#this joke would also work for Barret | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lennysfridge · 11 months

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at the sight of her opening eyes, aryne and john’s shoulders sag in relief, tears of relief accumulating in their eyes. meanwhile matthew, still posted by the door, stood frozen, unsure if his desperate mind was playing tricks on him.

after a few beats, matthew let out a soft “baby,” voice hesitant in asking. and while he didn’t get a verbal answer, the hum he got in an affirmative tone made sobs of relief bubble in his chest. “baby,” he said again, voice a lot more sure. yet again, no verbal response, but this time her eyes were drawn towards matthew, a sleepy, still half-drugged up grin making its way to her face.

yet before he could make a move towards her bedside, the door came bursting open, dr.smith, nurse johnston, and another professional the three people in the room (bar bear and bug) didn’t know rushing in the room.

upon seeing bear awake and conscious on the bed, smiles overtook their faces. “hello ms.tavares, glad to have you back with us. do you know what happened?”

bear noticeably gulped, pausing, and then gestured towards her throat.

matthew, an expert at reading his girlfriend, states, “she needs water, her throats too dry.” at his words, nurse johnston’s eyes widened, uttering, “oh, right,” before quickly shoving a glass of water in bear’s direction.

after bear had a few sips, she gained a thigh full look on her face, before replying, “i remember making another drink and then sitting on the couch in the suite. after that, everything is dark.”

“you said another drink. about how many did you drink?” dr.smith questions, wanting to ensure the assumption they had made about her alcohol intake was correct.

“three- but my second one might has well have been two. i went a little heavy,” bear stated. her statement made the unknown medical professional’s presence light up, instantly writing down notes on his clipboard.

“and just for assistance purposes, please state your full name, where you live, your parents and siblings names, and what your father’s occupation is,” dr.smith inquires, the unknown male seemingly awaiting bear’s responses eagerly.

“my name’s barret aryne tavares, i live in toronto, my dad’s name is john, my mom’s name is aryne, my siblings are axton, jace and bug. and my dad plays hockey for the maple leafs,” bear responds with ease.

at her responses, the man quietly converses with dr.smith, before making his way out of the room. “that was dr.allar- he’s one of the neurology specialists on site. he was just in here to monitor you for any immediate signs of memory issues. however, you aced it. he’ll likely drop in one more time before you leave, but otherwise you shouldn’t see him,” nurse johnston pipes up from her place beside dr.smith.

“may i ask for your names? i would know them, but i was kinda unconscious when we first met,” bear joked, being met with silence from her parents and matty, even bug giving her a little look. on the other hand, dr.smith and nurse johnston let controlled smiles bleed onto their faces.

“i’m nurse johnston, and i administered your hemodialysis treatment. this is dr.smith, and she’s overseeing your case,” nurse johnston replied, tone giving the effect this wasn’t the first time she gave an introductory like that.

dr.smith spoke now, from her place next to bear’s vital machine. “your vitals look very improved. we were able to take you off hemodialysis in about. 10 minutes. you’ve been on fluids ever since. however we’re going to start you on an iv, to help lower your BAC, and also remove any traces of your medication that still may be interacting with the alcohol. but after tonight, as long as everything looks good tomorrow morning, we should be able to discharge you,” and with that, she gestured towards nurse johnston, who took that as her que to take a few quick steps towards the floating desk connected to her iv, and made quick work to prepare another one to go into her arm.

once she was done preparing the iv, dr.smith took a step back to give nurse

johnston some room, who made quick work to prepare any area on her vein, she took one glance towards bear, as well as matty who had taken refuge in a chair directly on this other side during this interaction and said, “you may want something to hold on to. patients sometimes feel various levels of discomfort,” and at her words, matthew’s hand found a home on the arm rest of her hospital bed, and bear’s hand wandered up the rest to grasp his. at the minimal connection, they both let small grins make their way on to their faces.

seeing bear grasp kniesy’s hand, nurse johnston quickly inserted the iv, and bear gripped matty’s hand a little harder, before letting go once the discomforting feeling was over with.

“well you look to be set. nurse johnston will probably come back before night fall to change your iv if your BAC hasn’t lowered. however in the morning, you should be good to go, and should be discharged by 11am,” dr.smith chirped, and then glanced at nurse johnston, and gestured for the other woman to follow her.

once the door shut behind the two women, it was as if the silence became a thousand times heavier.

best glanced nervously between her parents, who were sat in chairs close to the door, and her boyfriend sat next to her, and then quickly broke eye contact once she locked eyes with matthew, and resorted to glueing her eyes to the hand in her lap with two iv’s attached.

finally, matthew had enough, and he broke. “what were you thinking bear? that was so stupid. i get aryne usually reads your meds and their requirements to you, but why wouldn’t you do it yourself? and i know i like to read them off to you as you take them, but do you understand how utterly stupid you were today? had you made another one, you could’ve died bear! you could’ve died…” his voice broke towards the end as he trailed off, phone grasped limply in his hand, with a google search of, “how much alcohol can mix with prescription drugs before you die?”

the longer his rant went on, the faster tears fell from bears eyes. she knows she was stupid- at least now. and all she wanted to do was get to the arena quicker. that’s it. she didn’t mean anything by it.

at her thought process, she quietly spoke up, “i just wanted to get to the arena quicker. i know i was taking forever to get ready, so i just grabbed my pills and took them before we left. i swear i would’ve read them. i should’ve read them…,” her voice broke now, distressed by the amount of worry she knows she caused the people in the room, and probably many more.

at the thought of other people, her head whipped up, distress taking over, “where are the boys? are they okay? did they have to see me like this?” she asked in a panicked manner. her daughters distress made aryne remember she had never gotten an answer from john in the lobby about the boys, and her head turned quickly to him.

“mitch and steph got them home. steph said she remembered their night time routine, and me and matty jumped at the opportunity to get here faster,” john’s voice spoke up in a soothing manner, bringing a hand to grasp his wife’s, and making eye contact with his oldest.

unexpectedly, the door creaked open, nurse johnston peaking her head in. “i went to go search for a blanket, as most hemodialysis patients, along with people with multiple iv’s usually complain of the chills. however it looks like we’re running short, so i apologize,” and she quickly flashed a smile and shut the door again.

once again, as she shut the door, silence overtook the room.

finally john spoke up, with a sleeping bug in his arms. “im going to hand you bug, and me and mom are going to run to the restroom, grab a few snacks and drinks to bring back here, and then i think we’re going to head out. mom’s about to join bug in lala land,” he joked towards the end, raising the hand attached to his wife’s, and promptly shaking her out of her sleep filled haze.

and doing as he said he said he would, he adjusted bug into the crook of her big sisters neck and took a step back to ensure she stayed asleep. at the loss of weight, john shook his arm out, and then questioned, ”what snacks do you guys want?”

both young adults in the room answered harmoniously, “cheetos and blue gatorade,” and then shyly glanced towards eachother, before looking away.

the adults in the room smiled at one another, reminiscent of how they sued to be. after their rapid reminiscing, they quickly made their way to the door, shutting it softly behind them.

at their absence, matthew looked towards bear, and simply took her in. he was so thankful she was alive. and in reality- he didn’t mean what he said earlier. he was just scared of the idea that he possibly could’ve had to continue on in life without her.

“i’m sorry for how i said what i said earlier baby,” matty paused, ensuring bear’s attention was on him. “it’s everything i wanted to say, but in the wrong way. today just scared the shit out of me bear. it made me realize just how quickly things can happen that can change your life. i; at this point in time, have no clue how i’d go on without you,” at the conclusion of his emotional confession, bear was worked to tears.

“oh baby, no don’t cry i-“ bear cut him off quickly, “please kiss me idiot. you don’t just tell me you can’t live without and don’t give me a little kiss,” she jokingly spoke, quickly leaning up to meet him in the middle.

however in the middle of their lip-lock, the door cracked open agan, john and aryne coming back through the door.

aryne spoke up jokingly to break their embrace, “just because we finally let you two have the door shut doesn’t mean you jump in her bed,” aryne teased the knies boy, coming close to the boy and messing with his hair.

once she neared matthew, she set their snacks on the bed, and then reached for her babygirl, who had begun just barely waking up.

when she had bug securely in her arms, she made her way to stand by john at the door, both parents turning around one last time before they departed.

“bear, we’re happy you’re okay. mom’s gotta run the boys to school, so i’ll drop by in the morning to sign you out. we called off morning skate before we left, so we’ll probably just head home after,” john spoke with the confidence of a leader.

“anyway,” aryne chirped up after her husband, “goodnight to the both of you. we love you guys, sleep tight!”

and with that, the tavares parents, along with the littlest tavares, were out the door.

once it was just matthew and barrett in the room, there was a long pause. but then suddenly, bear spoke up in between her now chattering teeth.

“fuck did they- they turn the temp down in here?” bear questioned, arms covered in goosebumps.

at her reaction, matthew got up to check the temperature first, before answering, “no babe- its only 67 in here. are you okay?” he questioned, concern building in his chest for his girl.

that concern was suddenly washed away when he remembered what nurse johnston had poked her head in about earlier. “they said you’d get cold baby- but they don’t have any blankets. what do you want me to do?” he questioned, placing his warm hands on her arms in an effort to help warm her up.

“please cuddle with me”, bear said rapidly, grasping matty’s arm with the hand closest to him.

“your like a heater at night bubba, and you should do the trick,” she spoke in a mix of seriousness and teasing.

matty took her statement at face value. “alright, then move over, and i’ll lay on your right,” matthew said, as he got up to lay down in his usual place beside bear.

just as he went to lay down though, bear got a timid look on her face. “you- ah- you usually don’t wear a shirt at night bubba. can you uh- take it off now?” she questioned, prepared to say it was a joke depending on his reaction.

at her question though, he simply reached for the bottom of his shirt, and yanked it off of his body, showcasing his athletic build.

“even in a hospital bed you just want to see me naked,” he teased, before laying down next to his girl and getting comfortable.

with her one good hand, bear jokingly hit his shoulder. “nuh-uh,” she said in childish manner. “you’re just warmer this way, that’s why,” she said, a grin on her face alluding to a different meaning.

after their teasing interaction, matty got bear settled in his chest, her head laying on his heart to listen to the rhythmic beat. the duo went silent, before bear spoke up in a tone of voice that showed just how worn out she really was. “thank you for loving me matty, regardless of how stupid the decisions i sometimes make are, the girl said while tilting her head to look her boyfriend in the eyes.

quickly he responded, “baby, i wouldn’t have you any other way. let’s not make this a weekly thing though, okay?” at his teasing words, bear nodded her head and said, “agreed. i’m a little tired of it too ya know,” making the duo for some reason break out into sleep deprived giggles.

“in all seriousness, i love you to the moon matthew knies,” bear said after the fact, all remnants of joking gone. “and i love you to the stars barrett tavares,” and with their loving words, the couple locked lips one more time for a kiss that said everything they couldn’t.

once bear finally lays her head back on matty’s bare chest, a few beats of silence pass.

“hey ba-“ he attempts, before quickly realizing she was asleep. with that realization, he slowly angled his head down to place one more kiss on her hairline, and then wrapped one of his arms securely around his girl to keep her safe where she belonged- with him.

the next morning, nurse johnston opens the door quietly to begin making patient rounds, and smiles at the sight of the two lovesick teenagers embracing eachother.

she could come back later- they could use the rest.

IM SOBBING

this is so good

i love you gray

#🫂anon #barrett x knies

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icharchivist · 5 months

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hii!! I was wondering, do you have any headcanons for FFVII? I'd love to hear them 🩷

hi!!

I do have a lot of hc but i haven't thought about any of them in forever. I have some shipping hcs in general for clack/aerti/asg somewhere on my blog i think.

depends also on which type of hc as in like, "stuff i hc the character feels in canon" or "what if" hcs

On more general headcanons that i can think of... (and it's going to be very OG/CC/AC centric) (there will also be major spoilers)

-You can buy a villa in the Costa Del Sol. I like to imagine that the whole Avalanche crew goes there to recharge every once in a while, even after the events of the OG. Each of them have their specific room to rest up. After Aerith's death they left her room as it is and turned it more in a memorial. Once in a while they come back to put flowers in it. Cloud and Tifa have the hardest time coming back into the room for the longest time.

-It's such a trope from the Old Days but i love the idea of Cloud learning some mechanic knowledge from Cid. Like he'd need something to focus his mind on to forget the horrors and Cid would give him some tips while they work on cars or bike together. That way, Cloud customized Fenrir fully thanks to everything Cid taught him. I feel like he would have his own garage in the back of the new Seventh Heaven, but once in a while he'd drop by Cid just to work on some things together. And when they do work they don't really talk much which really help Cloud out.

-In one of the post-canon book, Vincent and Nanaki make each other a promise that, due to Vincent's immortality and Nanaki's lifespan being much longer than anyone else in the cast, they will meet every year when everyone is gone and it's only the two of them remaining, that way they can remember the old days. It's not really a HC but this is something i hold very, very dear to my heart. I like to imagine the two of them constantly coming back to the places they used to go to, Vincent being made emotionally unstable by the amount of loss he went through but Nanaki being a rock to be able to support him through it as they try to make those grieving memories good memories. It means everything to me.

-The remake more or less confirmed it but i love the idea of Barret being genuinely invested in the planet on a academical level. Like he actually read everything he could find to figure out why things went wrong in Corel and how to stop it from happening again elsewhere.

-Also liking to think about the time Tifa and Barret met each other. Nibelheim and Corel's tragedies happened around the same time and i could imagine the two of them meeting before they even reached Midgar, while they're still both major messes from what happened. They would bond easily over their shared trauma and i feel like, both of them working together to raise Marlene was the major motivation for the two of them to sort themselves back together, because even if they're miserable, they need to give Marlene the best of the best. I kinda see Barret and Tifa's friendship like Edgin and Holga from the D&D movie, if that rings any bell. I also think they're each other's rocks more than anything else. Like they may have lost everything again with the Sector 7's collapse, but they have each other so they can get through it. If either of them had died i feel like neither would have managed to move forward from it, regardless of if Cloud and/or Marlene were motivator for them to hold it together.

-I imagine the girls (Aerith, Tifa and Yuffie) would regularly take time off from the group just to have "girl time" together. Aerith would joke like once about how Cloud could join them for having been an honorary girl and Yuffie tries to get all the details and it's Tifa who had to hold the conversation back. Aerith would clarify it's then just a joke and they'd have fun together in town. Post Game, Tifa and Yuffie still see each other and have fun together, but thinking about the old times too much really sour the mood.

-When Reeve is running on 5 all nighters post-game when he's busy trying to organize WRO, he casually slips into himself having a very thick scottish accent. If he does so in front of any Avalanche members they mostly give him a look and don't comment on it, but Yuffie would totally make fun of him for going back to his kitty's habits. Cloud eventually drops a bad "he can do whatever he wants, he knows the cat is out of the bag" pun once and Reeve now just tries really hard not to slip again.

-Speaking of Reeve, based on On Your Way To A Smile - Denzel episode, i think Reeve would drop by regularly at the new Seventh Heaven just to chat up with Denzel, and by extension with Marlene. His mother died to take care of Denzel all while she was talking about how her son didn't have time for her anymore, so i feel like Reeve would therefore try to be there for Denzel to make it up to his mother on that level. I feel like he'd be awkward around Marlene at first considering what he has done, but she wouldn't leave Denzel alone so he had to get used to it.

-Not /my/ headcanons per se but i'm obsessed with a fanart i once saw of Zack as a child holding a toad in his hands, knowing that around Gongaga is where you meet the toads who can change you into one. I like to think Zack used to get into all sort of troubles training to be a hero when he was a child that he'd often come back home with toads in his hands. His parents would have to gently tell him to please stop picking up dangerous toads every few days, but he always gets so excited he forgets about it. Also i like to HC that the fact Zack never gets affected by the toad debuff isn't just because of CC's limitations but just because he's from Gongaga so he's Just Like That. too used to frog to be debuffed.

-Also definitely thinking that it's failing to save Zack that had Tseng being even harder on the rules by the time of the OG. He softened a lot around Zack and he put his own job on the line to try to save him and he couldn't, and i truly think it's what hardened him as badly as he does in the OG.

-HCish? but i think Sephiroth really wanted to be Zack's friend in the way back. Like Angeal would always be complaining about him but with clear affection in his voice that Sephiroth would really want to get to know Zack, but he would be awkward at first except when training him. Like Zack is the "normal" friend of the group. When Angeal and Genesis left i feel like Sephiroth wanted to rely on Zack more, but after he passed on to Zack the mission Angeal ended up dying in, Zack just couldn't take Sephiroth's way to show attempts at friendships. Like he knew it's not something he could hold against Sephiroth but it's something Zack was bitter enough about that he set distances with Sephiroth at the time. And that is why he didn't pick up any of the cues Sephiroth was going mad in Nibelheim because he was still reeling from what happened to Angeal.

-Also linked to that i like to imagine Sephiroth as some sort of spite added to all the other reasons about the way Cloud took over Zack's sword and stuff, and it's why he broke him the way he did as well (like, on top of just regular Cloud obsession reasons). esp since Zack's sword was also Angeal's, i feel like this would add so much spite to everything Cloud is doing.

-Also thinking indulging Yuffie when she was sending him emails to trick him is probably what got Zack to really understand the weight of his actions with Wutai, and that he let her ask him more and more outstanding things mostly because the guilt was taking him over. I read a fic about it once and it still hasn't left my mind.

-Still on the Zack train but i think about the months in the run Zack and Cloud had to be in and think about how Zack probably was really damaging his health by really trying to be hypervigilent and careful about Cloud. Like he'd make sure to have Cloud sleep between him and his sword, and he himself would be half awake most of the time to be hyperaware of his surroundings. Or when looking for food, Zack would ration his parts to make sure Cloud himself get to eat something, even though Cloud is barely responding. So not really in the healthiest state of being.

-Random? but i like to think Kunsel has a big facial scar under his helmet and it's why he's never seen without it (what? could it be because of CC's limited graphisms? perish the thought, obviously--)

-When Angeal disappeared, Zack tried to take care of his plants for a while, but failed pretty hard, not having a green hand at all. He tried to get tips from Aerith but he was totally hopeless. Eventually he brought Angeal's plants to Aerith and she took care of it herself.

that's all that's coming to my mind right now but i know i have more stuff. just nothing comes to mind right now.

Hope it was a fun read! ;) take care!

#ichareply #ichafantalks ffvii #pinkwesker

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holly-fixation · 1 year

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Three... Guards? Ch7

Summary: Tifa finds Cloud at the train station in Sector Seven. It’s the first time she’s seen him in seven years. But he’s not alone. Three silver haired boys protected him. Three silver haired boys that triggered memories of her hometown. Of steel through her chest. Of SOLDIER First Class. Of Him.

Now the future is staring them in the face.

Please Enjoy!

Inspired by the prompt by @im-totally-not-an-alien

Chapter 7: You Win Some...

‘Big Brother’. Strife could have lived a thousand lifetimes without hearing that title again. He was lucky that he almost stopped the remnants from completing their goal. If they didn’t fall into the reactor, if the Lifestream had not been the source of so many problems and absurd solutions before, maybe he would have left them there. But He came back from the Lifestream. Strife couldn’t take the chance that the remnants could possess the same skill. He never expected to see Midgar whole again, questioning where or whenever he was. He had to focus on keeping his former teammates’ trust which meant no killing ‘the boys that saved him in this world’. At least they might have some way of finding their youngest brother before ending up in more trouble with Shinra.

Right now, the evacuation and protection of Sector Seven was AVALANCHE’s top priority. Barret took over the slums, having just the right balance of charisma and intimidation to convince a large chunk of the population that this was not a joke. Still, without any active threat or battle occuring, it took time. Sometimes it took money. Most times both. If Strife hadn’t come back with his wallet intact, Barret would be worried about starving to death before Shinra even sent a threat.

Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge all attempted to secure the upper plate, but with almost no reputation and the nature of Shinra supplied housing for their workers, they struggled. Only a handful of families followed, deciding to spend the night with their extended families on other plates. Both above and below, all AVALANCHE members knew exactly why so few listened: they were not sure if they could trust ‘future boy’ and without a direct attack, no member had their hearts in their work.

Only ‘future boy’ and the two elder brothers believed in the coming truth. Strife refused to let them out of sight, even with the fate of the pillar they stood on. The boys only listened to Tifa’s command to stay by his side. Strife promised not to kill them, not yet anyway. He couldn’t let any of the Remnants find any part of Jenova. Whatever this new Reunion was could not be good. On top of this pillar with very few places to run would have to do for now. He just hoped they weren’t stupid enough to take another suicide dive like they did in the reactor that sent them here. Or like Kadaj did to the Cloud here.

This just left Tifa at the gate between Sector Six and Sector Seven, waiting for Cloud and the girl in the pink dress he should be with. What was her name again? Aeris? Either way, Strife informed her of their impending arrival, but also explained that in his world, he did not reach the gates until long after nightfall. Tifa knew of Cloud’s strange loyalty to the boys, however, so she believed Cloud would return sooner if returning Kadaj claimed top priority.

Well… she was almost right.

She watched Cloud and the girl in pink enter through the back of the playground near the gate. The sun hung dark in the sky, night nearly fallen and the gates ready to close soon.

“Cloud!” Tifa sprinted to her old friend and trapped him in her embrace. “You are alive!”

Cloud softly returned the hug, but he didn't get a chance to speak or protest before she realized his very thought.

“Wait a second, where’s Kadaj?”

He let her go to look into her ruby eyes. “The Turks took him.”

“What?!”

“I don't know what they're planning-”

“They're taking him to Shinra Tower,” The girl in pink spoke for the first time. “We have to get him out of there, Tifa.”

Tifa's gaze met the planet greens. “Aerith, right?”

Confusion flashed on her face. “How did you-?”

“Long story but right now we have to get to the top of the pillar.”

“The pillar?”

“Shinra's trying to drop the Sector Seven plate to get rid of AVALANCHE.”

Cloud’s military instincts kicked in instantly, giving absolutely no delay or useless questions. No one would make that up. “Where are the others?”

“Barret's evacuating the slums. Marleen's with Marle on their way to Sector Five. Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge are trying to evacuate the upper plate.”

“And the boys?”

She winced a bit. “At the top of the pillar with 'Long Story'.”

Cloud turned to the girl with the pink bow. “Aerith, you should head back-”

“I’m going with you. Those boys might be in trouble and they might listen to me too.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

She giggled. “I can take care of myself.”

A loud clank boomed from the side of the gates.

“We have to get in Sector Seven right now!” Tifa shouted quickly before dashing through the massive closing metal. The two rushed behind and made it through with plenty of time to spare.

Only then did they learn Shinra had caught onto their plan.

The sector was flooded with security personnel threatening anyone who planned to leave, rifles and batons at the ready to take down any resistance. The deadly uniforms even found the underground tunnels to Sector Five, both barring any entrance and trapping the people inside.

This was not part of the plan. Thankfully only the bottom of the pillar was guarded to the teeth. Strife and the boys were still at the ready, but Tifa’s group needed to fight their way through. At the very least, they could be backup for ‘Long Story’.

* * *

“Big Brother, can I have a potion?”

“Why the hell would I give you a potion.”

“Because we're being good,” Loz explained a bit defensively.

“'Being good'?”

“Yes. We listened. We haven't tried to run away.”

Strife groaned. They had been up here for hours waiting for Shinra to make their move. None of them spoke a word to each other. The boys didn’t know what Strife would do, and Strife didn’t know what he should do. “Have you really been getting away with this ‘helpless child’ act after what you did?”

“We saved your life here…”

“Don’t pretend you were selfless.”

Yazoo sighed as he scratched his arm. “Your friends are grateful nonetheless…”

The man almost growled, digging through his pocket before throwing the container to the largest boy. “I will hunt you down if you try to run away.”

“We haven’t tried to leave…” Loz explained sadly as he popped the container open. “Your friends are nice to us…”

That… Strife didn’t know how to react to that, the childish sadness genuinely getting on his nerves. A lie? Most likely. A statement that wouldn't hold up if their 'mother' stood in the way? Absolutely. If Tifa did not demand their lives remain whole, Strife would absolutely claim ‘he couldn’t get there in time’ or ‘Shinra was more prepared than he thought’.

The ratchet of bullets pierced through the slums, and the boys ran from the control panel to the edge in search of the source, clinging to the railing between the three hundred meter drop. Yazoo instinctively reached for his gun. Loz did the same for his gloves, but both were quickly reminded by the emptiness at their sides where their weapons actually were.

Strife had long discarded the remnants’ hardly functioning scraps from the slums. He managed to find all of their true weapons when he first appeared in this new world, and he sheathed them for safe keeping within his many sword holders.

They glanced back at their big brother. “Tifa’s back…”

He nodded, watching the center pillar of Midgar. A single helicopter tainted the under skyscape. The Turks. There was no other option.

“She found you…”

No surprise there. “Get away from the edge before they realize we’re up here.”

They nodded and went back to leaning against the control panel. Loz was positively itching for battle, his hands twitching and eyes constantly jerking to every sound below. If Yazoo felt the same way, he did not show it.

Mako eyes watched and enhanced ears listened as the battle and the aircraft moved closer and closer. Soon one clearly overtook the other, and the dreaded helicopter donned with Shinra’s logo landed on the platform first.

The two remnants were taken aback by the familiar faces threatening them once more.

“Damn, you sure move quickly…” Reno muttered as he readied his baton. “Leaving Aerith all on her own just to get a new wardrobe?”

“We’ll have to check up on her later,” Rude responded.

Strife did not answer them, silently adjusting his fully complete sword.

“No comment this time?”

Again, nothing.

“Straight to the fight then, huh? Just the way I like it!” The red headed Turk attacked first, but Strife’s single maneuver had the tip of his blade to the agent’s throat.

Rude tried to intervene, yet suffered the same fate from a single click of the detaching blades.

“Fall back.”

“Ha! Get real!”

Another attempt. Another failure.

“Fall. Back,” The blonde practically growled.

“What the hell…?” Reno muttered, utterly confused how this man suddenly gained so much strength.

“Get back on that helicopter. And tell Tsung you failed.” Strife saw the twitch in their eyes at the mention of their boss. Of course these trained professionals hid their slip quickly. “Never return to Sector Seven again.”

“Like hell we will!”

Strife stalked forward slowly, forcing them both back at the same pace. “Tell them I was there when Sephiroth burned Nibelheim to the ground and they covered it up. Tell them I will use every inconsistency of the actors you left there, the hidden chamber in the mako reactor housing a literal alien, that their ultimate goal is to find a fictional Promised Land by torturing a mother and daughter because they have no reading comprehension skills, that they injected every SOLDIER with both mako and the alien’s DNA and that’s why we all degrade, to take them down. I can go on with all the lies and cover ups Shinra has done in the name of more gil, and I will shout it from the top of Shinra Tower if I have to. Do I make myself clear?”

“Tell them yourself,” Reno spat.

Strife shoved them against the aircraft. “Get out of here.”

“Why don’t you kill us?”

Reno really needed to learn when to keep his mouth shut.

“Because I want Shinra and all its bullshit off my back.”

Finally the two Turks entered the helicopter, the redheaded one still glaring at Strife with a silent demand. This isn’t over. Rude opened fire. Each bullet crashed straight into the control panel and screens. And the long haired boy that wasn’t fast enough to dodge.

Strife slashed a beam of magic at them, but Reno stole the reins and flew them out of the way and towards HQ. Once he was sure they wouldn’t return, he ran to the Remnant’s side, shoving an elixir into the boy’s hand. “Take this before Tifa kills me.”

Yazoo nodded through gritted teeth and obeyed, shakily lifting the bottle with both arms as blood flowed down his shirt. The bullet literally went through him, the panel visible through the wound.

Of course his wound just began to close as Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith finally arrived.

Tifa spoke first as Cloud observed in shock, and Aerith watched with curiosity. “Strife, did you take care of them?”

He nodded. “The Turks are gone. They’re not coming back.”

“Miss Tifa, please help Yazoo!” The elder remnant yelled.

Tifa and Aerith ran to the young boy’s side, but Aerith was the one to cast a healing spell and mend his shoulder completely.

“There you go, little guy,” She gave a small smile to hopefully prevent any worry, but he just gave her a confused look.

Strife glanced up at his younger self. “Where’s Kadaj?”

Cloud hardened his confusion for a moment, taking on the soldier-like instincts he needed to get through this. “The Turks took him.”

“...no…” Denial clogged his voice.

“We have to get him out of there.”

“You’re messing with me-”

“Shinra put a bounty on them and I guarantee if we don’t get there soon-”

“-Hojo’s gonna experiment on him with anything he deems fit.” Strife finished for… ‘himself’.

Cloud only nodded. A lot of explanations were in order, as well as developing a completely new plan.

“...FUCK.”

* * *

It was dark outside his container, the cylindrical glass chamber Shinra trapped him in. He growled at the irony of it all, that he suffered the same fate as Mother when all he wanted to do was find Her. She had to be here. They always knew how to keep her hidden, but each attempt at escape left him in greater pain.

He scratched silently at the massive bandages of his chest, a procedure he was told started and finished while he was unconscious. The resultant grogginess still infected his mind. He almost missed the annoying Shinra lap dogs that brought him here.

This lab was Hell incarnate.

They threw him in some kind of battle chamber until he couldn’t stand, each robot and creature wearing him down bit by torturous bit. Once he collapsed, they injected him with some kind of tranquilizer. He awoke in the tank after the procedure concluded, but even through his frustrated and drug-ailed mind, he knew the name he kept hearing over and over and over again.

What were they looking for? What did they think they would find?

The scientist with long greasy black hair and dark circular glasses paced in front of his chamber again, the same one he was certain made every decision about his existence in this laboratory. Small mako tanks lined the walls, but most light came from the lacking artificial glow above.

“You know of Sephiroth, yes?” Hojo’s slimy voice finally stained the air.

“I’ve never known Sephiroth,” Kadaj spat the truth, his glare nearly cutting the glass he was trapped in.

“Your test results are quite impossible without some connection to him. So what are you? The result of some desperate fangirl looking through his garbage?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Come now. I have plenty of time.”

“It’s. Complicated.”

Hojo skimmed through the clipboard in his hand. “A new mutation of S cells. Slight differences in bone structure at presumed age. Greater presence of mako within cell formations. You’re almost the same as Sephiroth. But not completely. There are certain genes missing, genes I know you need to survive.”

“Mother…” The small word left his lips in the tiniest defiant whisper.

“Excuse me?”

“Because of Mother…”

He gave an annoyed sigh. “I don’t care what your lying mother told you, there’s no physical way-”

Kadaj suddenly slammed in the glass, cutting the scientist off. “Don’t you dare insult Mother like that.”

“I will speak of your worthless mother as I deem fit-”

His blood boiled. “She did not sail the cosmos to be judged by the likes of a pathetic creature like you!”

Hojo took a single inch back, his eyes finally returning to the boy. “...Who was your mother?”

“Your kind calls Her a calamity. But She is a godsend.”

“What's her name?”

The child slammed the glass again, this time earning a shock and a small shout in response.

“What is her name, Child?”

“...You called Mother 'Jenova'. 'A new god'. That’s the only thing you did right.”

Hojo skimmed the note again, the smallest flicker appearing in his eye. Realization. “...You’re a part of Sephiroth.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but fell silent at the truth.

“Yes, yes, that’s exactly why you’re incomplete.” Hojo kept flipping through the pages. “Even your battle results agree, just shy of what Sephiroth was capable of at your age.”

“Stop saying his name…” The mutter went unheard.

“Oh we need much more testing. Under certain simulations, do you make the same decisions? Do you use the same spells? Do you have the same temper? Besides mannerisms, can I rebuild Sephiroth through you? Or separate Jenova’s cells from your DNA and begin entirely new experiments?”

Kadaj gulped, his heart sinking and a deep instinct threatening to cry out from his very soul.

This lab is Hell.

“The possibilities are endless.”

To be Continued...

Thanks for reading!

Author’s Note: I try not to curse in my fics, but this seemed appropriate.

#ffvii #final fantasy vii #ff7 #final fantasy 7 #cloud strife #ff tifa #ff7 tifa #tifa lockhart #ff7 aerith #aerith gainsborough #ffvii aerith #kadaj ff7 #ffvii hojo #hojo ffvii #ff7 hojo #ffvii advent children #advent children #loz ff7 #yazoo ff7

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lonesomedreamer · 1 year

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Liveblog: “All Those Who Wander”

In which Star Trek does Alien.

This episode should absolutely have come with warnings for flashing lights and superfluous gore/body horror.

The “end” of Uhura’s tenure on the Enterprise would be more meaningful in a longer season. I know it’s not realistic to hope for 22-26 episode seasons anymore, but even 13 would be better for an episodic, character-driven adventure show than just 10.

This looks bad. In fact, her hair has been getting worse all season. Rebecca Romjin is a beautiful woman, but the hair and makeup people have been doing her no favors (something I’d argue that she has in common with her predecessor in the role, Majel Barret).

“We are bonded now and forever by the family that is Starfleet.” Who WROTE this drivel? I’d love to serve in Starfleet! I love its ideals! But even in TOS, it wasn’t infallible and perfect and One Big Happy Family.

Is “Lieutenant” really the next rank immediately above “ensign”? Genuine question.

Absurdly tiny coffee cups!

I still want to know why they’re always doing dishes on this ship that has technology well beyond that shown on TOS AND how/why the captain has time to do said dishes.

La’an’s actually allowed to show some personality!

As if station wagons would still be a common point of reference in the 23rd century…

“Do NOT make me turn this car around.” Again...these are not references that make sense in the show’s context/setting. They’re in the script solely to cater to a certain portion of the audience. Also, I still don’t find Pike’s “Captain Dad” schtick endearing, sorry.

Sensors don’t reach the planets surface, yet they land the shuttlecrafts conveniently close to the ship they’re rescuing.

“You gotta buy him a drink.” How long has Spock been in Starfleet now…at least five years? They’re constantly explaining Starfleet culture/traditions to him like he’s a cadet. I know he’s a Vulcan, and I know that it’s for the audience’s benefit, but there must be some other character (Uhura being the obvious choice) who can fill that role…

And also: who keeps buying people drinks? Is this just a turn-of-phrase, or what? They’re certainly not paying for anything on the Enterprise, and we never saw them actually pay for anything on TOS even during shore leave.

Wait—they took the CMO and Chapel on this mission? What if people need emergency medical attention back on the ship???

The Peregrine is built with some of the same parts as the Constitution-class ships, but it’s not the same design—so why does it look like a carbon copy of the Enterprise, and why does it have such a small crew compliment in comparison?

This is obviously going to be another Gorn episode, and I already know I’m still going to hate it.

I’ve since read that this was prosthetic makeup, but it looks like bad CGI to me.

They’re really going to make Spock have an awkward expository conversation about Surak and logic with Christine in the middle of a crisis/rescue mission in the penultimate episode of the season?

M’Benga calling the little girl “my daughter” and then catching himself was a nice touch. He should be haunted by his decision.

I love that Christine’s hair is still perfect after everything. Peak TV show energy.

All of this—gore and jump scares and a vicious, non-verbal alien species as the overpowered Big Bad—is so anti-Trek and I hate it!!! :)

As usual, the level of technology here strains credulity (and far outstrips anything on TOS).

Kirk’s big brother is just a peach… McCoy and Spock’s dynamic only worked because Spock gave as good as he got and because the audience knew that Spock considered McCoy a close friend/brother. Watching Sam Kirk be an intolerant ass is just uncomfortable.

COMICAL. Seriously, this is a joke.

So the Gorn are superior (in evolutionary terms) sentient beings…and also mindless, bloodthirsty lizard creatures? Sure.

Gorn-o-vision! This entire episode is impossible to take seriously.

Alluding to Spock’s sacrifice in Wrath of Khan and throwing a “long live and prosper” in does not make this any more like proper Trek. Speaking of WOK, Hemmer’s choice would be so much more meaningful if it were done in a similar setting (since he is, after all, the Chief Engineer…) instead of this throw-away “noble” sacrifice of a death.

Hemmer’s death is also a reminder of how short 10-episode seasons really are, and how little development his character was really given. As badly as her character was handled, even Tasha Yar had more time to grow than Hemmer before she was killed.

“This sucks. I hate funerals.” Ortegas and her quippy remarks being charming and funny and essential to the episode as always…oh, wait.

HUGS!

I actually think it’s really sweet/meaningful for Christine to tell Spock that his emotions “make you human.” I’ve seen some bad-faith interpretations of this scene assuming she’s trying to “push him to be more human,” but I read it as her encouraging him not to deny his inherent humanity, which he’s grown up thinking of as shameful. His humanity isn’t inferior to his Vulcan nature, and he needs to accept it and embrace it if he wants to find peace.

As the child of an alcoholic, I genuinely think Pike has an alcohol problem. He’s been shown drinking a lot in this show.

The Good: La’an gets to show some personality (but only early on)—moral support Spockstine hugs

The Bad: Everything else, lol—Pike makes terrible tactical decisions, repeatedly, beginning with bringing cadets on the rescue mission without knowing any details about the circumstances; the most glaring was letting La’an, who’s barely coping with her own Gorn-related PTSD well enough to function, basically take charge after they discover that they’re dealing with the Gorn—the way this series had handled the Gorn is laughably bad and not at all in the spirit of Trek; they’re treated as monsters rather than sentient enemies who can potentially be reasoned/negotiated with (i.e., the Romulans)—Hemmer’s death was pointless and a waste—they continue to do absolutely nothing with Number One as a character; why is she even on the show at this point?

Overall, this was a poorly-lit and very poorly-written episode full of jump scares, shaky-cam, flashing lights, and needless gore/death. It felt like the antithesis of everything Trek is supposed to be. Here’s hoping the finale is better.

#luth liveblogs snw

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randoimago · 1 year

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Hey!👋 I saw the Friends to Lovers themed one shots post and wanted to get in my contribution. Could I get one from FFVII where the reader confesses to Jessie through a song, like the whole group is there as well and they all can associate that the lyrics are talking about her, but Jessie herself, the focus of the song is the last to realize. I just thought this idea would be really cute and fun 👉👈

Melody of the Heart

Fandom: Final Fantasy 7

Character(s): Jessie Rasberry

Type of Request: 3,000 Followers Oneshots

Note(s): This is super fun and cute!! Also sorry about the ending!

Another successful mission for Avalanche! Everyone was gathered in Seventh Heaven and Wedge and Biggs were trying to mess with the jukebox so it could be used for karaoke.

Jessie was of course the one to suggest karaoke. She's only done it a handful of times before Avalanche, but she thinks it'd be great to do as a celebration besides the typical beers and bar food and drunken darts where Barret almost lost his eye and Wedge almost lost his face in return.

"Oh, I'm so excited. Thank god for Cloud finding all of those records all over the place," Jessie said as she sat down next to you at a table, her legs swinging in excitement. She heard Tifa immediately go to ask Cloud how he knew where to find the records and some stumbled response from the merc, but Jessie turned to you instead. "Any specific songs you're going to sing?"

Her tone is one of mischief because of course she's going to make you sing. She doesn't care if you were shy or hated your voice or what, you are going to sing! She already loves hearing your voice regularly, she can't wait to hear you singing even if you totally suck.

"I have some ideas," you reply as you look through the list Cloud made of the records while there was a cheer in the background as Wedge and Biggs finally got the karaoke jukebox working.

"Remember, that thing is going back to normal after tonight. I am not going to have random customers driving away business due to bad singing," Tifa says with a joking tone while Cloud mutters a "what business" resulting in a punch to his arm.

Months ago, Jessie would have lamented about how close Cloud and Tifa are, but months ago she didn't realize how much closer she is with you. But you haven't seemed to pick up on any of it. She flirts and cuddles you constantly and you continue about your day like nothing happened. It's beyond frustrating!

Drinks are poured and passed around as everyone tries to get the others to sing before Wedge goes up and puts on some over-the-top cheesy ballad that Jessie thinks he didn't even try to sing well. There were laughs and teases as Wedge shot them back and passed the makeshift microphone to Biggs in retaliation for the teasing. That just resulted in the stiffest version of some upbeat, bubblegum pop song.

"You sing next, go go!" Jessie says as Biggs sighs in relief with his song being over. She's trying to push you out of your chair, and you stumble a bit, resulting in a halfhearted glare while she giggles and watches you take the mic.

You end up picking a love song. One that Jessie doesn't recognize. She doesn't even focus on the lyrics as she's locked in eye contact with you as you sing. She hears some snickering and whispers, and she immediately glares at the boys for interrupting your song.

"It's a good song," Tifa says softly as she sits next to Jessie, causing a hum. "Upbeat personality with a heart of gold..." Tifa trails off as she repeats the lyric.

"Yeah, I like it," Jessie replies with a grin and Tifa stares at her for a moment. She goes to reply but stops as Cloud walks over and gently holds Tifa's hand.

"Come on, she'll figure it out eventually," he mutters as he drags Tifa away. Jessie pouts at his words, not knowing exactly what she'll figure out as she watches them leave. That's when she notices that Wedge and Biggs had also left someone while Barret was telling Marlene that it's bedtime so he could leave too. She's a bit pissed that everyone left during the celebration. Especially when you're singing so lovely! Well, there's some flat notes and pitchiness, but you're trying!

Jessie just shakes her head as she looks back to you, a bit taken back at the softness in your eyes as you keep singing. Before, she was too busy focused on your eyes, now she's thinking back to what Cloud said and the lyric Tifa repeated. And that's when she starts listening to the lyrics. Or she wanted to, but the song ends and Jessie pouts.

"Aw, it's over already?" She complains but gives you a bright smile as you walk back over. "Everyone else ditched us," she tells you with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh, I hadn't noticed," you say as you glance around as if you really didn't notice the others were gone. That's odd, she would have thought you would. Maybe you were too focused on the song... Or too focused on something else...

"So, I didn't think romantic love songs were your thing," Jessie says as she feels her heart beat a tad faster. "And talk about that eye contact, I think my heart will explode!" Her tone sounds teasing and flirtatious, but she might actually burst at this point.

"Did you like it?" You ask her softly and Jessie hums as she thinks.

"Four out of five stars! It was almost perfect, but something was missing," she says with a grin, and you smile back. Jessie's eyes drift to your hand gently landing on hers and now her heart might actually explode.

"Not even a four and a half?"

"Well..." Jessie trails off as if in thought but stops as you lean in to kiss her. She freezes for a moment as she was not expecting it. But before you can pull back and do the cheesy "I'm sorry, misunderstanding, won't do it again" crap, she kisses you back. After a moment, the two of you pull away and she stares at you. "Wow, I think my heart will burst," she whispers.

"I love you," you tell her, and she blushes even more at that than the contact and the kisses. Like you actually saying it and putting those words out there really put everything into perspective. Jessie can't help a giggle of happiness.

"I really hope I'm not dreaming," she replies and places her hand against your cheek, smiling more as you lean into the touch. "I'll be pissed if I wake up."

"If you do, then I'll make sure to do this all over again."

"I love you too," she says in response. She's quick to kiss you again and hold you close, glad that the others are gone. But she probably would still kiss you if they were there.

Tifa was a bit upset about the jukebox not being fixed the next day and Cloud ended up with a headache as Jessie pestered him for the record you sang for her, a record that will play in your home every day while you're with her and every day while you remember her.

#kats 3000 follower celebration #final fantasy 7 x reader #final fantasy x reader #ff7 x reader #jessie rasberry x reader #jessie x reader #ff7 jessie x reader #ff jessie x reader

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harukirai · 1 year

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Were you kidding when you said that Terra was supposed to have a girlfriend?

No, not exactly, idr cause the last time i fund any articles about ff6 was like 10 years ago now its hard to find stuff now, but my older cousin is a massive ff fan since childhood and he is the one i got most of my info from since whenever there was a new interview or ultimania or book he was the first one to update me even though in this instance it was ten years ago and even he couldnt find this interview anymore but yeah he also remember an interview with kitase about it.

Eiter way the team left it for the player interpetation since terra is one of the few ff protags with no official love interest. Also there was that one half flirt line to celes which set the fandom on fire for awhile back then(also it was a half joke thingy like the barret date wgich i have allot to say about but i dont wanna set the fandom on fire)

Also i think i forgot to mention in my original post but in the end i think she is aro ace/very demi.(in the final cut)

(also this whole controversy happened when the gba version was released cause i think the translation was a bit different from the snes version so it sparked the controversy but as you imagine this was a long ass time ago)

*i played it first on the gba era in english(one of the few ff i played first in english since i couldnt wait a half a year to get the japanese version, also on gba its harder to read kanji since mine wasnt backlit) and my older cousin (played the jp version on ps1&sf&gba- he was the one who got me into final fantasy) so i had a chat with him to confirm this memory and he said he also thought the game implied her being either lesbian or asexual.

Im in midst of replaying the older titles in honor of the pixel remaster(but i play the ps1 versions cause its prettier 👁️👄👁️)

So ill do an update sometime when ill finish(also idk if they re translated the pixel remasters or no so my posts will be faithful to the original)

Also sorry for my bad english i suck at expressing myself via writing in all languages.

But yeah ive sent my cousin on the quest to find this iterview in the deep japanese web so good luck to us😂(i have a very severe adhd so sorry if its all over the place i tried to be the clearest i can)

*edit also- speaking wise my japanese is good enough to play games, but i suck at kanji so if there is no furigana i need to use kanji apps/ dictionarys (im mixed and wasnt born in japan so all my language abilities are through family since i live in a country that theres not many japanese mixed/asian mixed at all)

So when ill get a new pc i would rework the posts again+ gather all the links& translations ( i really wanted to take screenshotsfrom the games and edit translations and do a big post but its still on the way since i cant make it work on my phone properly but yeah its in the works for a while now i was just pissed on the huge backlash 16 got bec it had a gay kiss(idk if online but in local jrpgs groups this shit was everywhere)

So i just took all the notes i was collecting for a while and posted it in a very low quality post but yeah it was a vent post to the void mostly😂

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jacquelinemerritt · 2 years

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Final Fantasy VII: Machinabridged Episode 8 Review

Originally posted December 3rd, 2015

This is the funniest episode of any show that Team Four Star has ever produced.

And now, I have to defend that significant claim, which is something I’m not entirely certain I can do. The best evidence I can provide here is that the episode itself defends this claim far better than I can, and in my opinion, it’s pretty clear that there’s only one abridged series out there that could compete with just how fucking hilarious episode 8 of Final Fantasy VII: Machinabridged is (it’s Sword Art Online Abridged, which you should unquestionably check out if you haven’t seen it yet).

So I’m not going to try to defend my claim. I’m instead simply going to talk about why everything in this episode works, and hope that that is enough evidence on its own.

The first thing you’ll notice about this episode is that we only spend half of it with the main cast. We’re left with Cloud, Tifa, and Barret as commentators once they’ve infiltrated Shinra Headquarters, but the entire second half of this episode is a board meeting with only the minor interjection of our heroes.

That’s a pretty bold decision, and it works extraordinarily, with the time away from our main cast serving as a refreshing break in which Takahata101 and Antfish let loose with the clever comedy. It’s a testament to their writing ability that they’re able to make a scene discussing budgetary concerns this hilarious, and it’s even more to their credit that departing from the main cast for so long feels more like a treat than a loss.1

The rest of the episode is spent on one of Team Four Star’s funniest jokes to date and an exposition dump. The cast’s ascension up the stairwell is classic comedy: Takahata101 causes major pain to his characters for a perceived award only to snatch it away at the last minute. The exposition dump then, is framed as the ravings of a pot-obsessed hippie, who just decided to grab Aerith off of the streets after the death of her (potentially pot-obsessed) mother.

Sandra Espinoza sells this scene perfectly, delivering the history of her adopted daughter with the perfect combination of aloofness and motherly care. Finally, to top this episode off, we even get a moment between Barret and Marlene that is the perfect blend of touching and hilarious, as Barret instructs her to be sure to take a 25% cut off of anything that Elmyra (Aerith’s adopted mother) has her sell.

Rating: 5/5

If you enjoyed this review, consider supporting me on Patreon.

Stray Observations

1You could view it as a failure on their part that we don’t miss focusing on the heroes, but the break from the dark complexity of Barret and Tifa and their negative influence on Cloud was very much needed.

Elmyra: “They offered her a free helicopter ride, and well, how can anyone say no to that?” Barret: “Believe it or not, very easily.”

Elmyra: “You must be the father of Marlene.” Barrett: “WHY THANK YOU, for assuming that automatically.” Elmyra: “I can sense these things. Also, she has a gun, and your hand is a gun.” Barrett: “Fair assessment.”

Elmyra: “Aerith is the last of the Setra, an ancient race that will lead us to the Promised Land.” You never realize how crazy this is until you hear it said by a drug-addled hippie.

Elmyra as Aerith’s Mom: “I’m… dying… TO TRY THAT SWEET KUSH!”

*60 flights of stairs later* Cloud: “Guys, the door’s locked…” *-60 flights of stairs later*

Cloud: “I can’t believe we just got away with that.” Tifa: “Seriously, they thought you were with ‘urban development!’” Barrett: “Yeah! I mean I have no idea why they would… think I was in urban… develop… OH THAT RACIST CUNT!”

Tifa: “You can’t tell my murder-boner what to do Cloud!” Barrett: “We are erect with rage!”

Palmer: “First you take both your hands and you make a telescope outta them. And then what you see in the night sky there, that’s one space. And then, you take one billion gil, which is how must one space costs, by the way, and then, you toss it into a fire! And the smoke delivers the payment to space! And that’s how you buy space!” Shinra: “Reeve, I would like the space program budget to go through you from now on.” Palmer: “AAAAAHHHH BUT I WANNA GO TO SPACE!!! I WANNA I WANNA I WANNA I WANNA!!!!!” Shinra: “Fine, cousin Palmer, you will go to space eventually.” Barret: “These are the people who have been beating us.”

Shinra: “By the way Hojo, are you sure that this Setra won’t escape like the last one?” Hojo: “Not to worry, the 60th floor’s back door has been sealed for years.” Barret: “MOTHERF***ER!!!!!!”

#ffviima #final fantasy vii machinabridged #final fantasy vii #ffvii #final fantasy 7 #ff7 #ff7ma #final fantasy 7 machinabridged #film criticism #ffviima ep08

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notquiteaghost · 3 years

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alex keeps having wilde not be fine but not giving zolf any time to fix it and i, for one, am sick of it. this is a conversation they have immediately post-211 and i will only accept it not being canon if in 212 they have it instead. it’s 970 words and it’s also on AO3

"Right," Zolf says. "Okay, legalese with the lich, that's not gonna be quick. Can I just–" He glances round, and yep, they're still in a featureless crypt with no other exits. There's shit they need to do, and they can't afford to stop, but nothing is currently trying to kill them (probably, shit he's paranoid about gases now and all), and he can't get the look on Wilde's face out his head. "Look, sorry, but can you all fuck off? I wanna talk to Oscar."

Wilde, naturally, immediately starts up with, "Oh no, I'm fine, Zolf, there's no need–"

Zolf ignores him. Raises an eyebrow at Azu, who says, understanding, sympathetic, "Yes, yes, of course," and Hamid adds, "We can ask about the Cult of Hades, in the meantime," as they all awkwardly shuffle out. It's not a very big crypt.

Just before he pulls the door shut again, Hamid says, "Oh!" And jogs back over to Zolf, holds his hands out. It takes a moment, for Zolf to remember about Babbage. He hands the backpack over, and Hamid nods at him, and leaves with it.

Wilde's stopped protesting, at least, when Zolf turns to look at him. He sighs, instead. "Really, Zolf, it's fine."

"Sure," Zolf agrees. "Haven't had a chance to chat, though, have we? Since– Y'know. And I think you're getting all in your head about it."

"Well," Wilde says, with that horrid kind of cheer he's so good at, "Being fatally stabbed twice in such a short period of time does feel rather like someone's trying to tell me something–"

"Yeah. To wear some damn armour."

Wilde's face just– shutters. He's all layers, Zolf's learnt, a mask over a mask over a mask. And this one isn't even a good one, which means he's definitely more fucked up about this than he wants to admit. Which is fair. If he wasn't fucked up about dying twice in a fortnight, that would be worrying.

Zolf takes a breath, shoves away the memory of anything sticking out Wilde's chest, and says, "Look," as he takes a step closer. "You keep going into dangerous situations with only fancy clothes for protection, you're gonna get injured. You're gonna get injured badly. That's not, I dunno, a sign from the Gods that you're s'posed to be dead, okay, that's basic probability. And," he swallows, glances away, "No matter how many times they try it, I am always gonna bring you back. Kicking and screaming, if I hafta."

Wilde says, "Right." He sounds like Zolf just headbutted him in the gut.

Looks like it, too. Fuck's sake, why is Zolf so bad at this.

"I don't give a shit what the universe has planned," Zolf says. Swears. He reaches for Wilde's hands, twists their fingers together. "I can't do this without you, and no one can fucking make me. You're not– This isn't about whether or not you deserve to be here, okay? 'Cuz I don't care. I'm selfish and I need you. And, y'know, pretty sure I've done a lot worse than you, so if it's you that's meant to be dead it's definitely not about deserving it."

"You are so shit at comforting people," Wilde says, but it's fond.

"Working, ain't it?"

"Yes, I am just as emotionally challenged, we're all aware–"

"Shut up, I'm not done." Wilde huffs, a shadow of a laugh, and gods, Zolf would do absolutely anything to hear that sound. "You don't get to beat yourself up about this, you hear? I'm forbidding it. It's irrelevant. You deserve to be alive, 'cuz everyone does, innately, and there's plenty of people who're genuinely evil who've never been stabbed once. I'm not having fucking Barret make it through this but not you. Okay?"

Wilde huffs, again, and drops to his knees so he can press their foreheads together. It means Zolf's taller than him, too, which is always nice.

"Okay," he says. "I've conned the world's most stubborn cleric into loving me, so now I'm functionally immortal. Finally, all those months of reading your terrible novels and pretending to like your cooking have paid off."

"Nope, changed my mind. Next time I'll let you go."

"No, you won't."

"No, shithead, I won't," Zolf says, because that's how you get anything to sink in with Wilde; you have to catch him off guard. "You're gonna live to a hundred, at least. Two hundred, even. Has a human done that yet? You can be the first."

Wilde huffs another skeleton's laugh. "Not satisfied with cheating Death itself, then? Going to square up with modern medicine as well?"

"I'll fight anyone and anything that tries to take you from me," Zolf swears. Wilde swears, too, dropping his face into Zolf's shoulder and letting out a shuddering breath. Zolf wraps an arm round him, other hand still tangled with Wilde's. "Fuck, I wish this was someone else's job."

Wilde doesn't say anything, not even to make a shitty self-deprecating joke, so Zolf lets the silence sit, too. Pulls Wilde close. Listens to him breathe.

He's okay. He's here, and he's okay, and that's enough. Zolf can keep telling him that. Will keep telling him that, as many times as he needs to. Embroider it on a shirt, maybe.

Eventually, Wilde moves back, runs a hand through his hair, scrubs at his face. Says, "Thank you."

"Yeah," Zolf says. He squeezes Wilde's hand, swallows. Shoves all his feelings back in their box. "Right, then. Lich negotiations."

"You know, there's a lot I could say about our lives of late," Wilde says, as they walk out the crypt, as he pulls his own mask back on in a way probably only noticeable to Zolf, "But I'll give the universe this: They're definitely not boring."

And they get on with the job.

#rusty quill gaming #rqg #zoscar #fic tag #let! them! talk!!!

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blackroseraven · 2 years

Text

Uh oh so I finished the FF7 Remake.

The TLDR? I am displeased.

So let’s start where I roughly left off. Where they decided “we need more fight filler” and turned the climb up the plate into a fight up the plate. They also moved the Heli Gunner fight here and renamed it for some weird reason.

I mean, I guess if they’re going to have a fight up the plate thing moving the Heli Gunner to here makes sense. Annoying fight. Once again the cutscene phase-changes prove to be a burden rather than a blessing.

So we immediately screw up stealthing into the Shinra building and have to kill everyone in the parking garage. This makes zero sense as it would be a high-traffic area so even with someone turning off alarms and stuff for us inside the building it would still. Not work. And the fights get repetitive quick.

Also Soldier 3rd Class are annoying. And yet Crazy Motorcycle was a Soldier 3rd Class and he was super tough, while these guys are just “randomly counterattack with vacuum wave” and “spam magic.”

Get to the lobby. What do we find? An unnecessary interaction sequence. Also we know for a fact that Cloud and Tifa can definitely jump high enough to get on top of the open-ceilinged reception area. But anime rules, where the hero got no ups unless they’re in battle.

Tifa falling on her ass into the rear lobby is stupid. She’s a combat master athletic genius. I hate how they did some very basic outfit changes to appease whiny people about the “depiction of her character” and then she’s constantly in need of being saved or failing at life, which makes her appear far weaker than a lady in a skirt. It’s the same problem the RE3 Remake had, where they put pants on Jill and then made her cry and scream a lot.

Anyway. I of course choose The Stairs. Which they ruined the comedy of because part of the joke was Cloud getting to the top of the stairs and being fine and the others being exhausted. Also you can find secrets in the staircase in the original, but hey, we can’t have that.

I loathe the redesign of the Shinra building. It’s so lame and wastes so much time, and they clearly took things they wanted from the original game - the Cosmo Canyonesque theater, for example - and then just shoved them in here.

And the goddamn Sephiroth visions just giving everything away.

Also I disliked the Mayor. And how he was Briefly Important and central to the plot and then just completely forgotten about. He was much better as an honest asshole who wanted power but fell victim to it. I hate how much Avalanche has been expanded; it helps shift blame away from Barret but also creates a lot of questions about just what this rebel military-armed group was doing while Barret was accomplishing things in his messy way, even if him doing so was part of Shinra’s plot.

Also the fact that Avalanche exists only when convenient for the game’s plot and otherwise it focuses on the Avalanche that is you three.

Well, at least Hojo is still a lunatic asshole.

I did not like the Experiment boss fight. It literally just became a mock Resident Evil boss with too many phases.

Well, we save Aerith. Which is followed by Armored Shock Troopers appearing, because they have to work them in, but they have lightsabers. They still explode - which does an idiotic amount of damage, and the character AI is too stupid to back off and thus DIES - and the skater bois that come out of them are obnoxious.

What the hell is up with Red XIII. With this whole sequence. Why is he in uncontrollable beast mode after clearly being calm and quiet. This wasn’t necessary.

More plot revelation. And Jenova. Including a full-on Cloud Meltdown.

Now we cut abruptly to the Turks and get their perspective for a bit and a touch of conscience. It’s ridiculous, though. Rude is again saying they did the wrong thing but he’s the one who hit the button when he had a great excuse not to. They did such a bad job with this part. Tseng also spouts some fake wisdom, because clearly Heidigger or the President wouldn’t have any guilt about dropping a plate. President Shinra wants to just abandon the whole city, after all!

This part just sticks in my craw because there was so much they could have done to help excuse what the Turks were forced to do, there were so many little outs to give them more conscience and character, and they keep fumbling the ball and making them “just following orders” guys instead, which takes away any redemption or humanity.

.............Whispers.

............................Aribiters of “FATE.”

What the GOD DAMN SHIT IS THIS.

Noooo no no no no noooo. This is something I hate because it’s second only to Time Travel in “Ways To Hide the Deus Ex Machina of Author Influence,” and it’s almost always done badly.

Guess what guys it’s done reaaaaal bad here.

First off the Whispers change destiny purely through their existence and interference. It’s ugly and unsubtle. Second there’s no explanation why “The Planet” wills this; it’s just a lot of “look we gotta do it this way guyz” to hide the fact that “The Planet” is “Sort Of the Original Plot of FF7.”

And yet there’s also been so many changes to that plot that the Whispers haven’t cared about! It also just erases the idea that your choices ever mattered throughout this whole game.

Avalanche HQ is coming to rescue us apparently. Have I mentioned there was no giant Avalanche organization before?

Aaaaaand of course they had to cram this infamous scene in of Sephiroth before Jenova. Because of course he’s here. In the flesh. We’re just going to meet him right now.

Cloud falls into. A mess. He’s also fine after his fall because anime.

Did I mention this game is a victim of filler over content?

What in the hell you can’t even use Red XIII he’s just a bot? COME ON. Like you were supposed to have him during the Experiment boss fight and I was like “oh they changed that oh well” but to not have him playable or even commandable at all? It feels so lazy and it feels like this ended up being a lot of messy rushwork.

My lord this whole section ends up feeling like a bad Resident Evil fanfic mashed into Final Fantasy world. We’re just murdering BOWs. Some of whom have extremely annoying attacks that they spam and made me really mad.

And then the Brain Pod. A completely unnecessary boss battle that went from “strategize” to “mash the attack button angrily while my PS4 gets angry at the crazy amount of slowdown from all of the Pods staggering at once.”

Anyway this was gross.

And it all just leads to Hojo letting us go once he has enough “data.” I hate this.

We find President Shinra dangling off the edge of the building. Why? No one knows. The girls cry that Barret is being too mean to the evil corporate capitalist. Barret somehow ends up alone with Shinra who turns from crying man to Bond villain, complete with Golden Gun, monologuing away until he gets backstabbed by Sephiroth. Who then stabs Barret. Who ends up being fine because Whispers.

Literally saying “hey don’t worry it’s fine if you die we’ll just fix it” making it feel as if everything is pointless.

Oh good, Jenova.

The fight wasn’t terrible. I am going to complain that Jenova Dreamweaver is not in the naming convention of the Jenova. It’s Birth, Life, Death; they couldn’t go with Embryo or something like that?

But again, the fight was. Longer than it needed to be but not awful.

And then Sephiroth. Who. Just. Fucking flies away. TWICE. Pointlessly. Carrying the dead body. And yet another unsubtle reveal.

Of course they made Rufus even prettier - also how did Reno and Rude get to that helicopter? - and of course he has a Coat of Many Belts.

And of course he’s an Anime Prettyboi now too. Sure, President Shinra was a Bond Villain but Rufus and his Doggo fight and Assess literally just gives you riddles instead of fucking telling you what to do I wasted an action for goddamn NOTHING.

I hated this fight. I hated that they made him apparently stronger than a soldier when he’s only been depicted as a dude with a shotgun, not a Trigun character. Like that was the point of Rufus; he’s ballsy and brash but he’s ultimately a corporate head. Now he’s Anime Bad Guy No. 1.

Anyway, Triple Slash him when he’s Leashed, then wait for him to reload and Braver him when possible to Stagger in the next phase.

Even though Braver has a garbage charge-up time and terrible accuracy and half the time he reloads too fast so he just counters you and then does random anime moves until he sporadically decides he’s out of ammo and reloads his gun(s).

The Arsenal fight that follows is very poorly designed. The Barrier phase doesn’t add much to the fight, and then it constantly forces you to target the wheels when you want to hit the Main Cannon. They also emphasize Red XIII as just a bot by the way he only Staggers barrier drones when you do a certain action, which is obnoxious, and then he might as well not exist otherwise.

This was a lot of just. Tanking and picking away. Also the fact that the Arsenal loves to corner itself and then use Homing Laser, meaning you can generally only hit the Laser Gun with Thunder-type spells to stop it. And sometimes even that doesn’t work.

“oh no what do we do it’s a Chargin’ its Lazers” oh it’s dead before you finished your gasp because of course we just FUCKING SHOOT IT.

Motorcycle Time. I guess the Whispers would have save Heidigger because “important” but who knows better luck next time, Cloud.

You know what really annoyed me here, though?

They did Crazy Motorcycle Man before, and this is the perfect time for him to show up, especially since he promised a rematch.

And he never shows up.

All that potential. All that buildup. For nothing.

Anyway I died like four times on the Motorball boss fight because of control issues and a lot of frustrated mashing. Like actually Yes, this is something that was improved on: Motorball as a motorcycle boss makes sense.

Then. Sephiroth.

Who clearly just defies fate or whatever and opens a magic portal to. No Fate World or something.

frick.

Like a) this is dumb and b) this is clearly what Sephiroth wants and if they stopped to think for a moment they’d realize maybe his destiny is to be defeated which is why he’s doing this. Except c) Sephiroth clearly disobeys the Whispers whenever he pleases and they can’t do dick-all about it which MAKES NO SENSE.

and Zack. And the Crisis Core ending, no less. Just with Whispers now in the background because WHY NOT.

I hate this. I hate all of this.

Aerith wants to stop Sephiroth. Yes I would also like to stop the man I have visions of killing me and the planet. They like largely stopped writing her character at the end of the game, did you notice that? She becomes very flat apart from a few really stand-out moments and it bothers me a lot. I get that they’re trying to show “inner Aerith” and create pathos but all the lines she’s given are so flat. So stereotypical. It’s not like the good moments where she’s like “I don’t care, he sucks.” in response to Cloud warning her about fighting Sephiroth.

And.

JUST A MINUTE YOU GUYS I NEED TO GO BACK TO THE VENDING MACHINE AND BUY SOME STUFF BEFORE WE BREAK THE BONDS OF DESTINY ITSELF.

oh my lordt this was so crudely done and absolutely just shatters the atmosphere. There were better ways to do this and time the Point of No Return than this. It’s like if you reached the Heart of the Planet in the original and then were like “oh wait I gotta go to the store” and you went five feet backwards to a random shop run by a moogle or something.

First we fight the Whispers. And they’re just Spammy Assholes.

The first phase of the fight was probably the hardest part because the mirrored Whispers were just. Jackasses, and Assess was useless as always.

It’s so messy. They crammed so much “action” together and the phases are badly thought out and long and aggravating. What the shit is “Whisper Bahamut” and why does he have unblockable high-damage energy balls he can just spam at you? Why does he randomly get to Mega Flare with like five seconds of warning?

I didn’t even know when to summon because I thought “oh there’s gotta be something even worse we gotta fight the Big Guy, right?”

No we just break Bahamut up and then the rest of the phases are remarkably easy. Like they dumbed down the AI and even when they rage you can shred them pretty quickly.

Just a Bell Curve of Terrible.

And of course. We immediately follow up with a Sephiroth battle. SE PHI ROTH

I hate this. I hate all of this.

Punisher Mode to pressure and stagger Sephiroth. And that’s all I’ve really got for you until we get to the Stupid Phase where for some reason he starts using basic bitch elemental magic and charging himself with those element for Really Obvious weaknesses. This is like Magic Opposites 101 and you can’t do this for a final boss battle. The only time I’ve ever seen this really work as a final fight is in Lords of Shadow when you fight Satan.

Also. Scanning Sephiroth? UNKNOWN UNKNOWN.

You know what that reads to me like? They couldn’t be assed to put in any information.

Anyway, I get Sephiroth to his last phase - why is he using Supernova he DOES NOT HAVE THE BLACK MATERIA - and nuke him with Tifa and Cloud’s Level 2 Limits.

“Mwah I’m still here Cloud : ) you can’t beat me yet”

7 seconds. Is that supposed to be a reference?

Because guess what it makes me think of?

“SEVEN MINUTES. SEVEN MINUTES IS ALL I CAN SPARE...”

thanks guys great ending.

Also Zack is alive? Somehow we changed the past by changing the future?

I hate this different timeline bullshit. I really, really do. The only good thing about the final fight in this game is that I was able to get the Buster Sword stronk enough to use it instead of any of the other stupid weapons.

I am Not Happy.

The worst part, though, was definitely how in the endgame phase I was having issues not because of strategy or even being underleveled, but because enemies just... spam attacks at you. There’s a lot of poor design choices too, like how Sephiroth purposefully chases and targets whatever character you’re currently controlling: it makes it extremely frustrating to get AI characters to disengage so you can heal and such.

Also like. Sephiroth is literally just using his moveset from Dissidia for the most part. Again it gives that feeling of jankiness at times, and like things were rushed in development and production. Like there’s ways to pay homage to the style and keep the way he moves without seeming to copy directly; a lot of the time he doesn’t feel smooth but rather sudden and sharp, and there’s a big difference.

So yeah.

The ending is stupid. We broke destiny for the whole world?

This isn’t FF7 at the end of it all. It’s not even really a remake. It feels more like FF7 III, or FF7B. Not a retelling or reimagining, but deja vu, something happening all over again because I dunno, someone made a wish on a monkey’s paw for a chance to save the world.

Especially because of the scenes where they have “memories” and visions of things that were really supposed to be huge surprises in the future. Does everyone know Aerith dies in FF7? Sure. Is it necessary to bring it up over and over again in the remake? Absolutely not.

So yeah.

Finished the game. I might do one or two levels on Hard Mode just to see what these “manuscripts” are. I hate how it eliminates the importance of any choice or variance along the way with the destiny bullshit that then gets deus ex’d away anyway by Sephiroth. I hate the constantly feeling of authorial intent and interference, the plot holes and railroading.

The game itself? It’s not terrible! It’s got a lot of good things going for it. It feels rushed at times and like there was a lot of quantity over quality. But here’s the thing: it doesn’t feel like a Final Fantasy game. It feels like an anime JRPG, like it would fit right in with the Tales series.

Here, freebie for you: rename it Tales of Midgard. The uh... Storm Discord, Diva, and Pin fighting against the evil Megami Corporation. And Storm keeps having visions of the former AGENT, Sefirah, and Neyhewh. Destiny says they will call a great Armageddon to the planet but they can break the bonds of Fate, blah blah blah, I’m not turning this into a Tales game for free hit me up Bandai.

Anyway I’m obviously bitter and jaded and probably being a little unfair, but these are my long and cranky thoughts. The ending of it all just ruined a lot of the game for me, as fun as a lot of it admittedly was, and when they did things well, they did things well!

But they did so many of my unfavorite things and the quality just seemed to drop by the endgame, which really killed it for me.

Especially that fucking ridiculous “pull up contest.”

Literally gave me a headache trying to do that minigame. But that might just be because of my brain problems, so. You know.

Okay. I am off to find some new thing to torment myself with.

#games #blackroseraven plays games #blackroseraven ff7 remake #rant

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goddessofroyalty · 3 years

Note

Cloud is the Remnants Carrier universe prompt.

Everyone meets the new baby, say hi to tired mom Cloud and proud dad Barrett.

So I only lost the notepad I was working on this in like… five times. Sorry it took so long.

I tried to give everyone some sort of moment while also trying to keep this from getting too long, because it took me long enough with it at this length (again, sorry, life, crazy, kept losing notepad).

“How’s Cloud doing?” Reeve asks. And, sure, maybe Tifa would have liked at least another day before even the rest of Avalanche visited but with five other kids it feels wrong to ask them to babysit for any longer than necessary.

“He’s Cloud,” Tifa says. Cloud seems overall fine but he also hadn’t left the nest he set up for the birth so it must have taken some toll on him that he wasn’t going to admit.

“So he’s up for guests now?” Yuffie asks, looking like she has too much energy to have actually been involved in babysitting the triplets as claimed.

Triplets that have already bolted off with Marlene and Denzel, likely to go see Cloud and their new sibling.

Whatever hope for rest there had been would already be gone.

“For a little,” Tifa says.

“Sweet!” Yuffie is off after the other children and Tifa just hopes she doesn’t regret saying it was okay.

“Are you sure you don’t want more time?” Reeve asks because they’ve known each other long enough he can read the preemptive regret on her face. And she trusts if she did say that they needed more time he would convince Yuffie off her excitement to give them at least a couple of days without the immediate pack.

“No it’s fine – I think Barret wants to show her off anyway. Maybe this way we will prevent him from shouting about it off the rooftop.”

Reeve laughs but not like he thinks Tifa is joking. More just in shared knowing of how ridiculous their whole group is.

They take a comfortable pace to the room-turned-den. And, sure enough, Yuffie and the kids are already there, Yuffie blending in with the others a bit too well, and all crowded around Cloud on the nest, staring down at the baby he’s holding. Barret still too caught up in the happiness of his new child to be keeping an eye on them.

“Give Cloud some space!” Tifa says. Only Denzel looks chastised at it despite also being the one furthest away from Cloud.

“But Aunt Tifa – we want to see our baby sister!” Loz complains.

“And you’ll see plenty of her – you need to be gentle on your mom right now,” Tifa says.

“I must admit I am still surprised you would both want another,” Reeve says, sitting a respectful distance from Cloud on the nest, “your hands seemed full enough with the others.”

Cloud just shrugs. It wasn’t exactly something they had gone out of their way to do Tifa knows. She also knows that nothing was really done to prevent it either.

“No such thing as too many kids,” Barret says, all grin. His joy at his newest child infectious. “And ain’t she just the cutest little bubba you ever seen?”

“She certainly is cute,” Reeve says. “Congratulations to you both.”

“Yeah, well done Cloud on making such a pretty baby,” Yuffie says, grappling with the actual children for a better look. Cloud seems to be content ignoring the behavior so Tifa won’t call them all away even if she is keeping a close eye in case it does become too much for him.

“It’s not all because of me,” Cloud says, “she’s half-Barret too.”

“You’re the one that actually grew her,” Barret says.

Cloud doesn’t say anything in response or argument. Although it’s clear exhaustion is starting to hit him.

“Alright, you said hello to your new sister, now it’s time for bed,” Tifa says to the kids.

“Can Aunt Yuffie stay over?” Yazoo asks with Yuffie nodding with puppy eyes next to him. Honestly it was hard to believe there was 16 years between them at times.

“Sure – but no getting into any mischief – Cloud needs rest and that means not listening to you run through the halls.”

“Sure – thanks Aunty,” Kadaj says and the five children scramble off the bed and out of the room.

“I’ll keep them entertained for you,” Yuffie says as she passes Tifa to follow them. And Tifa realizes maybe Yuffie was thinking about more than just getting into mischief with her niblings. “You just focus on the tired parents.”

“Thank you.” It was actually a weight off to know Avalanche’s boundless energy was keeping the kid’s own energy distracted.

“I should be heading off as well,” Reeve says, getting up, “again – congratulations to you both.”

“Thank you,” Tifa says as he passes. “For looking after them for us.”

“No problem – think you can handle another one?” Reeve asks quietly.

Tifa looks over at the bed where Barret had taken Reeve’s spot, looking down at his new baby girl and talking quietly to Cloud. They look tired, of course, but also happy and content. A good look on them both.

“Yeah. We’ll be fine.”

------------------

Cloud had gotten a bit more sleep after the older kids had returned home. Tifa keeping them distracted while Barret fussed over their new sibling allowing Cloud to rest from the birth.

It was disturbed sleep but it was something and with SOLDIER-healing Cloud felt better than he was sure most did the morning after having a baby. So he bundled his new baby up and swaddled her against his chest while he started cleaning the bar downstairs.

“No I know for a fact you shouldn’t be down here.”

Cloud had expected to be caught out of the nest despite the fact he does feel overall fine now. He less expected it to be Cid who found him.

“Aren’t you and your baby supposed to be in that nest of yours and resting?” Cid continues. Vincent and Nanaki are with him – the rest of Avalanche come to see the new baby. “Well – you gonna’ let us see her or what?”

“Just let me sit down.” It was probably a good idea to take a break. SOLDIER healing may be good but Cloud did still feel tired from the birth.

“Alright, let’s see her then,” Cid says once they’ve gathered around one of the tables in the bar. Nanaki standing on his hind legs with his front paws on it to keep his balance while Cid and Vincent have claimed the seats opposite Cloud.

Cloud undoes the tie holding the baby against his chest and bringing her down gently so the other three can see her.

“She looks like a potato,” Cid declares after his examination, leaning back on his chair. He’s probably be lighting up a cigarette right now if not for the fact Cloud would kill him for it and Cid knows it.

“Cid,” Vincent snarls.

“What? They all look like potatoes at first,” Cid says. “And, alright, as far as potatoes go she is a very cute one.”

“You both seem well,” Nanaki says. “Did you end up going with the name you were talking about?”

“Yes.” It felt right. And honestly Cloud couldn’t remember if it was originally his Barret’s idea in how quickly they both agreed with it. “She seems like an Aerith.”

“There you both are,” Barret says, walking into the bar from the stairs leading to their rooms. “What brought you down here?”

“He was cleaning when we arrived,” Cid says, ignoring the glare Cloud sends him.

“Cleaning – why the hell were you cleaning!?” Barret demands, walking over. “You’re supposed to be resting.”

“I’m fine – SOLDIER remember?”

“Yeah – and you’re the first SOLDIER to have a baby,” Barret says before turning his attention onto Aerith. “Your mom’s gonna’ be the bigger worry than you isn’t he princess?”

“I’m sure her brothers will teach her to be a handful as well,” Cid says, “congratulations by the way.”

Barret beams at the congratulations. And Cloud catches Vincent smiling at it. Cloud has a feeling Vincent is going to be just as wrapped around Aerith’s tiny fingers as he already is the other children even if the former-Turk claims otherwise.

#mpreg #Final Fantasy mpreg #BarretCloud #Barret Wallace #Cloud Strife #cloud is the remnants carrier #Final Fantasy #Final Fantasy VII #FFVII #anon prompt #Prompt fill #Prompt fic #I accidently a ficlet

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final-fantasy-imagines · 4 years

Note

Hi there! Can I get a couple of headcanons for cloud & reno with a s/o who is always doting on them? Like they make them lunches for work, are always tucking their hair behind their ears, and sneak hugs & kisses here and there. I think that kinda stuff is super cute. Thanks.

Hiya! Thank you for the request, it’s incredibly cute and I had a lot of fun writing it. I hope you’ll enjoy it too! :)

having an s/o who's always doting on them

Cloud Strife

Cloud isn’t really used to someone taking care of him, so he’s a bit confused about the whole situation at first. It’s not what he expected when he got into a relationship with you but he has to admit that it feels nice to have someone who bothers about him. To others, it might seem like you’re mothering him but Cloud knows that it’s your way of showing how much he means to you.

Since he often acts tough and unapproachable (especially when people he doesn’t know are around) it surprises you that he always gets flustered when you throw your arms around him to kiss him or when you tug his hair behind his ears. He often turns away because he doesn’t want you to see him blush but honestly, little gestures like that make him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He isn’t overly affectionate most of the time and rarely goes for hugs and kisses himself, so it’s great that you don’t hesitate to show affection.

He tries his best to be safe when he’s on a mission but if he comes back injured, you refuse to leave his side until he feels better. You do everything in your power to help him with his recovery and even insist on taking care of his wounds yourself because you promised him to be by his side, no matter what happens.

Cloud really appreciates the fact that you always have something to eat prepared when he comes back home. He still remembers times where he went to bed hungry because he was too lazy to cook something after a long day, so he definitely treasures your effort. It’s just another thing that makes him feel like you really care about him, even if he isn’t the perfect boyfriend sometimes.

He doesn’t mind if the others (particularly Barret) tease him about the whole situation. It’s not like he always has a quick-witted answer ready; he just doesn’t care much about their opinion when it comes to his relationship. You’re caring and kind and being with you is pretty much the best thing that could’ve happened to him.

Reno

To be honest, Reno found it quite strange at first and sometimes, it’s just a bit too much for him. It’s not that he gets angry or annoyed because he knows that you do it because you love him but he definitely needs time for himself occasionally and therefore might even avoid you for an hour or two.

One thing he particularly loves is when you play with his hair, especially when you’re lounging around together. It never fails to calm him down, even after a long and stressful day, so he really doesn’t mind that habit of yours. Overall, he’s pretty chill about your doting when you’re at home. He just doesn’t want to his colleagues and friends to think that he’s a lovesick fool who needs someone to mother him.

The fact that you pack him lunch for work every day makes him both happy and embarrassed. It’s incredibly sweet and considerate that you want to make sure that he gets a nice lunch and he really appreciates your efforts but on the other hand, it sometimes makes him feel like a five-year-old who can’t take care of himself. However, he would never ask you to stop preparing meals for him, mostly because he doesn’t want to hurt your feelings but also because he actually really enjoys the food you prepare for him.

Reno doesn’t mind the fact that you sneak kisses and hugs every so often. In fact, that’s something he often does himself, so it kinda becomes a challenge between the two of you who actually manages to sneak more surprise kisses. He also often finds himself acting like he didn’t notice that you’re about to hug or kiss him, just to see how your face lights up when you think that you really caught him off-guard.

In general, Reno doesn’t mind that you’re doting on him, especially when you’ve been together for quite some time already. He gets more and more comfortable with it as the time progresses and even makes jokes about the others being jealous when they start to tease him about the whole situation.

#cloud strife x reader #reno ff7 x reader #cloud strife imagine #reno ff7 imagine #ff7 x reader #cloud strife fluff #reno ff7 fluff #ff7 fluff #final fantasy x reader #reader insert #reno sinclair x reader #reno x reader

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nautilusopus · 3 years

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Your take on them is so interesting I've gotta know more, so Cloti.

It’s because my take is CORRECT so

Disclaimer, due to my romance allergy “ship it” in this context means that it’s not an immediate disqualifier if I see it listed as a tag, because god knows I’ve openly talked shit on an awful lot of the stuff I’m about to claim to “ship” lol

Ship It

What made you ship it?

I’m lazy and it’s canon and like hell I’m coming up with character dynamics all on my own when there’s perfectly good ones I can just fucking cut and paste where someone’s done all the hard work for me. I’m here to write about the characters, not speculate.

The fact that there’s other shit going on besides the romance, which is usually what disqualifies a lot of these things. You can write them completely platonic but the dynamic between them is still compelling and tells you a lot about the characters. Honestly, the romance is something of an aside, which I mean in a wholly positive way, because it means you have a complete character arc propping up the romance instead of the other way around, which is what makes me hate so many of these things. It’s a story about figuring out how to love yourself first and foremost, and it’s built into the story in a really sincere way. Like Eva, but without masturbating over someone in a coma.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I keep making jokes about how it’s the tragic tale of two bottoms that cannot figure out how to take it in turn to service top because they’re too fucking stupid, but like... is that not the human condition? Submitting yourself to the mortifying ordeal of being known to reap the rewards of being loved, and praying that your friends and family not only accept the worst of you, but somehow also decide to find value in your best? The fact that you have no control over this? The fundamental human need to find value in our own life; to define for yourself what does and doesn’t make you worth of love? How we define our own identities based on these parameters? Being short?

They’re a fucking mess, and all their neuroses play off one another in all these fascinating ways, and always in a way that examines the original themes of the game in a new angle.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

HOOO BOY WHERE TO START

But in the interest of keeping things brief, I’ll say everyone writes it so goddamn Heterosexual(TM) and it gives me a massive headache, but also nobody seems to know how to queer it properly either, which is baffling to me because as I’ve mentioned in previous posts the themes are right there in the game and also there just doesn’t seem to be a lot of interest in actually looking at what a bi m/f couple would look like, let alone writing one. So there’s basically like... zero good content out there for them.

I lied, this ship is technically an instant disqualifier for me lol

Also most of my gripes aren’t unique to this ship, it’s more people just don’t fucking know how to write either one of them. People keep trying to make Tifa either baby dispenser or Cool Step On Me Wife and she’s not! She’s a basic bitch! Let her be a basic bitch!

This blog is not a Tall Cloud Propaganda supportive space.

Also stop giving them Marlene she’s Barret’s fucking daughter

#asks #squid alienates vii fans #Anonymous

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harry-hollands · 4 years

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selcouth // harry holland // 3

chapter 3: before and after the shadows

story summary: Harry was used to living in his brothers’ shadows. Tom was the actor and Sam was the cook and musician. He was used to being second best and genuinely gave up on finding someone who could love him for him. Someone who could believe that Harry wasn’t second best. His mindset changes however, when he meets you. The sunshine to cast away all of his shadows.

chapter summary: an insight into why harry has shadows, and why they seem to consume him at a certain time of the year.

pairing(s): harry holland x reader, past!harry holland x toxic!oc, implied tuwaine barret x broadway!oc, and implied paddy holland x oc

warnings: angsty harry, depressed harry, fluffy, and angsty

word count: 2.2k

A few months into meeting Y/N, Harry had found himself waiting for her after her rehearsals frequently. Sophia and Sicily teased the both of them incessantly, but expressed their happiness for the two of them, despite the common “We’re just friends!” response.

Sam and Paddy were probably the happiest for their friends. Harry’s twin and youngest brother had never seen the curly photographer so content like he was with Y/N. Wherever one was, the other was not far behind.

Harrison liked Y/N but was still wary of the girl. Of course, if she was friends with his girlfriend, he could only imagine that Y/N was probably a genuine person. However, because of not only his status but his best mate’s, there was still some hesitancy about her. It was understandable, but Sora and Haz had gotten into a small argument about it, Sora feeling that he inadvertently doubted her judgment.

The three that were the most apprehensive about Harry spending a lot of time with Y/N was Tom, Nadia, and Tuwaine. Nadia liked her but feared that she was just using Harry to get clout, while Tom and Tuwaine knew that it had happened before in his last relationship.

When Harry had announced to his family and friends that he was in a relationship, everyone was ecstatic for the younger twin. The woman at the time was not very well known but had been friends with his family for some time. Their relationship had lasted a little over a year, but ended messily, with Harry calling it quits after some information had come to light.

It was discovered that the woman Harry had been seeing had only been using the poor photographer for fame. Tom, who was single at the time, had been extremely confused when the woman had attempted to make moves on him while they were all out at the bar for the night.

Tom had dismissed that night as an accidental drunken mistake, but immediately took that thought back as the next morning, Harry’s girlfriend had winked at him while grabbing a cup of tea. The poor actor felt the need to inform his little brother of what had happened, and when he ended up telling him minutes later, Tom was shocked to find that Harry didn’t seem fazed.

All Harry did was nod sadly and shrug, actions that alarmed the older Brit. When Tom asked what he had meant by the smile and shrug, Harry burst into tears, something he rarely ever did. Tuwaine, who had entered to ask what the two wanted to eat for breakfast, was taken aback by his roommate’s actions.

In all the years that he had known the Hollands, not once had he ever seen Harry genuinely cry. Tuwaine, being the sweet guy that he is, walked over to where Harry was standing by the closet and gave him a tight hug.

After tight hugs from his brother and best friend, Harry explained to the two that this wasn’t the first time She Who Shall Not Be Named flirted with others. At the very beginning of their relationship, she had made unwanted advances towards Sam but had dismissed it as a joke. Harry admitted again that Harrison had told him that she even tried making advances towards him, knowing full well that he was talking to Sora.

Sora and Harry’s ex didn’t get along. Sora had thought that She Who Shall Not Be Named was a bitch, and only cared for money and a public image. Harry’s ex thought that Sora was too blunt, a know-it-all, and a dumb foreigner, which is the only remote way to describe the words she had called the American.

Two days after Tom’s confession, Harry had finally worked up the courage to break up with the woman. Long story short, there was a lot of screaming from She Who Shall Not Be Named after Harry had broken the news, and had kindly asked her to leave.

Harry was a mess, but for the first time since he had entered the relationship, he felt free. However, it had practically taken an army to ensure that Harry was genuinely ok. The first few months had been rough, mostly since all he wanted to do was drink beer, eat tub after tub of mint-chocolate-chip ice cream, and blast Little Mix’s song Shout Out to My Ex.

While Harry had healed and grew as a person, Tom and Tuwaine still lingered on the situation. They were the only ones to know that Harry had cried, and both knew that they never wanted to see that sight again. If it were Tom or Tuwaine’s way, the two wouldn’t let Harry date until he was at least fifty-years-old, but also, Harry was his own person, and he was an adult who was capable of making decisions.

Y/N had a clue of what had happened from Sora, but the latter declined to go into detail as one, it wasn’t her information to tell, and two, Sora would get so upset at the whole situation that a coherent sentence could not be formed.

One particularly bitter February day, before the twins’ birthday, Harry finally worked up the courage to tell Y/N the full details. In the past few weeks, Harry had been distant, which caused a small rift to form between the twitterpated pair.

Harry realized that he was often unhappy and the only way he knew to cure the shadows surrounding the poor man, was his fix of sunshine. Y/N had grown concerned when Harry didn’t show up after her rehearsals four consecutive days in a row.

Y/N had asked Sora who was more often than not staying with Harrison, what was going on with Harry, but even she didn’t know what was going on, and she lived with him! Y/N had even worked up the courage to ask Sam, Harrison, and even Tom if Harry was ok, but all three declined to answer.

As soon as Y/N saw Harry waiting outside, there was no hesitation in the massive hug she pulled him into. Sophia was squealing internally watching the whole scene unfold, while Sicily scoffed, partly because she was done with being single, but also because she had seen the poor girl worry over the boy who she, personally, did not think was worthy of being fretted over.

Harry, who was caught by surprise about Y/N’s actions, hesitantly hugged her back. He had honestly been acting like a dick halfway through January, until now, the beginning of February, and here his sunshine was, hugging him like nothing ever happened.

“How have you been, ghost?” Y/N teased with a warm smile.

Harry, again taken aback by her actions, immediately pulled the girl into another hug. “I am so fucking sorry for ghosting you Sunshine. I have a reason why I’ve been acting so distant, but I completely understand if you think it’s just a fucking excuse and that I’m just another fucking div playing with your heart, but I promise you that I’m just a div, and I’m not playing with you.”

Y/N chuckled and gently pulled away from Harry’s chest, but still kept her hands on his waist in a comforting way. Her warm smile was instantly replaced with a frown when she noticed the stream of tears running down Harry’s face.

“Hey, love, what’s going on? What’re you crying for? You’ve done nothing wrong?”

“But I have! I’ve been completely ghosting you for like three weeks, and I’ve barely been visiting you after rehearsals, and when I do-”

“Hey. You’re going through something right now. It’s up to you when you feel comfortable letting me know what’s going on.”

“But I-”

“Harry, I promise you, everything is ok. I’m not mad at you. Never was. I was just extremely worried about you. Although, according to my stage manager, I’ve been portraying Eliza a lot better the past few weeks. So maybe you should worry me more. I’m kidding, don’t actually do that to me again, Sophia, Aiyana, and Sicily were exhausted over my constant worrying.”

Harry laughed and pulled her into another hug. “Ya think we can go be by ourselves for a while? You deserve an explanation on why I’ve been a dick.”

Y/N smiled and nodded, taking Harry’s hand and letting him lead the way to his parked car. Harry helped the girl put her belongings inside the boot, before helping her into the passenger side of the car, and then hopping into the driver’s side.

Sophia smirked at Sicily, holding out her hand expectantly, with Sicily groaning as she pulled out a wadded twenty-pound bill. “Fuck you, Soph.” Sicily groaned again.

Harry found parking in a car garage and the pair made their way through groups of tourists, before arriving at a view of the lit-up London Eye. The two of them stared out in silence before Harry launched into his explanation.

Throughout his story, Y/N’s face progressively morphed into disgust, as she listened to the full story of She Who Shall Not Be Named. Even though the woman was no longer in Harry’s life, Y/N felt a subconscious need to beat her up.

How could someone be so cruel that you use someone for fame? Y/N couldn’t understand, and all she could do was pull Harry into a hug after tears began pricking the corners of his eyes.

“Thank you for trusting me enough for telling me why you’ve been so distant.”

Harry without any hesitance, hugged the younger woman back, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, and closed his eyes. “Thank you for not immediately getting angry at me for being a dick.”

Y/N giggled and pulled away. “C’mon, we better head back. I don’t need Tom and Sora calling the police on us because we’ve been missing for two hours.”

Harry chuckled before pressing another kiss to her head and pulling her with him back to the car.

As soon as the pair had arrived at the Holland-Osterfield-Barret-Parkes-and now probably Tanaka residence, Sora, and Y/N’s other best friend, Aiyana, immediately pulled the Broadway actress into a bone mushing hug.

“Where the fucking hell have you been?” Sora practically shrieked in Y/N’s ear.

“Sora is just overreacting, but seriously I was getting worried about you, lolo.”

Y/N chuckled before glancing at Harry who was getting hit upside the head by all of the boys. “We talked. We’re ok now.”

Sora and Aiyana shared a knowing look before pulling Y/N, and Harry inside the house to warm up. They were glad that the two had made up because even if Tom and Tuwaine didn’t want to admit it, everyone residing in the house knew that they had missed how much brighter their lives were around the girl.

About a week later, which was Valentine’s Day week, everyone was in a bustle to get everything together. Tuwaine was bringing up his courage to ask out Sicily, who finally, wasn’t introduced by Paddy, but by Sora, Paddy was shooting his shot with Aiyana who everyone knew shared the same feelings, and the two were lowkey hooking up. (They were not slick at all. Even Y/N and Harry were slicker about their secret feelings for one another...and that’s saying a ton.)

Tom, Harrison, and Elysia were both coordinating with Y/N to get tickets to her opening night, which coincidentally was Valentine’s Day (Secretly, Y/N had already gotten tickets for everyone to attend), Sam was working with Y/N on a rendition of “Can’t Help Falling In Love” for Elysia, Nadia was buying any Spider-Man related thing she could find at a reasonable price, while Sora was secretly stashing her favorite Hawaiian snacks, and items sent to her by her family back home in her shared apartment with Y/N and Aiyana.

Harry didn’t have anything extravagant planned. All he was going to do was attend Hamilton, give her a bouquet of sunflowers, and a sun necklace, earring, bracelet, and ring set he got for a good deal off of Pandora.

Y/N had taken a different route. She knew that the two weren’t ready to date, seeming as they had only met months before, and the two had both agreed that with their next relationships they had to at least have known each other a year. However, that didn’t mean Y/N wasn’t going to do something special for her beloved curly-haired photographer.

At the end of the show, Y/N was planning on singing one of his favorite songs, and afterward, hand him half of a Yin-Yang necklace she was planning on sharing with him and polaroids of the two of them.

On one of her days-off from rehearsals, Y/N, accompanied by Sora, ventured to downtown London. The Broadway actress was looking through shops, searching and scanning for the best quality Yin-Yang necklace she could find, while Sora was doing some window shopping. Y/N was also looking to find a rustic-looking photo album/scrapbook to place her polaroids in. As the best friends entered a quaint little shop selling some photo albums matching the aesthetic Y/N was going for, Sora’s eyes widened as she caught sight of the one person she never wanted to see again, and the person she never wanted Y/N to meet, standing at the register waiting for everything of hers to be wrung up; She Who Must Not Be Named, or Eira Williams, Harry’s ex-girlfriend.

~~~~~~~~

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