. Although he often goes away for work, he lives at the bar with her parents and 'siblings' anytime he isn't away. When he's home, he always makes sure to take the kids somewhere fun! Aerith really likes him.

Yuffie: Yuffie is like the cool, fun aunt. She doesn't visit a ton, but she does it's always chaos. Once, she took Aerith to the Golden Saucer and taught her how to pickpocket the distracted crowds. Cloud and Tifa were not amused and Aunt Yuffie got in a lot of trouble. Aerith did too, although not as much as Yuffie who "should have known better than to teach a kid to steal!"

Nanaki: When she was little, Aerith was actually scared of Nanaki. She's told it's because she burnt her hand on his tail when she was a baby. Now that she's older, Aerith isn't scared of him anymore. She likes to give him pats, whenever he's willing to receive them.

Vincent: Like Nanaki, Aerith was also scared of Vincent when she was little. She came around to him by the time she was a toddler, but the few times she saw him as a baby she would cry and cry. Aerith doesn't see him often, but she views him as a sort of distant relative that sometimes shows up and comments that you've gotten a lot taller. He has a hard time talking to her or forming a bond, although he does try to occasionally make awkward small talk.

Cid: Cid is funny, because he can't seem to stop himself from swearing around her. Then Tifa smacks Cid on the back of his head, rebuking him for using such langauge around the kids. It never fails to make Aerith laugh.

Cait: When Aerith was a baby, Cait was the frequent victim of her grabby baby hands. As a toddler, she loved to snuggle him like a stuffed toy. Although as a preteen she likes to claim she doesn't care for toys like Cait anymore (which always makes Cait snap he isn't a toy!) she always sneaks a quick snuggle with him.

[getvalentined]

For the character ask, Tseng.

💭 How I feel about this character

Tseng is my blorbo-in-law through both @takenbynumbers and @skadren, and I love him so much. He's compelling, he's complex, he's wonderful. He means a lot to me as a person of Asian descent with minimal connection to my ethnic background (ayyyy diaspora), because his position within Shinra indicates pretty clearly that he's the same way with his own Wutaian heritage.

💞 All the people I ship romantically with this character

Reeve! Also Reeve. And sometimes, believe it or not, Reeve.

Okay in all seriousness I also ship him with Vincent, I think he has a kind of one-sided daddy issues thing for Veld, and I have RP'd him in relationship with a time-displaced Grimoire Valentine that worked out staggeringly well.

Reeve is the one that I ship him with the most, though, and that relationship is always my endgame for both of them. I can't see either of them sharing the rest of their lives with anyone else—a sneaky cat and an attack dog who fell in with one another well before the sky came crashing down, and eventually climbed out of the rubble together.

🤝 My non-romantic OTP for this character

This is gonna sound weird, but I'll go into it in more detail in the next question: my favorite non-romantic relationship for Tseng is Rufus. I'm not saying they're strictly platonic, because I don't think what they have going on could be anything but extremely homoerotic, but they're not romantic, and I do genuinely love the dynamic between them.

I also really like the concept of the dynamic between Tseng and Vincent, because they're extremely alike, to the point that I kind of assume that's part of why Veld recruited Tseng in the first place. In my head Tseng is aware of this, and kind of always sees himself as the replacement goldfish for Vincent Valentine, and it colors a lot of his work life in very specific ways. When he actually meets Vincent, this gets even worse, because god dammit they are really alike, actually, fuck. It's a sort of "Oh. Oh." moment, but not in a sexy or romantic way. More of a "I hate when my role model is right" way.

🚫 My unpopular opinion about this character

This opinion is hugely unpopular, to the point that I don't know that I've ever put it out in public so plainly, but Tseng is Rufus' attack dog, not his friend. He doesn't know Rufus well enough to tell when he's lying about his religious motivations in Rebirth, and Rufus doesn't know Tseng well enough to tell that Tseng is manipulating him to keep Aerith safe.

Their relationship is complex and fascinating to me, but I don't see it as a friendly one in the slightest, at least not in a traditional sense. They rely on each other in a way that leaves them so intertwined most similar cases end with one or both parties dying at the other's hand, but they're so emotionally distant from one another neither is sure whether the other has emotions at all. They need each other to stay alive and they trust each other implicitly, but at the same time they're both holding knives to the other's throats and know better than to trust a word the other says.

Tseng doesn't dislike Rufus any more than Rufus dislikes Tseng. They have a massive amount of respect for one another. They're also two cats in a staring contest, waiting for the other to blink, and they'll probably be waiting forever.

🌟 One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

I mean Rebirth already gave me two (2) Tseeve crumbs so I feel like asking for anything else would be greedy. More of that would be cool, though.

[ for the character breakdown ask game ]

This character was also submitted by @blightandfire!

[pretense-pence]

Wake-Up Times: AVALANCHE Edition

I forgot to set an alarm for the morning I began writing this so that’s what inspired this post.

Cloud: He seems like the type to wake up from between 5:30-6:00 am. He was a trooper and they probably had to wake up super early. Cloud honestly also feels like the type to do some sort of workout as soon as he wakes up. 

Tifa: She definitely wakes up at like 6:00 am. And like Cloud, does some sort of workout. Sometimes she’ll workout with Cloud.

Barret: He probably wakes up at like 6:00 as well. He uses that time to clean his gun arm and make sure he has everything ready for the day. 

Aerith: She wakes up at like 7:00 am. She thinks this is plenty early but the earlier risers have to disagree. She also probably doesn’t have that much of a morning routine. She’s just ready to go. 

Nanaki: He wakes up at like 5:00 am. Typical cat/dog behavior. He expects breakfast to be ready at that time. Which is never the case during the days they were chasing after Sephiroth since hotels don’t usually serve breakfast that early.

Yuffie: People think she wakes up late, but really, she wakes up at 5:30 am. It’s the perfect time to train her ninja skills! And steal from her sleeping comrades. Sadly, Nanaki always catches her.

Cait Sith: He’s a robot so he doesn’t need to sleep, but he does have shut down time. Said shut down time typically corresponds with when Reeve is asleep. So, typically, he’s awake at like 6:00 am. Though, it’s not completely unusual for him to be randomly up at 4:00 am. 

Reeve: Speaking of being up randomly at 4:00 am, Reeve’s sleep schedule is kind of fucked. He tries to wake up at 6:00 am but usually is awake way earlier. He’s always stressed so as soon as he wakes up, no matter the time, he’s up. 

Vincent: Either he doesn’t sleep or he’s up at like 3:00 pm. Sadly, the others force him to wake up at 8:00 am if he isn’t already awake. Even if you wake him up at 8:00 am, there’s a chance he’ll find somewhere to nap shortly after waking up.

Cid: He’s up at like 6:30 am. The first thing he does when he wakes up is go out for a smoke.

[winter-doggo]

One of the things I love seeing about people's MonHun AUs for different media is, a lot of the time, there's all this thought put into the hunter's side of things. Intricate armour choices or even original designs to mesh things together perfectly. Exactly how the guild works and where they are in it. etc etc.

I have never been able to do that intuitively. I love MonHun for all the beasts! And only remember what like 2 armour sets look like lol. So when I see these other people's AUs that know what they want hunting to look like, but don't feel like showing me monsters, I can't help but think. we may not be the same. but that is beautiful! you get it!! Hell yeah!!!

Anyway this sort of approach is why, for a long time, the hunter side of the FF7 (Zack) Monster Hunter AU I dreamed up in my head had little more depth on the hunter side than "uhh so zack uses greatsword and. um. i guess he can have rathalos armour", but I also knew exactly what monsters I wanted to involve to tell the story I wanted. (cut because this is getting long)

Wanted a nice variety, mainstay monsters like Teostra (easy parallel to Ifrit moment from CC where he meets Sephiroth) but also monsters from weird places like Frontier - think Forokururu (it lives in a flower field!! Aerith, who looks after said field, sends in a quest for one that's been acting up, that turns out to be frenzied, and that's how she and Zack meet and also sets up for a later point where the--)

Anyway I made a whole long list to keep track of the monsters when I planned this out. And because this came from primarily a place of self-indulgence, I also made sure to include Qurupeco and Zamtrios. Capcom may have forgot them but I haven't.

I did decide Zack came from Jumbo Village (jungle boy and that) but set out to Loc Lac when he decided to get involved with Serious HuntingTM. Then he heads to Dundorma since it's the BIIIG hunter place of the old world. Partly this stemmed from wanting a more solid idea of the ways he learned to hunt but also figuring what monsters would be more likely to be involved and when. But Zack would find out about scout flies or cohoots but then still throw paintballs sometimes for fun/style points/improvised other purpose, prove me wrong

Also he helps Cloud out! to get that HR!! I never figured out the exact details of where/why cloud is and isn't though. Like Cloud needs to be there Sephiroth's Joker Moment right. but unlike Shinra, the hunter's guild would explicitly bar mr. low rank Cloud from going on quests/expeditions aimed at G/Master Rank hunters. I guess that is where my handwaving what's up with the guild comes back to bite me. "hmm maybe the guild is going through issues or corruption, maybe it is like shinra, so how does that work" but then i can't focus on it because it's too much people and not enough creature lmao

MAN I need to make something out of all that some time xD;

[ff7-has-taken-me-over]

Randomly, I had a thought on how likely it would have been for different characters to have fallen for Cloud and why they would have fallen for him and now I’m here! Once more! So going in no particular order let us begin (this is just the main sort of batch of characters, let me know if you wanna see any of the side ones like the Turks or Rufus)

Also keep in mind this is just me, my opinions and my blog. Don’t like, don’t read, don’t bring your ship hating or ship wars in here or I’ll punch you. Please and thank you!

Zack: I am being mildly biased with my own shipping head canons when I say that he would’ve fallen head over heels upon first meeting, but also it is canon that he was a chronic flirt and had multiple ‘girlfriends’. So I say it’s not entirely out of the question.

Sephiroth: before he lost his mind there wasn’t a chance in fucking hell it would’ve happened I think. Besides the whole difference in rank thing Seph was already far too traumatised and probably would have just seen Cloud as another guy that saw him as nothing but a war hero. He might have entertained the thought of sleeping with him, maybe, but I really don’t think it would’ve happened. We all know how he is after he loses his mind so I don’t think I gotta delve into that.

Angeal: probably not. He definitely would’ve taken some sort of liking to Cloud, whether as a friend he could find good conversation with or a sort of protege like Zack, I dunno. But ultimately I don’t reckon they’d have too much of a connection, not without some form of poly going on or something. Which leads me to this next one.

Genesis: I for sure reckon he would’ve fallen for Cloud. It would’ve been fucking messy and drama filled and more than likely would have stemmed from an enemies to lovers cause they’re both so incredibly stubborn and head strong, but they would end up loving each other. They’d definitely still butt heads and get into useless arguments but there were far too many pros to even think of giving up on the other.

Aerith: without the whole Cloud resembling Zack thing, maybe. There’s a chance that she could have but it would have been slow. Would’ve been one of those things where they hung out and talked and did all this stuff together so often that one day she would’ve turned around and realised she was in love with him. Like a full on ‘oh’ moment.

Tifa: this is another thing that’s mildly biased based off my own head canons but I honestly don’t think Tifa would have fallen for Cloud. If not for the Nibelheim incident and Cloud being exactly what she always wished for as a kid I do not think it would’ve happened.

Barret: definitely fucking not 😂 besides the fact that he hated Cloud when they first met, Cloud is so far beyond his type it’s not even funny. Plus I feel like Barret would either be one of those guys who’s like ‘my wife was the only woman for me’ or he just wouldn’t wanna put Marlene through the stress of suddenly gaining another parent.

Biggs: maybe. Like a heavy ass possibly honestly. I feel like it would have been the most generic romance in history and it would’ve been so unbelievably normal and it most likely would have been short lived, but maybe.

Wedge: I’m not gonna lie. Wedge gives me aromantic vibes for some reason. I dunno why, he just does. He’d definitely befriend Cloud (eventually) and be willing to wingman him or something if he needed it but yeah, I don’t think Wedge would’ve fallen for him.

Jessie: she absolutely loves flirting with Cloud and teasing him and being all over him, but she is definitely a lesbian. Don’t even argue with me! That woman is a full fledged lesbian and she only flirts with guys so heavily cause it’s funny to watch them scramble.

Vincent: nah, not really. Would they have a friends with benefits thing? Probably. But I feel like Vincent is far too emotionally unavailable and traumatised to even entertain the idea of being with someone again.

Cid: I feel like this is similar to Angeal. He’d definitely like Cloud and they’d bond over mechanic shit and complain about the people they chose to surround themselves with, but he definitely wouldn’t fall for him either. Cloud is way too young for him and not nearly his type in a guy. Plus he has a wife.

[finallystartliving]

OKKKKK long ass post explaining my s/i lore!!!

@ezrawip pspspsps

I have ~4 "universes"/aus (I guess). Two of them belong to a crossover universe type thing me and my friend made for LARP purposes, complete with making our own ocs. My oc, who started as mostly a self insert, eventually became my s/i. One of these universes takes place in the comics, so there's slight deviation from the other two, which take place in the show.

His name is Leon (so is mine), he's in his early to mid 20s. He's a trans guy. Depending on the verse, he either used to be in the military or used to be a singer. I made the latter one up because I really like music and I wanted to image him performing different songs :3c (more under the cut)

In the comic verse, Leon and Glenn meet before the first volume. Leon's been a part of the group from the start. He and Glenn become friends and their relationship soon turns into something romantic, but they try to keep it to themselves and not attract any attention from the others if that makes sense. Since Glenn is often going on supply runs, Leon tends to worry. It's Rick who overhears Glenn reassuring Leon, that he'll always come back. He wonders. Probably is the one to tell them it's...sort of obvious

In the show verse, Leon's introduced in season 2. He lives on the farm, and is best friends with Maggie. When they're both on horseback, relaying Carl's condition to everyone else, Leon's distracted because he thinks Glenn is oh-so pretty. Fast forward to when everyone's on the farm. Like in the comics, they slowly fall in love, a friends to lovers type thing. Leon's still a ball of anxiety and Glenn's reassurance works wonders. They're on a supply run when a walker comes out at Leon and, in saving him, Glenn's forced to confront his feelings.

Like previously mentioned, there's two different versions to Leon's backstory. One of these is where he joined the Air Force at age 18, mainly for financial reasons. He used the money and health insurance and whatnot to fund his transition. He didn't enjoy his time in the military, and was secretly happy that it got cut short thanks to the apocalypse (of course he'd rather go back to things being normal but. either way it wasn't a fun time)

The other one is where he used to be a singer, and one of his songs got really super popular, but it was right before the apocalypse so it didn't last long. The song is real Emotion from Final Fantasy X-2, specifically the Sweetbox version :3c I really like this song lmao I listened to it like 30 times in a row once (rookie numbers i know)

I relate Leon a lot to Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII because they're both optimistic and hopefully about the future, always talking about "tomorrow" and "the next time". Overall he has some sort of connection to the Planet, and he respects it dearly. He loves animals and even has a pet wolf named Hewie (like from Haunting Ground!). He also says things like "does that make me a dumbass?" and "every minute, every moment...matters."

He can be very talkative but only if you know him/you're close to him. If that's not the case, he can be quiet and sometimes fidgety. Polite, but won't speak unless spoken to.

He prefers not to engage in violence, but understands that most of the time it's kill or be killed. He can be extremely anxious at times, it usually happens randomly and is hard to rid himself of. He can also be quite sensitive. He likes to be encouraging, though, even if he doesn't follow his own rules. Cue phrases like "when you're lost in the darkness, look for the light", "hold on to what if", and "if the world chooses to be my enemy, I will fight like I always have". While he has a strong sense for justice, he thinks revenge is usually useless and just continues the cycle of violence. But if a friend needs his help, he won't hesitate to provide that help.

And of course, I do love it when the nice characters snap.

He's also clingy, especially with Glenn. Especially if he hasn't seen him in a while (a few minutes). He'll hold his hand or be on his arm and glued to his side or what have you.

He also has prophetic dreams because...I thought it was cool and decided to add it randomly.

There's another au where he's a vampire (inspired by Twilight) Before the apocalypse, he was kidnapped by a cult and turned into a vampire. He escaped without even knowing there was an apocalypse. My friend's oc in this is a werewolf!

And there's another universe, heavily inspired by FFVII, where he is one of the last Cetra (along with my friend's oc ^^).

And finally here are some pictures for moodboard purposes.

:3c

[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!

[risingoflights]

Hmm, you don't feel comfortable talking about it unless someone asks your opinions? Then this is your official ask!

I've never played the critically acclaimed- er, you know. And I have no idea what the Ilsabard Region is or what its story and tone are.

So! What is it, and how does it compare to what you've experienced of Rebirth so far? What do you get from one that's missing in the other? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each narrative, and which do you feel, at this point, will have the most replay value?

(Plus anything else that's crossed your mind!)

ah friend, you should know better than to ask, but thank you for asking <3

leaving xiv out of this for a moment, i can tell you exactly why chapter 7 specifically of rebirth is the one to have caused me to openly gripe.

and, as you might expect, it's to do with hojo.

i was always going to judge the entirety of this game by its handling of hojo, and so far i've been sorely disappointed. standing by what i said in my previous post about nostalgia and fandom goggles, i still believe there was more written into hojo in og than, say, scarlet and heideggar. and since remake did a decent job rounding out president shinra, i was hoping hojo would get similar treatment. so far though, it seems like they've gone the opposite way.

i try not to make too many comparisons to og because many characters are pointedly deviating away from their og characterisations (rufus seems a standout so far), but this point in og was importantly where hojo started shaping up to be more than the trope he began as. it was crucial that as soon as sephiroth reappeared, hojo abandoned shinra. in fact if memory serves, someone (heideggar or rufus?) even points this out in og - hojo's 'disappeared'. then when you see him in costa and cloud asks why he's there, hojo admits 'the same reason as you'. cloud was chasing sephiroth, so was hojo. and he was doing it without shinra because finding sephiroth wasn't on shinra's agenda - at least not at that point.

i was actually so hopeful and happy at the end of remake where the camera pans across the executives lined up in front of rufus, and hojo is decidedly missing - off laughing to himself...! excellent! that defiance seems to have led nowhere in rebirth!

you could argue that in rebirth, hojo decided to continue using shinra resources to go after sephiroth and he's still playing his own long game. doesn't change the fact that rufus was openly out to kill sephiroth now - so what did he tell hojo to make him stay, if hojo had wanted to leave? i mean, you could argue a lot of things to make things make things deeper. and maybe things will get deeper - i'm only halfway through rebirth after all - but rebirth hojo was still on the beach to capture the robes and study them. that single-minded drive and obsession with sephiroth just isn't present. it felt like the icing off the original cake. the bikini girls fawning on him, really fun! him throwing off-handed remarks about recruiting them for his sephiroth breeding program, noooooot... as fun! the whole shinra bigwig come to town, johnny being made to carry his briefcase and push crowds on the beach out of his way? ish! sort of a... dazzling superficial picking of what that scene originally was? did i laugh? yes! was i let down? also yes!

the other thing that really grated on me was the optional aerith dialogue, but that's no surprise - the whole aerith situation has been one big headache for me so far and promises to continue to be so. talk to aerith on the beach and she says a bunch of things about hojo culminating in 'i hate him'. oh. oh, like we really needed this explicitly said? you know, what i really loved about og here is twofold - 1. hojo doesn't appear to even remember aerith's name, which is such a good demonstrating of him not registering her as worthy of ifalna, compared to rebirth where hojo literally yells this at her during battle. this was one of the neat little consistent touches about og hojo - he didn't give a shit, but passively and dismissively - like, it's not so much he deliberately chose to harm others as he just didn't even register harming others as a concept, which made the few people and times he did choose to be sadistic stand out more. and 2. og aerith, instead of... any of the ugly things she could've said to and about hojo, asks him about her lineage and connection to sephiroth instead. how loaded does that make their relationship? that no matter what he did to her and her mother, she still registers him as a source of knowledge and felt pressed to ask him despite the subject being a particular sore point for her?

og aerith probably also hated hojo - i mean, that just makes sense. but the way that scene played out really sets precedent for more questions... what more? what else? which. i guess summarises a lot of the issues i have with rebirth so far. that whole sense of wonder is just not there. the game likes to hand you everything, tell you exactly what to think. this is often done at its detriment, because real complexity simply cannot be spoonfed! BUT - i have to keep reiterating - nostalgia and fandom goggles. they're grafted to my face and i can't take them off.

....so after all that, would you still like to hear about ilsabard? i realise i've just completely failed to answer all your questions but, thank you for allowing me to vent a little!

[dutchdread]

Since Rebirth really expanded on Cloud and Tifa’s relationship, how do you think the devs will expand on the Lifestream and Highwind scenes? Do you think they will expand on it in any other areas?

They already are, the scene with Tifa in Gongaga is already an expansion on the lifestream scene. It's interesting that the the second part of a trilogy of games only ended at the end of disc 1 out of three. While the OG is definitely front loaded in regards to content this still means that they left A LOT for the third game. I've been thinking about why this might be and how they might want to handle the structure for the third game. It seems likely, both in general and from looking at the first two games, that SE wants the games to all be able to stand on their own as separate games, while also being a part of a whole. The fact that we've had two insanely massive end fights where from a larger perspective that isn't really justified, really shows that by itself. Stories tend to fall into predictable patterns or story structures. The OG especially follows the classic "heroes Journey" structure popularized by Joseph Campbell.

Before the Hero is able to overcome the villain, aka the external threat, he must first overcome himself, aka, the internal threat. The first meeting with the Villain ends in failure, a story where everything just goes according to plan is generally not very satisfying. If we look at star wars this happens at the end of the empire strikes back. Luke goes off to face Darth vader before he's ready and as a result he loses his hand. Han is also trapped in carbonite and in generally we're in the lowest of lows. Same happens in Rebirth, from a larger narrative Aerith dying and Cloud losing his mind represents this low point. We're in the 'death and rebirth' section of the heroes journey. In the OG, and also in remake from the perspective of the larger narrative, this lowest of lows happens when Cloud hands the black materia to Sephiroth, falls into the lifestream, and meteor is summoned. The first encounter with the big bad fails because Cloud has not yet fulfilled his internal character arc. The lifestream sequence represents the "revelation", it's where Cloud faces his internal arc, which will then give him the information needed to confront Sephiroth successfully. My guess is that one of the reasons that the story is structured the way it is is to allow part three to once again stand alone in a three act structure, while also working as the final act when seen as a whole. Most likely part 3 will use Clouds delusions concerning Aeriths survival as well as the early cut-off point, to allow for enough material to work towards a new "death and rebirth" section when they finally reach north crater, which will then allow for the LS sequence to be relatively late in the third game as well as to serve as a "conclusion" of some sort. I've seen other people argue that it will be relatively early in part 3 but that would surprise me, I think half-way at the earliest. Post lifestream every character should have reached their "perfect self", they should all have confronted the things they needed to confront, bringing them to the place where all that is left is to resolve their final challenges. Going back to Midgar, confront Hojo, confront Zack and Aeriths Death, and as always, Cloud and Tifa confronting their feelings for each other on the eve of the final battle. Seeing as how important these events are for the story to function and be the best telling it could possibly be, I cannot imagine them not getting the care and detail that you'd expect from something so pivotal. Hope that answers your question.

[soulcarved]

🚢 - Sasuke!

🚢 - Naruto!

🚢 - Cloud or Aerith ( if you’re familiar with them otherwise u can ignore these two c:

-> 🐝  *  ―  𝑺𝑯𝑰𝑷𝑷𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑬𝑻.

i'm gonna put these under a cut because it's gonna be LONG--

sasuke && takeshi:

do i ship our characters together?: yes | no | not yet but maybe soon

i am making kissy faces at them rn are you kidding me???? love love LOVE--

would i like to ship with you?: yes | maybe, i'm willing to try | no

B))))))))))))))))))

type of relationship i could see: childhood or high school sweethearts | exes | engaged | married | long-term relationship | crushes | unrequited love | fling | long distance | online relationship | just dating | new relationship | toxic lovers | friends with benefits

their dynamic is already so vague as it is, which i actually sort of love. they're really reinforcing the idea that not everything needs a label for it to exist. they're just happy being whatever the fuck they are and i love that for them honestly. i would LOVE the idea of seeing them in a long-term relationship or something but i fear that unless sasuke finds out about takeshi's UHHHHHHH situation and is able to do something about it, they may not get the chance for a long-term relationship :((

tropes i'd enjoy writing for them: friends to lovers | enemies to lovers | exes to lovers | fake relationship / dating | forbidden love | grumpy and sunshine | star-crossed lovers | surprise pregnancy | second chance | soulmates | amnesia / mistaken identity | forced proximity | secret relationship | slow burn relationship

but also pls consider: - that yakuza thing you've got brewing bc yes thank you i don't know how takeshi would fit into that bUT WE COULD WORK IT OUT. - takeshi ' i'm not worthy of all the wonderful things you want to give me ' wakahisa and sasuke ' well that's too damn bad because you're fucking getting it ' uchiha. - right person, wrong time vibes. - i also see there's the hint of a jjk verse potentially for sasuke????? i'm making grabby hands at it. let them be chaotic curse users together maybe uwu

would i rather plot first or jump right in and see where it goes?: develop their relationship first | jump right in | something in between ( what specifically? )

I MEAN???? we're already sort of just jumping right into things with some form of vague plotting as we go? i'm heckin' vibing.

what now?: let's plot something | send me shippy memes | i'll send you shippy memes | write me a random starter | i'll write you a random starter

throw everything at me and i will throw everything at u. i will, in fact, go down with this ship.

anything else i want you to know about me / my character / my shipping habits: ( put whatever you want here )

sunshine boy???? WRONG. riddled with anxiety and the lowest self-esteem you've ever seen. terribly sorry sasuke, i fear the happy go lucky attitude is partially a defense mechanism to stop himself from getting hurt :)))

naruto && ??? i'm not gonna lie i'm feeling aika for this--

do i ship our characters together?: yes | no | not yet but maybe soon

i am always one step away from shipping something u must know this by now.

would i like to ship with you?: yes | maybe, i'm willing to try | no

type of relationship i could see: childhood or high school sweethearts | exes | engaged | married | long-term relationship | crushes | unrequited love | fling | long distance | online relationship | just dating | new relationship | toxic lovers | friends with benefits

i fear naruto may have his work cut out for him though. aika's relationships never last long and she is..... a little toxic purely because of how she gets around that three month mark of a relationship. it's like she can't even fathom that things might be going well and she would make it her personal mission to ruin the relationship just to prove to herself that it wouldn't have lasted anyway.

tropes i'd enjoy writing for them: friends to lovers | enemies to lovers | exes to lovers | fake relationship / dating | forbidden love | grumpy and sunshine | star-crossed lovers | surprise pregnancy | second chance | soulmates | amnesia / mistaken identity | forced proximity | secret relationship | slow burn relationship

any relationship with aika would be filled with drama and just chaos?? she would purposefully fuck things up and i fear she would give naruto a run for his money. they would be REALLY cute tho--

would i rather plot first or jump right in and see where it goes?: develop their relationship first | jump right in | something in between ( what specifically? )

what now?: let's plot something | send me shippy memes | i'll send you shippy memes | write me a random starter | i'll write you a random starter

if naruto and aika are a ship you're interested in then we should DEFINITELY plot something out!!

anything else i want you to know about me / my character / my shipping habits: ( put whatever you want here )

crazy lady vibes but when i tell you she's so loyal she would quite literally kill a man for him i'm??? being mostly serious tbh

doing cloud and aerith together bc !!! <3

do i ship our characters together?: yes | no | not yet but maybe soon

it would definitely be a conversation about who you would want from my end for them but honestly at this point you could be like ' aerith and ____ are dating now ' and i'd just go with tbh.

would i like to ship with you?: yes | maybe, i'm willing to try | no

type of relationship i could see: childhood or high school sweethearts | exes | engaged | married | long-term relationship | crushes | unrequited love | fling | long distance | online relationship | just dating | new relationship | toxic lovers | friends with benefits

give me all of it. i'm making grabby hands. i request all of it thank u.

tropes i'd enjoy writing for them: friends to lovers | enemies to lovers | exes to lovers | fake relationship / dating | forbidden love | grumpy and sunshine | star-crossed lovers | surprise pregnancy | second chance | soulmates | amnesia / mistaken identity | forced proximity | secret relationship | slow burn relationship

but also: lovers to enemies to lovers.

would i rather plot first or jump right in and see where it goes?: develop their relationship first | jump right in | something in between ( what specifically? )

what now?: let's plot something | send me shippy memes | i'll send you shippy memes | write me a random starter | i'll write you a random starter

!!!!!!!! PLS

anything else i want you to know about me / my character / my shipping habits: ( put whatever you want here )

i'm claiming cloud and aerith idk who is getting them but YE S

[lunarianebula872]

Psy sits on the rock wall and watched Calamity Zack unsure of what he should think but one thing's for certain is after two separate emotional outbursts one at Calamity Zack and one at the other little Clouds being taken care of by Calamity Zack he knows he screwed up but what makes things difficult for him is because everyone's thoughts were so loud that he couldn't even pay attention to anything and it was causing him a ton of stress along with a massive migraine which prompted him to lash out however when it comes to apologizing he stops short unable to figure out how to word his apology to both Calamity Zack and to the other little Cloud he upset as he currently has no control of most of his psychic powers and ends up stressing and straining himself because of it

Strong negative thoughts and emotions brought forth by someone around him always triggers some sort of stress or panic response from him which results him going into emotional distress but he also wishes it doesn't because then he would probably be normal to an extent is what he thought normal would be however while in his thoughts he didn't realize Calamity Zack calling out to him "Psy!" Came Calamity Zack's voice which snaps him out of his thoughts and he looks at Calamity Zack a little annoyed "what?" Psy still had a headache from earlier which was causing him to be a bit more irritable but Calamity Zack doesn't seem annoyed or upset with his tone but rather upset that the headache still persisted

"Psy bud is the headache still bothering you?" Calamity Zack's voice held concern which confused Psy as most of the time his outbursts caused him harm or a horrible label since most of his abilities react with his emotions "why are you concerned about a headache...? I snapped and hurt both you and that other Cloud because of my-" "we don't rebuke emotional responses or traumas Psy if it's one thing Angeal taught me is that letting your emotions or traumas sit like that they'll build and build till they cause you to lash out... so please Psy tell me what's stressing you out bud..." Calamity Zack looked at him like a father would with genuine concern and care for their child that he wanted to reach out and hug him but he stopped himself and started to pick at his skin

Calamity Zack caught on quickly and hugs Psy close to which Psy starts to sniffle "i-it's been a long while since I've been hugged... m-ma because of my abilities was treated harshly by the folks in Nibelheim... they...burned our home down killing ma... and since I wasn't even in the house they just chased me out... the only one who treated me like an actual human there was Tifa... but she told me to run away from there since they would have hurt me... Midgar wasn't any better as once my abilities came to like... the scientists were very curious about my brain... and how... in their words operated... which I lashed out then after they hurt me and that caused me to be hurt and have that high fever... where the Angeal with wings suddenly appeared before I blacked out... then I woke up here in a bed..." Psy trembles slightly

"i-if I didn't have these abilities maybe I would be normal... maybe ma would still be alive o-or maybe my dad wouldn't have left-" Psy stopped speaking as Calamity Zack hugged him tighter "none of that was your fault Psy... besides Tifa, all those people were assholes... and let me ask you this... who even is normal? None of us in this family are normal we're all different... different backgrounds that could even deem us as not normal... you may have these cool psychic abilities that need to be trained but they don't make you a monster like those people seem to believe... you also need positive outlets to... and let me tell you this... me, Aerith, Angeal, and the other Clouds here are willing to help you... if you can give us a chance to..." Calamity Zack spoke with such ernest that it made Psy cling to the man tightly as Calamity Zack has been the only father figure in his life

"O-okay... a-also I-I'm sorry for hurting you with that... psychic hand... I need to apologize to that one Cloud I hurt to... it's I don't know how to apologize... so perhaps I s-should go practice... and make sure I don't slip up..." Psy spoke and Calamity Zack pat his head "you don't need to be extravagant with it Psy just apologize and mean it... which also means no excuses either..." Psy nods but mumbles "wish it was that easy..." Calamity Zack shakes his head "some things may sound simple and easy till you give it a try but it shouldn't back away from challenges..." Psy took in those words "I-I'll try... but as you know... us Clouds are stubborn... so what if he doesn't accept because of our own stubbornness...?" Calamity Zack looks at him "then we'll go with the flow... I'll try to help explain that in your current abilities aren't in your control and that we're going to work on them..." Psy nods but he's still hesitant since it will take a bit if it's even possible to be forgiven

"If I were to disappear or run away...? Would you look for me...?" Psy asked to which he got a nod "yeah bud I would... because we don't give up on each other we also care for each other" "even if we see ourselves as monsters...?" "Yes even if we see ourselves as monsters because even those who were pushed away had become monsters they also deserve to be saved and helped" Psy was surprised by that answer but nods "t-thanks da- Zack..." Psy almost called Calamity Zack dad but isn't sure if that was acceptable but Calamity Zack smiled at him "bud... you can call me your dad some of the other Clouds do heck some even call me uncle or even their best friend though take your time... you don't have to call me dad or anything" Psy nods again at this and hugs Calamity Zack tighter now that things were a little lighter he decides to ask Calamity Zack something that had to do with his thoughts

"Is there a reason why your thoughts keep looping the chocobo theme...? The one from the racetrack...?" Psy hears a playful snort at that "nope! I just have that song pop into my head and get stuck in there!" Was Calamity Zack's response which makes him giggle a little which brightens Calamity Zack "so music you like would get trapped in that head of yours?" Psy says as a joke and Calamity Zack gives him a goofy look "are you saying I have no thoughts and that my head is empty?" Psy gives him a playful grin "yes" "oh you goofy little butt!" Calamity Zack give Psy noogies and even tickles him "no!!" Psy squeals loudly and tries to squirm away as Calamity Zack laughs though when he gets free he bolts but he can hear Calamity Zack jump out of the water and give chase which lasts a bit till Psy trips but Calamity Zack was quick to grab him before Psy hits the ground face first "you good?" Calamity Zack asks which Psy nods "yeah... thanks..." "no problem bud!" Calamity Zack spoke as he carries Psy back in time for dinner.

Alright so I wasn't expecting to write all that but still I'm still very rusty at writing but hopefully it's okay...

also made this reply to Aimee's quick doodle lol.

Calamity Zack au is by @aimeelouart

Psy is by me

Enjoy.

[secondarysefikura]

Question: What are Aerith/Aria’s views on her parent’s relationship?

She seems to think that Cloud and Sephiroth’s relationship is normal since she feels the same about Veronica and JD’s in Heathers. (Mentioned in the Ask about her favourite movies.)

However, she has also acknowledged Sephiroth’s weird behaviour before: https://www.tumblr.com/secondarysefikura/783184708694671360/for-mothers-day-cloud-would-always-help-aerith

In this Ask, she responds “that’s kind of messed up” to Sephiroth “accidentally” breaking Cloud’s ankle. Sephiroth simply shrugs after, not denying that what he did is indeed messed up.

This implies that Aerith can differentiate what’s right and wrong, but is she in denial about it when it comes to her parents? Or does she excuse it because Sephiroth told her that they’re an exception because they’re in a different situation than the rest or the world?

Also, are Aerith and Destiny bothered by the fact that their parents don’t always get along?

The short answer is "it's complicated."

The long answer? Well...

I mention in an old ask that Aerith can never accept the fact that Cloud is happier with his friends than he is with Sephiroth. Because she was ultimately the reason that Cloud ended getting kidnapped by Sephiroth (again), admitting that her mom is unhappy means that she has to grapple with doing something genuinely terrible. She can't handle the thought, so she never tries to break away from the things her father taught her.

With this in mind, you can get a good feel for how she views her parents. She has a lot of respect for Sephiroth and takes his word as gospel since she sees him as being the first person to not lie to her.

A lot of times, things that maybe should be a red flag are ignored because, well, that's just what has to be done to keep her mom safe. Sephiroth says that Cloud is unwell and that he was manipulated and brainwashed for years by Avalanche. So it's sort expected that Cloud is going to be difficult and push the envelop.

Honestly, it's kinda sweet how her much her dad loves her mom, since he puts up with all of Cloud's nonsense. That's true love right there!

Despite this, there are certain lines that she knows shouldn't be crossed. Sure, Sephiroth has to be firm with Cloud whenever he starts getting confused. Sure, Cloud gets 'delusional' sometimes because he was manipulated and brainwashed for years. It's not ideal, but it just has to happen that way. Purposely breaking Cloud's ankle so he can't get out of bed though? She knows that is wrong, and she likely calls Sephiroth out on it/sides with her mom when Cloud inevitably gets upset with Sephiroth about things.

Now the good news (kinda? Maybe? I shudder to call it truly good) is that Sephiroth avoids 'purposely' hurting Cloud. Since the two spar a couple times a week (albeit not with their actual swords, since Sephiroth can't trust Cloud with a real sword), it's pretty easy for Sephiroth to 'accidently' hurt Cloud if he needs to reduce his mobility. He's also not above drugging Cloud if he needs him to be a bit more mellow or rest for a while.

As for if it bothers Aerith and Destiny, I think it more so makes Aerith sad. She's sad that her mom has been manipulated and traumatized to the point that he's unable to accept Sephiroth (her thoughts, not mine, lol). Destiny, meanwhile, is kept somewhat unaware of the dysfunctional nature of her parent's relationship. Cloud and Sephiroth generally try to avoid having any sort of real conflict in front of her.

In a way, Sephiroth actually weaponizes Destiny to keep Cloud quiet and more obedient. If Destiny walks in the room, Cloud instantly softens and becomes less aggressive in order not to scare the little girl. He's not going to drop things entirely, but he's much more gentle.

God this au is brutal for Cloud.

[getvalentined]

For the ask meme: Aerith Gainsborough!

💭 How I feel about this character

Aerith. What can I say about Aerith? I'm in love with Aerith, but everyone is a little bit in love with Aerith. That's my girl, my sister, my daughter, my everything. She's wonderful, she's perfect, she'd never hurt me, she breaks my heart. I think about how much I want her to have a long, happy life, and I literally cry because she never will.

I'll always love the end of Rebirth because finally, over a quarter of a century after losing her the first time, I got to say goodbye. I didn't have to wonder if she knew that she would be missed. I know that she knew she was loved.

Aerith, my girl, I'm so sorry.

💞 All the people I ship romantically with this character

My favorite ship for Aerith is an OT3 with Zack and Cissnei, although I ship her with both individually as well. Zack is canonically indicated to be in a relationship with both of them at the same time in CC (adding his parents recognizing Aerith from letters alone in Rebirth really drives this home, since they also met with Cissnei several months prior and seemingly encouraged her to marry Zack), and the way Cissnei talks about Aerith is so...I dunno, there's a sort of reverence there that you don't hear from her regarding anyone else. They're all good for each other, and they're best for each other all together.

I don't actually personally ship her with Tifa (to everyone's surprise, I assume, given what a raging lesbian I am), but I really appreciate the concept and am in full support regardless of whether I personally feel like they have romantic chemistry.

🤝 My non-romantic OTP for this character

Tifa is a big one—I wish they'd gotten their shopping date with Cloud playing pack chocobo—but my favorite platonic relationship for Aerith is Tseng. Jailer and savior, protector and manipulator, everything she'd ever need and never want all at once, the relationship between Tseng and Aerith is complicated to say the least. There's no doubt that they love each other, but the ways they express love are very different, the roles into which they were both forcibly cast are very different, so it's hard to say if either of them ever really knew how the other felt before it was too late.

I hope they did, though.

🚫 My unpopular opinion about this character

I feel like any Aerith opinion is gonna be massively unpopular somewhere in the fandom, but I guess my most unpopular opinion is that she can't be saved any more than Sephiroth can. If Aerith survives, she isn't in the Lifestream to petition Gaia for aid, Holy never activates, Meteor flattens the planet. Rocks fall and everyone dies. Literally. She and Sephiroth are the scales of power during the Crisis, and they balance one another perfectly without Cloud to tip the situation one way or the other. They cancel one another out, and that means neither of them can be saved—not without the other, anyway.

If Aerith were to survive in the City of the Ancients, Sephiroth would win. Just like if Sephiroth were to have survived in Nibelheim, Aerith would have won—or, more accurately, she never would have had to join the fray in the first place. If one of them makes it through their destined death, they both do. If one of them dies, they both have to die. I could go into the parallels in detail (Cloud having an opportunity and the impetus to strike Aerith down even though he loved her, but not taking it, Genesis having an opportunity and the impetus to strike Sephiroth down even though he loved him, but not taking it; Sephiroth dying on one side of the Masamune in the place where his progenitor was imprisoned, Aerith dying on the other side of the Masamune in the place where her progenitors once thrived) but this is long enough already.

Aerith had to die, and she understood that. The hard part is that nobody else does.

🌟 One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

I want to see little Aerith and Babyroth interacting in Shinra's labs. I don't know if this ever happened, but there was plenty of overlap during which it could have, so I like to think it did. I don't think we'll ever see it, but it would be so good...

[ for the character breakdown ask game ]

[lyssala]

The Sun & The Moon: On the FFXVI Ending

Throwing my thoughts on the ending into the void.

Aka I keep seeing posts about the ending so I need to type out my thoughts to validate myself.

For reference, we played on release and did two full play throughs.

First of all, I am a happy ending person. I want desperately to find the happiness because there was so much suffering so much loss. Saving the world or not, the thought of Clive having come so close to his own happy ending, of having the family and the love he never got to have, so damn close and then still ending up dying alone on a beach leaving the people waiting for him wondering if he would ever come back to them seems so cruel.

But, Lyssa, you played XV too, and Noctis legitimately sacrificed himself in the end to save the world. You’re right, he did, and that ending still makes me ugly cry because I also didn’t think it was fair that he had to do that. The thing were XV and XVI differ is, we see Noctis in the after with Luna, in their wedding attire, finally together. It’s immensely bittersweet, but we see them at peace. We do not get that in XVI SO point by point let’s GO.

(Warning for spoilers, including character death, in other Final Fantasy games as well)

Why I Don’t Think We Can Assume Any of the Three are Dead

1. The Ancient Rule of Storytelling: No body, you say? THEY AIN’T DEAD.

Usually used when a villain “is defeated” but then they can never find a body - guess what, Luffy is going to have to beat their ass YET again. Final Fantasy has never shied away from character death. From Minwu (FFII) to Tellah (FFIV) to Aerith (FFVII) to Zack (FFVII:CC) to Haurchefant (FFXIV) to Noctis (FFXV), heck even other character death in XVI.

Dion to me is the iffiest one, and I say it with a heavy heart because I loved Dion. He fell early and he had death flags on him BUT we didn’t even see him hit the ground so I still standby that if Clive could survive falling from Origin, Dion could too.

Joshua we actually did see die, and it was terrible - both when it happened and when Clive went back to mourn his brother (again for that matter and thanks I’m crying again). The thing is, we also explicitly watch Clive use Phoenix’s power to heal Joshua. Yeah we don’t see him wake up, but literally what was the point of that action if Joshua was just gonna…you know still be dead. They could have just left him as he was. The whole purpose of showing that action, imo, was to finally give Clive the chance to save his brother, which was all he wanted for so much of his life. I don’t believe that was done as just “well you tried but he really dead, bro.” To me it was to show, no, Joshua has a chance to live the life he always wanted too.

Clive, despite all his dang death flags, is still the most secure to me because the last time we see him, he’s still alive. We know he survived the fall, we know he was conscious on the beach, we only saw the curse spread to his hand. If they really wanted to hint he would die there, we easily could have seen the curse spreading to his face. We didn’t though. He was tired, and weak but he was alive. They made an effort to show him alive. If they truly wanted an ambiguous ending they didn’t even need to show him on the beach, just showing Origin fall would be enough. They didn’t though. They showed the man alive, calling out to Jill, not as apology for breaking his promise but a “I can see the moon same as you, I’m still here.”

2. The Ding Dang Themes of the Game

We spend the whole game determined to fight fate, and while yes, fate was defeated when Ultima was defeated, because the human will won…then didn’t because the man who was determined to fight and escape those binds still ended up lost those everyone who loves him…which was part of the fate he was trying to escape? Final Fantasy games have had dark elements before, and they’ve been heartbreakingly sad. They’ve shown loss of all sorts some self sacrifice, and some because the world can be just so cruel. However, once thing Final Fantasy isn’t is loss without hope.

Noctis got to say goodbye to his best friends (yes I am crying again don’t you dare mention Stand by Me in my presence) because he knew what was coming and they knew what was coming. It gutted me, but they all knew and had come to terms with it. It was Noctis’ choice to walk in there knowing he was not coming back. Clive was not the same. He didn’t say goodbye, he said, I’m coming back. While everyone knew there was a risk which is why it was so emotional to say goodbye, he had a life he wanted to return to, one he spoke of returning to. It was never, “You’re coming back right?” And then they skirt around giving a firm answer because they just don’t know. Clive was firm about it, he was coming back, it was his will to come back and guess what won against Ultimia? You guessed it, human will.

Having Clive die alone on a beach after all of that? After all he went through and after all he still wanted? That to me is just cruel, and Final Fantasy has never been cruel. Ren also made the good point that if Clive was to die, Joshua would have fallen with him, so it ended in a reversal of beginning with Joshua watching Clive die instead of the other way around. That didn’t happen either though. He was on the beach, again, still alive (see point 1 as a reminder), additionally, if he thought he was dying, I’d imagine he’d be apologizing to Jill for breaking his promise. In fact that’s what I SWORE he was going to do, but he didn’t. His will to survive was still intact when we left him which to me fits far more with the theme of this game then dying alone on a beach.

3. The Sun and the Moon (It’s Clive and Jill, It’s Just Literally Them)

So yeah I know that the sun and moon imagery is usually used to describe star crossed lovers, never meant to be as the sun and moon rotate. The game already proved that was untrue, they were always meant to be. By all odds they survived and somehow found one another again.

Jill, the moon of course, always said it was because of her prayer to Metia, that every time she prayed for him to return to her, Metia granted her prayer. I say this as someone who grew up religious but now am not, Jill believed it I’m sure but I think it was Jill. Love has also been a huge theme in Final Fantasy, and Jill’s heart filled prayers to keep Clive safe, always had. Not necessarily because a god deemed it so (again, defying gods a huge Final Fantasy theme lol) but her complete and sincere love for Clive, that always kept him safe to come home to her. She prayed for him as he was leaving for origin, just as heart felt as she always had. Why would that fail now the time she probably desired it more than any other time? That also seems so cruel. For him to be torn from her when they were so close to finally being able to have the life they dreamed of together. What purpose does that serve? It wouldn’t except for Jill to have yet another thing in her life to break her heart and leave her to pick up the pieces. I think she would, for Clive’s memory, but again, it feels like loss for no reason but loss. Jill deserves her happy ending too.

You find out later on even more so why Jill cherished the moon, because it brought the sunrise (or you know Clive in the metaphor here) and with the sun the promise the Clive would always come for her. One he never broke. They literally went out of their way to say “the sunrise meant you’d always come for me, I know this.” It was a direct setup for the ending. It was her seeing the star she always prayed on for Clive flicker out, and in that moment I think she did lose all hope because that was the one thing she could always count on to bring him home (to which again, not a god, but her love that brought him home). She is distraught (and so was I so we have that in common LOL) but then, the sun rises, and she smiles. It’s hope. It’s her hope because Clive has never broken a promise to her, and the sunrise has always brought him to her. I have no reason to believe the sunrise didn’t bring him home to her like it always has. Not a single point in this game has given me reason to believe it so why would I?

4. They Did the Thing! The Name of the Game!

A smaller point but one none the less. I sure hope you all played every single side-quest. One particular one, leaves you with a quill to add to Clive’s wall of treasures; one with the sole purpose of when (not if) Clive puts his sword down, that he writes his story. What do we see in the after credits? Literally, a book that is telling his story. Idk how more clear they gotta be that Clive is gonna be okay (tbf I WISH they would have just told me he was gonna be okay too LOL)

Granted, Joshua Rosfield is the author to which, it really could have been him writing Clive’s story in his absence or it could have been Clive and using the name to memorialize his brother’s name. Or it could have been the both of them and they used Joshua’s name because Clive is content living his life behind the scenes. He’s never wanted attention or praise. I don’t think he ever would have used his own name.

Additionally, the ending lines that equates to as my journey ends another one begins to me never meant journey = life. His journey was over, he did what he set out to do. The new journey? Traveling the realms with his wife in a world without the burdens of magic and doing what they do best, help the people who need it.

5. Doggy Knows Best

And finally, my last point is, Torgal knows what’s up. Technically, this is Ren’s point so I give him the credit here but animals, especially Torgal who is more than just a dog (literally an Eikon himself bonded to Jill and Clive, something acknowledged in the game), know when their master is hurt or worse. We’ve seen Torgal when one of them are hurt or in danger or not coming home. Yet at the end of the game, when Jill is absolutely breaking Torgal simply howls.

You know where else he did that? When he was trying to find Clive after Phoenix Gate and he would sit and howl. They were already bonded, he knew Clive (and Jill) were alive but he didn’t know where so he howled for his people until he could find them. It’s the same thing he does at the end of the game. He knows Clive is alive out there, and they are just separated but they’ll find another again because just like Jill, Torgal has no reason to believe otherwise.

And honestly I’m going to believe the dog.

Final Thoughts…For Now Cause I Always Have Thoughts its the ADHD

If you read all this, I hope it brought you some peace <3 I don’t believe a cop out everyone died ending is indicative to the wonderful storytelling this team has brought us in FFXIV. If anything, it reminds me of the ending of A Realm Reborn when you are convinced all the Scions are dead and then ope nope they’re fine just scattered and we’ll find them yeah SOUND FAMILIAR LOL I think they left it open to let people come to their own conclusions but in my heart of hearts I believe they had no intention to let Clive die on that beach because nothing in the story leads me to that conclusion.

If they try to tell me otherwise, well then I’ll go full denial LOL but unless Yoshi-P calls me up and says girl stop you’re wrong, I’ll continue to push my Clive finally gets his happy ending and travels the realms with Jill like he promised her <3 (ONE MORE THING: why the heck would they have Jill just be like mmmm think I wanna leave this realm when its over, lets see the world if they had no future content planned YOU CAN’T FOOL ME she could have easily said anything but she said something that would directly give us more content okay I’m done lol)