#when the turks and soldiers go out on a date

[emeraldblonde]

Zack & Tseng after work hours at the Honey Bee Inn

mod credit: x x

[rottenpumpkin13]

It's been a while...how are things going in the Shinra/SOLDIER groupchat? 👉🏻👈🏻

Highlights From The SOLDIER Group Chat #3

• Director Lazard used to be the admin, but he had a nervous breakdown after Zack kept changing the group chat name to "Therapy" and having one-on-one sessions with people where he offered horrible advice.

• The final straw was Sephiroth asking how he should cope with his desire for a connection with an older, maternal figure. Zack linked a dating site for MILFs.

• Sephiroth is now the admin. At least four people now have Sephiroth's contact name to Admin-Roth.

• Sephiroth has removed Genesis on numerous occasions and for various reasons, the most recent one being:

Genesis: Hello! How is everyone today?

[Sephiroth has removed Genesis]

• Angeal sending those glittery and colorful good morning gifs (the type grandmas send)

• The following conversation:

Lazard: Sephiroth, kindly remove 'Cloud Strife'. This group chat is exclusive to SOLDIER members only for safety reasons.

[Cloud Strife is now an admin]

Lazard: .........

• Kunsel changing the group chat name to "Reasons why Genesis is a bitch" and the reasons pouring in immediately after. Genesis got into a verbal dispute with four people through voice messages.

• The following conversation:

Lazard: Which one of you placed an entire thanksgiving turkey in the break room fridge?

Zack: I did. That's my afternoon snack.

Sephiroth: I must apologize. I took a leg thinking it was for everyone to share.

Zack: No worries bud :)

• The trend of sending pictures of Sephiroth's hair strands throughout the 49th floor.

• The time when Angeal and Genesis were seriously arguing over whether a taco is a hot dog or a sandwich, and Sephiroth changed the group chat name to 'They have kissed before' mid-argument.

• The following conversation:

Zack: @Angeal Dude your pancake recipe does NOT work.

Angeal: Lol. Are you making it right now?

Zack: Yup.

Angeal: Alright show me how far you got. Maybe I can help :)

Zack:

[Angeal has left the group]

• Genesis sending this image whenever one or more messages are deleted:

• Kunsel regularly sends the weekly gossip rundown and his messages look like this:

☕⭐ TEA OF THE WEEK☕⭐

- FRIENDSHIP: Rufus Shinra and Lazard Deusericus seen whispering outside the president's office. Both men were holding a roll of duct tape and a long rope. They dispersed when asked what they were doing.

- MYSTERY: Did Professor Hojo really fall down the main entrance stairs or was he pushed? Sources say Sephiroth was there when it happened and looked pleased when the professor was taken away on a stretcher.

- DRAMA: Genesis is seen in the breakdown having a verbal dispute with a revolving door after the tail of his coat gets caught in it.

- HAIR: Angeal finds his first gray hair, Roche gets his tasteful honey highlights, Sephiroth's hair grows another inch, Throwback images of Rude (of the Turks) resurface where he is seen with hair, and an online discussion on the Red Leather forums over wether or not Genesis's hair is actually brown sparks controversy.

• The following exchange:

Sephiroth: Can you all please type out your names and post them. Someone stole my PHS and changed everyone's contact names.

Genesis: Genesis Rhapsodos.

Sephiroth: Ah. This one was untouched.

Genesis: ????? What am I saved as?

Sephiroth: Wannabe Sephiroth.

Genesis: ALAKSHSJSJSKDHSJ FUCK YOU

Zack: Zack!

Sephiroth: Thank you, Distracted Hedgehog.

Zack: ...........

Angeal: I'm Angeal.

Sephiroth: As of right now. Before this you were "Patron Saint of Hypocrisy."

Angeal: That's.....a little mean.

Cloud: Cloud Strife.

Sephiroth: Hahaha. This one was very clever.

Cloud: What is it?

Cloud: Well??

Cloud: ........

Cloud: It's Chocobo isn't it?

Sephiroth: My apologies.

• Zack has a habit of procrastinating by sending voice messages that are essentially podcasts. In one of them, you can hear him trip over a wet floor sign, fall, and continue talking about his favorite hair gel brand like nothing happened.

[dark-elf-writes]

How are the Turks handling Cloud's everything in the leaf house au?

At first when Cissnei comes back to report someone new hanging around Aerith they were skeptical. Particularly when she told them with something between surprise and concern that he had seen her watching them.

(Cissnei is no slouch when it comes to stealth. If she didn’t want to be seen nothing short of a fellow Turk or SOLDIER should have been able to clock her.)

Reno laughed, told her she’s getting rusty, and was ordered to watch Aerith next.

He gets spotted too.

It becomes a bit of a game between them, seeing if any of them can be skipped over by those eyes. Yet without fail no matter who is sent, no matter what the blond is doing, they are spotted at least once. It would be more concerning if Cloud had any real interest in doing anything other than scowling at them while Aerith loaded a basket on his arm with flowers and didn’t almost always have at least one kid at his heels.

Then Tseng gets caught in an ambush between sectors five and six and is down to his last magazine when a blond blur leaps from the shadows and starts taking out the goons and monsters without hesitation.

Even when the sword, rusted and chipped as it shatters in his hands Cloud doesn’t stop as if breaking swords in the middle of battle was normal for him. (If Rude and Shotgun were to be believed it was.)

Tseng keeps shooting until his gun clicks is empty, covering the man his Turks had written off as ‘weird but mostly harmless’ as he cuts a path of distraction with only a broken sword and what looks like shards of materia set in several earrings.

It’s not until the dust settles and the blond is scowling down at his newly broken sword like it personally offended him that Tseng asks.

“Why?”

Blue eyes, brighter than they should be in the gloom but still dimmer than a Soldiers and without the glassy distance of an addict, blink. “They were going to kill you.” He says simply, like that answers everything.

Tseng sees it then, the loyalty this man commands, how he wins it from nearly every corner and gives it back just as readily. It’s intoxicating and alien to see in someone not from his department.

(Shinra would claim that Turks were only ever loyal to the company. In truth the only thing a Turk was ever loyal to were their fellow Turks.)

Cloud doesn’t know what to make of the neatly wrapped box waiting for him in the church the next day, nor does he know what to make of Aerith’s incredibly amused smile as he looks between the sword (far nicer than any of the rusted and broken things that he’s been able to scavenge from the scrap but not so nice that it would paint a target on his back) and her in stunned silence. He really doesn’t know what to make of the job offer Tseng brings him the next day.

He turns down the job, keeps the sword, and pretends like he doesn’t see another Turk giving him the thumbs up out of the corner of his eye when he asks how Tseng is healing.

There’s two betting pools: one for when Cloud (knowingly) lets Tseng take him on a date and the other for when Cloud takes the job offer. As far as the Turks are concerned he’s already one of them, it’s just a waiting game to make it official.

[wingsdreamt]

ameneurosis

@steeleidolon

Time, the passing of it between major events and the disruptions they have wrought, affords them some level of safety they would not have otherwise had. Time, plus whatever magical properties are wrapped up around the bunker that render them immune to shifting timelines until the moment they step back out into the smoggy haze of Midgar’s underside. Glancing one last time at the date printed on the corner, Zack folds up the newspaper in his hands and tucks it under his arm as they half-jog up the steps to HQ. 

No news is good news never applies when Shinra is at its center. A cursory glance through the editorial columns, the overseas war, classifieds, and entertainment sections provide no insight as to Kalm’s eventual fate. March 21st, almost a year to the date. Best not to advertise what happened at all and let the Turks work quietly like they usually do. The company motto, of sorts.

“1999…Didn’t The Matrix come out that year? This year. Whatever. We caught it in theaters and re-watched in the dorms only to find out that Shinra’s censorship team completely fucked with the theatrical release, right?”

Chatter between two helmeted SOLDIERs as they pass the threshold of glass doors lining the front entrance, filling the air with their complaints about the latest and greatest sci-fi flicks, is mundane, all of it. No suits turn their heads, PubSec admires and reviles from afar without criticality, other SOLDIERs have places to be, orders to fulfill and training to attend. 

They blend right in.

Contingencies have been prepared for worst case scenarios. Their bikes have been hidden under a sheet of tarp by one of the many chain link gates that feed into the nearby corporate housing districts. Within sprinting distance, should they suddenly be discovered. 

The higher up they go, the more creative they will have to be to get groundside. One benefit of their years past shenanigans while on leave– intimate knowledge of the Tower’s various maintenance access tunnels and vents provide escape routes aplenty within arms reach. Useful when avoiding the ire of their superiors and friends, necessary now that they cannot afford their progress arrested. With enough false confidence and elaborate obfuscation between them, Zack is optimistic they won’t have to go that far. 

The sound of their boots striking the perfectly polished floors, ambient chatter from other employees, the smell of cheap coffee left to sit too long in its pot, even the damn leafy planters next to the benches. There are so many memories in these halls, so many things that have remained unchanged in his mind’s eye against the backdrop of the past that they now traverse. It takes measurable effort not to stop and linger to stare in disbelief. 

Using two fingers, Zack taps against the side of Kunsel’s shellmet with a laugh as they make their way past the information desk, around an arguing group of analysts, and up to the elevator. Purposeful, despite the whimsical ease of their conversation.  

“Okay. But. Wanna know my first thought the first time you took the helmet off?” Zack knows he looks absolutely goofy with the shameless grin he now wears, toothy and glittering beneath the open portion of his helmet while they wait for the elevator doors to open. They can be forthcoming here, now. As much as they want.

“I thought–” he stops for a moment, elbows the button labeled ‘49’ on the way in, then faces forward with his arms folded as the doors slide shut. Zack angles his head towards Kunsel, continues with complete seriousness, “--oh no, he’s hot.” 

[whitesilverandmercury]

ff7 / chronology project

nzivvo timeline theories / part 1 & part 2 sleepezi comprehensive compilation deep dive

hello i am a slut for chronology projects and timelines, this is nothing compared to the comprehensive greek myth family tree project i’ve been neglecting building 

timeline key / HUGE shoutout to the editors of the ff7 fandom wiki and their timeline(s), massively helpful -- backbone of this chronology version is a cross-reference between dated events in before crisis and crisis core: reunion

dates / ff7 compilation records 12-month calendar years in the format [era] - εγλ [year number] with calendar time measured in two-millennia eras; the years of which count upwards and end at 2000, at which point the following year begins the next era at 0001 -- for example, Zack is born [ μ ] - εγλ 1984, and Angeal dies [ ν ] - εγλ 0001

eras [ μ ] and [ ν ] = loosely, [ μ ] is the 2,000-year era preceding the Wutai War -- Jenova crash lands on Gaia at the start of this era and Zack, Aerith, and Cloud are all born at the end of this era; [ ν ] is the era in which most of playable ff7 compilation takes place, beginning shortly after the Wutai War

εγλ = for whatever reason part of the dating system, preceding the era year when writing the date; some fan theories interpret it as an abbreviation meaning “that which tells of this era of Gaia,” similar to the Christian “in the year of our Lord,” by analyzing the Greek letters that are used and suggesting that: ε could stand for εποχή (epoch, age, era), γ for Γαῖα (Gaia), λ for λέγω (verb, to tell a story) 

FF7 TIMELINE / ongoing; as organized for fic (a)chronology of now

(going to eventually link little headcanon vignettes to various events along the timeline!)

canon = plain  headcanon = italics

[ μ ] - εγλ 2000 (Wutai War ongoing) 

january 

Zack promoted to Second Class 

february

Aerith turns 15

late spring

Cloud leaves Nibelheim for Shinra recruitment in Midgar, fails basic screening for early SOLDIER program enrollment and is instead enlisted into the infantry (Public Security Division)

note / it’s a real struggle to pin down exactly what time of year Cloud leaves Nibelheim for Midgar, so after cross referencing a bunch of material, entries, timelines, canon events, etc. i’ve made the tweak here to shift it back a year from canon, ex. i find it hard to believe Cloud is assigned guard duty for a scientist carrying massive classified SOLDIER intel (before crisis: June [ ν ] - γ 0001) potentially only weeks after joining Shinra

august 

Cloud turns 14

september

Zack turns 16

note / idk, this astrology feels good in the fan theories re: his birthday in September or October

Angeal, assisted by Zack, delivers a presentation on the SOLDIER program for new infantry upon completion of boot camp

fic vignette / Cloud is in awe of Zack Fair at the SOLDIER recruitment presentation 

october

Rumors spinning about First Class SOLDIER Genesis deserting in Wutai, along with large numbers of Second and Third Class SOLDIERs

Hollander absconds with classified Science Division information 

november

Zack dispatched to Wutai / Fort Tamblin with Angeal, stepping up to fill Genesis’ absence, where Angeal abandons Zack and Shinra to join Genesis

december

Zack accompanies Tseng to Banora Village to investigate Genesis’ disappearance, where they encounter both Angeal and Genesis

Banora Village is destroyed in an aerial raid by Shinra, wiping out and covering up Genesis’ base and operations

Rufus Shinra becomes Vice President, then goes on long-term business trip

[ ν ] - γ 0001

february 

Wutai War ends, and Avalanche forms in Cosmo Canyon

Aerith turns 16

Mako production does not return to prewar levels, instead intensifying in some ways

Avalanche attempts to detonate Reactor 8 and assassinate President Shinra, but they are stopped by Sephiroth and the Turks 

march

Public-facing information released saying First Class SOLDIERs Angeal and Genesis were killed in action

april

Zack promoted to First Class; Zack and Sephiroth defend Midgar from Genesis and his army, then head to find Angeal (and Hollander) at Mako Reactor 5

Zack and Aerith meet when Zack falls through the Sector 5 church roof, having been knocked down by Angeal from Mako Reactor 5; their meeting is interrupted when Zack is called back to the Shinra Building, where Genesis Copies are after Hojo

may

Shinra is getting a bit desperate with building SOLDIER ranks, and begin kidnapping to recruit 

june

fic vignette / the first time Zack calls Aerith “Sunshine”

Cloud is assigned to a squad escorting Professor Rayleigh, a scientist transporting classified data on the SOLDIER program, as are the Turks; they’re jumped by Fuhito’s Avalanche, and the data is inevitably stolen

note / because of Cloud’s involvement with this event, as well as his surprising performance therein, and Shinra’s anxieties over building SOLDIER ranks, his SOLDIER application is pulled from the pool / bumped to the top for review

july

fic vignette / Zack and Aerith at Evergreen Park

Cloud is notified his eligibility for SOLDIER has been reconsidered and 6-month preliminary evaluations will commence immediately

notes / imagined SOLDIER program: details here

august

fic vignette / Zack and Aerith’s first kiss

Cloud turns 15

beginning / september 

Zack and Cloud meet on the Modeoheim mission, overseen by Tseng; they discover Genesis Copies, Genesis, and Hollander; Angeal arrives on scene, intervening; Genesis falls into the Lifestream and Zack kills Angeal, inheriting the Buster Sword; Hollander is detained and taken to Junon

fic vignette / Zack asks Cloud if he wants to be friends 

Zack gives himself a mourning scar

Tseng tasks himself with ensuring Zack and Cloud work together as much as possible 

mid / september

Cloud and Aerith meet when Zack sends him to deliver some things to her

Zack turns 17

november

Zack mentoring Cloud during his SOLDIER preliminary evaluations

fic vignette / Zack and Cloud and marksman practice 

[ ν ] - γ 0002

january

Shinra State of the Company event

fic vignette / the trio hooks up for the first time, part two

mid / january

Zack deployed with Tseng to a protest at ammunition factory not far from Rocket Town, Cloud and Dockitt accompany

Tseng returns to Midgar for emergency meeting; Turks send an operative to Icicle Lodge to support Second Class SOLDIERs Essai and Sebastian, finding Fuhito’s Avalanche base

Zack and Cloud are sent straight from outpost to Icicle Lodge, to help locate the missing SOLDIERs; Zack and Turk discover Fuhito’s experiments, including Essai and Sebastian, who are beyond saving and die in Zack’s arms; before the base detonates, Zack fights and kills Kyneugh, one of Fuhito’s Ravens 

end / january

Cloud starts SOLDIER preconditioning phase I (weekly mako test injections) 

february

Veld (Director of the Turks) is fired and replaced by Heidegger (Director of Public Safety), who sends the military instead of Turks when Avalanche attacks Junon

Aerith turns 17

Shinra holds a philanthropic gala to save face / rally support following the Avalanche attack on Junon 

march

Cloud starts SOLDIER preconditioning phase II early (biweekly mako infusion) due to Shinra’s anxieties over SOLDIER ranks 

april

Cloud discharged from SOLDIER program after second infusion causes reactive toxicity; behind the scenes, Tseng ensures he is not cast off to the streets or Science Department

june

Lazard deserts Shinra, expecting a whistleblower on his embezzling support for Hollander’s essentially anti-Shinra research 

Zack sent on mandatory vacation, which is interrupted by Genesis copies; Zack sent to Junon from Costa del Sol, Cloud sent to Junon from Midgar, as Junon is under attack by Genesis copies helping Hollander escape; Sephiroth dismisses Zack from the fray, sends him home to protect Aerith from mounting monster attacks in Midgar

july

Lazard and Hollander are reported as killed in action

Genesis’ army begins to attack mako reactors around the world

note / this means more frequent and/or more intensive assignments for Zack and Cloud, but not always together; meanwhile, Fuhito and Elfe’s Avalanche is getting more and more pushy in their strategies 

august 

Fuhito and Elfe’s Avalanche try to kidnap Aerith before Shinra can get ahold of her again; a passing Turk protects her

Cloud turns 16

early / september

Zack and Aerith build a flower cart

mid / september

Zack turns 18

Sharp spike in monster sightings / attacks in Nibelheim area

end / september

Cloud accompanies Sephiroth and Zack to investigate the Nibel Reactor, during which Sephiroth discovers the makonoids, Jenova, etc. 

october

Nibelheim incident: Sephiroth razes Nibelheim to the ground, Tifa is mortally wounded, Zack incapacitated, Sephiroth stabs Cloud and Cloud throws him into the open Lifestream reactor channels 

Hojo takes custody of Zack and Cloud, Zangan saves Tifa

this timeline / chronology is ongoing and will be updated occasionally. 

[beneathstarryskies]

Can I please request prompt 1 with Reno? I fell like it suits him so much hehehe thanks a million

From the moment you were hired on as Tseng's assistant, Reno knew he had to have you. You were just so cute and sweet to him. Every day when he came into the office, you smiled at him so sweetly. He could tell you were into him too.

When he made a move, he wasn't at all surprised when you said yes. Your first date was on a Friday night. He took you out for drinks after work even though he'd gotten banged up pretty bad on his last job. The medic had told him to rest for a couple days, but he had a date with a pretty little thing he couldn't risk missing. So, he sat across from you at the table in a smoky bar with stitches on his cheek and a bandage across the bridge of his nose.

"Are you sure you should be drinking?" you asked him when he went for another round. In typical Reno fashion, he'd laughed it off.

From that day on, you spent every moment you could together. Almost every weekend he was either going to your place or you went to his. Then, Monday morning you'd walk into the office as though you were strangers.

One day, a member of SOLDIER is in the Turks' office to speak with Tseng about something important. As he leaves, he stops in front of your desk and begins chatting you up. You're being friendly of course, but then he leans over with a smirk.

"Say, can I take you out some-"

"She's seeing someone," Tseng says before the SOLDIER can even finish asking. Your cheeks burn, and you notice Reno burying his nose deeper in his magazine.

The SOLDIER leaves defeated, and you turn your chair to face Tseng's desk.

"Why'd you say that?"

"Well, you are seeing Reno, aren't you?"

[thinkaboutmeff7au]

flash time 112

(1992.)

This church isn’t like the one back home, but it’s just as run-down. Mid-afternoon on a Thursday means there’s barely anyone here, but I can see a few people gathering in the pews. These doors are always open...something I found out when I had to drag Gen somewhere after his 3rd class celebratory bender.

There’s a confessional booth, but it doesn’t look like it’s being manned. I don’t care. I shut the door behind me and sit with a sigh.

“Sorry, I...” I start. “It’s okay. I don’t care if no one hears it, I just...”

I stare at the scuffed wood in front of me, wonder how many others have sat where I have. Confessed any amount of...well, anything.

I clear my throat again. “My best friend and I, we’ve been together like glue since we were in high school. We’ve been through a lot of sh--I mean, crap together...” Better not swear in front of the priest. Or God. Or whoever. “And like...he’s one of the only friends I’ve got.

“Now though...well, we’re both, er, we’re both in SOLDIER, and he’s got someone new he’s really...really fond of. It’s not like a girlfriend or something. He doesn’t date girls.” My heart stops. “F-forget I said that. He’s just eccentric. And there’s someone new in his life, and they spend all their time together now. They’re on missions together, they hang out together...”

I sigh. “I just wish we could hang out like we used to again.”

The truth is, I’m jealous. I know Gen was obsessed with me too, in a way that wasn’t healthy at all. Especially when he kept trying to make a move on me when I told him no. So him having someone else to put that...energy towards should be a good thing in theory.

But we’re still friends. He’s still my best friend. So why--

“Wow, that’s sad--”

“Ahh!” I yelp, jerking back and shaking the booth. It’s a young girl’s voice from the other side of the wooden mesh. What the hell?! Someone was actually listening?!

She pulls it open with her chin in both hands. “Sorry Mister SOLDIER, I didn’t mean to scare you,” she says.

She has bushy brown hair with huge green eyes. She can’t be more than...well, she’s probably older than she looks. At least in high school herself.

“Sure, well...” I didn’t really want to put a face to this, let alone some random girl... “I’m gonna get going then...”

“Hey, wait! Maybe I can help!” she says, waving one hand. “Like, uh...what did you guys used to do together in school? To hang out?”

“Well, we were in jazz band together...”

“Maybe you can start doing that again!” She becomes animated. “Ooh, what instrument do you play?”

I don’t think she’s trying to come onto me. It’s happened to me before--especially with teenage girls. No, I think she’s genuinely excited. “I play drums. My friend plays bass.”

“See! Easy. You just start a band!” She is quite proud of herself. “Problem solved!”

I can’t help but laugh...what a strange kid. Still, it isn’t a bad idea. Gen always talked about getting a band together. Didn’t he say Seph played guitar? Wonder if he would be willing...

That way the three of us could hang out, without it being a work thing. I’ll never forget our tour with the three of us...but who knows when that’ll happen again.

I turn toward her with a nod. “You know what? You might be right,” I say. “If anyone asks for me, I wasn’t here.”

“Sure thing! But I don’t even know your name.”

“All the better.”

I step out, stretching a bit--those booths are so cramped. They’re not made for Banora men. To my surprise, the girl comes out too, running over. She’s wearing overalls and a pink t-shirt, her transparent pink jelly sandals squeaking with every step.

“Hey, one more thing,” she says. “Do you know those guys in the suits?”

“You mean the Turks?”

“Yeah. There’s a guy with red hair I keep seeing hanging around. Can you tell him to leave me alone? I can take care of myself!”

Oh God, is this girl under Turk surveillance? I don’t need to get wrapped up in that. Time to go. I’m 99% sure she’s talking about Reno, though, so... “I’ll pass on the message,” I say.

(A.H.)

epilogue:

(1997.)

He’s eating today, so that’s good. Zack is still out of the loop, but Genesis is over every evening. I feel like I need to keep an eye on him for Zack’s sake...in exchange for keeping him in the dark.

“Hey, you know something,” Angeal says suddenly, his voice croaking. He clears his throat before he continues. “I just remembered...you and I had a run in before, a few years ago, before you and Zack got together.”

I blink. “Huh?”

“You were here at the church, and I was...” He smiles and shakes his head. “I was getting some shit off my chest about Gen. My mom had died, so I didn’t have anyone else to talk to about it. So I came here. And there you were.”

I roll through my memory. Here at the church...so it would’ve had to have been after Mom disappeared, after I was on the street...I snap my fingers. “Oh! Oh yeah! Mister SOLDIER!”

His smile is warm. “Thanks for that, by the way. Your little idea was pretty brilliant. It brought us together.”

“God, I barely remember that. I was going through a lot myself,” I reply. It was after I started living at the church, and only just getting used to three meals a day again.

“We all were,” he says. “Everyone is, all the time.”

His smile fades, and mine does too. Strange how these things work out.

(A.G.)

[vctlan]

[ FOURTEEN ]  receiver was kidnapped,  sender shows up to "save" them.  (tseng coming to collect kunsel's ass)

MEME | @pseudodead

In truth, it is not hard to find the scraps of the SOLDIER program out in the wild, a scattering of wanna-be mercenaries let go due to deficiencies in mako adaptability or those afflicted with cellular degeneration that rendered them useless in combat with a short-term expiration date, unsalvageable even for managerial and educational contexts.

(It is hard to feel positive morale and believe the propaganda of your own indestructibility when those set to teach you are wasting away before your own eyes, after all.)

Dealing with them would give you critical insight into the program and how they worked on a baseline, but you would be dealing with a warped and unclear picture, your sample size quickly deteriorating under duress. If you were to replicate Shin-Ra's human experimentation, set to create your own super-soldiers, you would have to try and capture a live one, properly handled by the Science Department, at their full capabilities.

A task seemingly impossible until you remember that at their core, they are humans too, as monstrous as they might appear.

Wrong place, right time -- nothing distinguished Kunsel from any other SOLDIER, merely the one unlucky enough to get dispatched for this mission, baited in by his own curiosity as to who could be behind the clearly premeditated monster attacks. For once, it wasn't Shinra, but as humourous as that thought was it did nothing to spare him from being taken in by surprise, status afflicted to hell until he could barely tell what was up and what was down.

Sure would figure that they'd premeditate and plan this attack to avoid direct confrontation -- and he would've considered that fact, had he known this to be a possibility, a thought immediately creeping into his skull as he wakes to the beeping of his own heart monitor, limbs shackled to the operation table he'd been laid upon, shed of his armor.

SOLDIERs 3C had been going missing mid-mission, only to be found days if not weeks later -- some fairing better than others, some dead, but it was all very hush-hush. Even he barely heard of it, what glimpses he got into the topic wrung from those that were found and heard in frustrated mutterings from Hojo, complaining about his work being half-assedly plagiarized. He knew it was a possibility, a situation that was to be assumed unresolved… but well, the last case was months ago, and you never think this sort of thing will happen to you, now do you? It honestly didn't cross his mind that the rampant monster attacks and SOLDIER disappearances could be connected, both happenings so constant nowadays that they almost turned to white noise in his head.

Tseng, however, who slid this mission his way, certainly would've known more than he did -- and purposefully withheld information from him. Had the Turks gained insight on who was behind this? Was that the reason why the kidnappings paused, whoever organizing them scrambling to reform their plans?

… It didn't make him feel any better ( he'd like his blood back, first of all ) but it did somewhat ease his nerves, weirdly enough; the thought that Tseng knew this would happen.

Because that meant he ought to have a plan, no?

( He better, because if Kunsel found out he just tossed him into the pit to see what'd happen Kunsel would punch him with zero regrets or regard for shattered facial features. )

Unfortunately, to find this out meant biding his time and playing along, trying to keep himself mindful of his body's own resistance, that nothing short of a shot to the head, stake through the heart or complete exsanguination would kill him at the hands of someone like them… and from the conversations he listened in while pretending to still be passed out, they wouldn't be able to get a new "sample" without raising suspicions again.

So he was more or less safe in terms of them not wanting to immediately kill him.

Didn't mean it was particularly comfortable to go through prodding and experimentation by people who still seemed to have no clear understanding of how it was that the SOLDIER program achieved its results -- his only company outside of his capturers was a young man he didn't quite recognize, completely comatose with signs of joint mineralization: a clear case of severe mako poisoning.

They'd tried, and they'd failed… Or they were trying to fix him? Honestly, Kunsel didn't care which it was.

Time passed, and blood samples turned to live tissue samples, and soon after that he was being prepped for some sort of operation, pumped with blood thinners so that his enhanced healing would not get in the way.

That wasn't a good sign. Neither was the fact that he was still awake, even with a mask strapped to his face, gas consistent but nowhere near enough to fully put him under. The 3C he spoke with said he didn't remember anything but… there was the catch. He was 2C, it probably didn't cross their mind to adjust for his own heightened levels. Or they didn’t care.

Okay, now he was starting to get just slightly worried --

Shots ring out, and blood splatters against Kunsel's face as a scalpel cuts down from the top of his breastbone, only getting as far as his navel before the body holding it jerks and drops it to the floor, metal utensil clattering to the floor as the surgeon collapses on top of Kunsel.

The chaos that follows suit is loud, hard to follow, and messy, but it's over quickly.

And he can recognize the sound of dress shoes against rough cemented flooring immediately, drawing in a sigh of relief while also trying not to look like he'd questioned if they were ever going to show up.

"Took you guys long enough." It's muffled through the oxygen mask, drawled through a moderately sedated body, but it at least immediately lets them know he was awake. Blood pools around him on the operating table, but it's hard to gauze whose it was with a dead man currently on top of him.

When he's freed, cut hastily healed, and reunited with his apparel, Kunsel can't help but hold onto his helmet in his hands and glare at Tseng as they board the helicopter back, entirely unamused and making sure he knew Kunsel's reading on the situation.

"You knew this would happen, didn't you?" A beat passes, and that anger turns into frustration towards himself, both at being obviously played and at not seeing it coming. "A heads up would've been nice, at least. I might not be Loveless theatre production worthy, but I can fake being clueless if you wanted to set them a trap."

Still though… it was kind of interesting seeing a case come to it's resolute conclusion. Not that he'd admit he thought it was kind of fun if you take out the “about to be vivisected” part.

The planted warehouse fire behind them is set to burn everything inside into absolute carbon before the emergency services would be allowed to react. He'd feel bad for the comatose kid but… mineralization that advanced was a dead end. And any remains of this sort of experimentation would only bring with it copy cats.

All that Kunsel cared about now was getting his Mako-booster shot, eating his weight in food and then immediately passing out.

[redeyesblackjou]

A little drabble for a future time skip in a thread. I just wanted to get it down.

Something felt strange when he stepped back into his dorm room after returning from Costa Del Sol - like someone was in the room watching him.

No one in the bathroom. No one in the closet.

"Paranoid," Tomoya huffed to himself and began to unpack, eyeing the suitcase in thought. "Guess I get to keep the clothes, I should thank the President when I see him." He'll do his laundry soon, but he wants to unpack and settle back into his room before that - still trying to shake that feeling of being watched.

"It's because Reno's not here," he told himself. "Or Katsuya...I'm just lonely all of a sudden..."

The blonde is busy from the get go the next day; meeting with the President and Tseng, his rounds in the medical unit, a surprising awkward silent lunch when Rude suddenly sat across from him in the cafeteria - Tomoya appreciates the company but he needs to learn how to talk to the other man.

The following week he has medical check-ups with the new SOLDIER recruits, he doesn't personally do Eli's medical but they bump into each other long enough to arrange a date and time for lunch and the gym; he starts writing a medical paper for school but finds it hard to concentrate - still not comfortable in his dorm, and rushes out the library so fast he forgets his phone only to come back to a string of worried messages from Reno. It makes him smile though.

In the gym with Eli and his new SOLDIER friends is a little overwhelming; they're a rowdy bunch but mean well, and Rude always seems to be around somewhere which is a comfort.

For some reason he mentions the uneasy feeling in his dorm to Rude in passing - a conversation about Reno led to him saying he missed the other Turk and the safety he brought which made the dorm uncomfortable; Rude offered to check for anything unusual but Tomoya declined. "Just being paranoid, but thanks."

Then the first gift arrived. Nothing fancy, just some shower gels and lotions to help his muscles recover from the gym, he'd complained to Reno recently about his aches so it was likely him.

Then the second: Flowers.

Third: A stuffed animal.

The gifts became more frequent and sexual in nature, and Reno was in a place with lousy phone service so there was no point texting or calling to scold him.

Tomoya misses the Turk and, despite the lingering feeling of eyes on him even in the bathroom, he manages some relief in the shower; and somewhere, on the other side of Shin-ra, someone was certainly watching.

[shinrarisen]

So what ARE Cissnei's thoughts on Zack anyway? He was being so obvious and she just wasn't having any of that? Or??

Anons Always Welcome! <3

Honestly? Cissnei’s thoughts vary at different points in canon, but none of them are ever bad - Nor was she ever bothered by his frequent attempts to ask her out. Overall, she considers him a very, very dear friend and adores him and the impact he’s had on both the world and Cissnei herself! But things were... Complicated.

Had they been in different places and not a Turk and a SOLDIER, she may have entertained the idea of going out with him. He’s energetic and puppy-like, sweet and kind, and while he can be a bit of a handful to keep up with, there’s nothing to keep him from growing on her the longer she knows him. As just Cissnei, Zack’s a little TOO headstrong for her but she’s also aware he’s still just a teen, same as her, and it takes some time to level out and figure out where your head is. He was raised with freedom, unlike her, and still had things to learn - Which is why her thoughts and impressions of him only get better as time goes on. He finds his place and his footing, and he sticks with it. He doesn’t lose Zack, and that’s an important thing.

But that’s where the problem comes in: They aren’t just Zack and Cissnei. They’re a 2nd, later 1st, Class SOLDIER unknowingly caught up in Shinra’s mess and a Turk with orders to keep an eye on him for the company because of that very same mess.

Whether or not feelings were in play - and for Cissnei, they very much were - they couldn’t act on them. She found herself falling in love, but it was never his flirting with other girls or Aerith, or his cheesy and frequent attempts to pick her up that stopped her - It was Cissnei herself. Even shortly after meeting him, she may have agreed to a date if she weren’t aware of what the consequences could be, or that Shinra could have used their relationship as a reason to eliminate one of them, or, worse, use it against them. Even as her feelings for him grew, she caught herself hesitating here and there and doubting herself and her job, because she knew it would end badly, but...

A lot of it also boils down to the fact that, again feelings beside, she was actively lying to him throughout much of Crisis Core and spying on him. Her job during the game’s events was to watch him for Shinra and that meant keeping her work a secret. She couldn’t just walk up to him and say “Sure, by the way I’ll be reporting everything you say to Tseng and the President, but I’d love a date!”, and expect that to go over well - And by the time he’d figured it out on his own, there was already an unspoken understanding a relationship wasn’t going to work, just like there was one between them in Costa del Sol that he knew. He had other things going on, trauma had started setting in, Shinra had screwed with hem both, his affections had shifted... And truthfully, Cissnei was happy for him having someone else to lean on. Someone not her.

Someone with less connections to Shinra than her and more stability than she could ever provide.

Cissnei fell for Zack relatively quickly, all things considered, and finds his attempts to get her out, both romantically and platonically, sweet and welcome, if not a bit funny with some of his attempts. His meeting other girls never put her off - Just Shinra. She just can’t let herself say yes when the odds are stacked against him, and by the time she feels like she could... It’s too late.

She’s sorry, Zack, she didn’t tell you everything sooner and try to get you out before everything went to hell.

[isla-the-fickle]

Sweetheart

Reno Sinclair x GN!Reader - Fluff

Word Count: 954

Summary: In which Reno offers you a job, but ends up leaving with a date

As the doors to the shop opened, you shouted without looking away from your documents. “Sorry, we’re closed right now. You’ll have to come back tomorrow.” You heard the bell ring at the front counter. Sighing, you turned to your coworker and pleaded “Can you please tell whoever that is to go? They either didn’t hear me or they don’t wanna listen.” He smiled back with tired eyes and got up from the desk where he had been counting the tips. 

“So uh, it’s a guy, and he says he won’t leave until he gets a chance to talk to you.” your coworker says slightly annoyed. 

“Well did you tell him no and to just get out?”

“Yeah but he’s insisting. Says it’s ‘important Shinra business.’”

At that you stopped what you were doing. Furrowing your eyebrows and standing up straight, you looked at your coworker and asked “What did he look like? He have red hair and a suit?”

“Oh, well yeah. Why, you know who he is or something?” your coworker asked curiously.

“Yeah, something like that,” you scoffed. “I’ll finish up here, you can go home.” “Alright, thanks buddy. I’ll see ya tomorrow. Good luck with that dude, seems like he’s kind of an ass.” You scoffed. “Don’t worry about it, that’s cause he is. Thanks though, have a good night.” you said as your coworker left. 

Exasperated from your long day, you slumped back into the chair you were previously in. You really didn’t wanna deal with Reno again. It was getting to be extremely annoying to see him, and sometimes even Rude tagged along. He was relatively nicer and calmer, but that didn’t mean you liked seeing him. 

While you were wallowing, you heard the bell once again. Groaning, you picked up your jacket and locked the back office. You could just come in early tomorrow to finish up the rest of your work. Talking to Reno was gonna take a while, and you’d rather get home before the plate lights turn back on. When you approach the front counter, you see Reno about to hit the bell again. “Stop, stop, please stop. That thing is so fucking loud and I’m not in the mood.” you yell before he can ring it again. 

Reno turns to you with a smirk on his face and puts his hands together on the counter. As he leans over, he starts off just as always. “Well hello there sweetheart, sure is great to see you again.” When you send him a dead look, Reno chuckles lowly and leans back. “I’m sure you know what I’m here to discuss.”

“You only ever show up to discuss the one thing, which I have already rejected at least four times.” you said monotonously. You just wanted to go home, and at this point you didn’t feel like being polite. 

His hands shot up by his shoulders, as if he were surrendering. But you knew better. “Woah woah, alright. But you know I’m just doing my job, and you haven’t actually given me a chance to explain anything yet.” 

“So what, your job is to piss me off? Listen Reno, you don’t have to explain jack shit. Some people wanted to be SOLDIERs when there was a war to win. I wasn’t one of them then, and I sure as hell ain’t gonna help you find more now. It doesn’t matter what you say, my mind is made up, so stop trying to hire me.” you asserted.

He laughed again, and you got more annoyed. That laugh meant he had more to say. Reno had been pretty clear he wanted to recruit you as a Turk, and you were equally adamant on your refusal. A job under Shinra wasn’t enough to make you trade your normal life, especially since Turks live such dangerous ones. Sure, they weren’t SOLDIERs, but they still did plenty of heavy lifting for Shinra that you weren’t interested in. 

“Well listen angel, you gotta at least hear me out. I mean, you’d be good for the job. Pays well, and plus, you’d get to see me way more often.” He smirked, looking at you expectantly. 

“Oh trust me Reno, I already see you way more often than I need to.”

“But you would love to see more of me, wouldn’t you? Just can’t admit it.” He laughed, expecting you to be flustered. But you had dealt with Reno enough times to know he’s never quite prepared for you to flirt back. 

“Well if a date is what you really wanted, you should’ve asked the first time. Maybe I would’ve actually heard you out. Or even better for you, I could’ve said yes.” You looked at Reno with a blank stare, and he looked back with surprise. 

“Well shit, if I had known that then I wouldn’t have danced around it for so long sweetheart.” Reno laughed heartily, an excited look on his face. You, on the other hand, were stunned.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I mean, you don’t honestly think the only reason I’ve been showing up is to get you to work for me, right?” 

You looked at Reno in disbelief. Did he just… admit that he was into you? And that it was part of the reason he was visiting you so often? 

“I do think you’d be good at it, and I plan to convince you tomorrow when we go out. I’ll pick you up as soon as you close, so you better be ready sweetheart.” Reno winked at you, then left the store. You stood in shock, both at the fact that Reno had been the one to leave first, and at the fact that you… had a date tomorrow?

[terra-fatalis]

FFVII Remake Easter eggs and compilation continuity - Part 2: CRISIS CORE

     RUDE BEING...RUDE

When Cloud and Aerith meet Rude in Sector 5 he unceremoniously asks if he’s “her new boy toy”, referring to Zack. Crisis Core established that the Turks knew Zack and were aware of his relationship with Aerith.

    THE PUPPY

Stamp is a new element introduced in the Remake, which makes a mysterious appearance at the end of the game when Zack seemingly subverts his destiny. In Crisis Core Angeal used to refer to Zack as “puppy”. 

“Are you Zack the puppy? My son wrote to me once about you, zero attention span, restless as a little puppy.”

    BANORA WHITE

There are lots of billboards and flyers of “Banora White apple juice” around Midgar. Both Banora and its apples were introduced for the first time in Crisis Core and linked to Genesis.

     ORPHANS

This may be not intentional but it’s still odd to be just a coincidence: one set of Crisis Core side missions involved some orphans who escaped from a Shinra “care facility”. In the Remake, the Leaf House is an orphanage and, according to the novel “Traces of two pasts”, it is under Shinra’s influence.

      DATING

Just like in the OG, Aerith asks Cloud to be her bodyguard in exchange of one date. Her gesture is exactly the same of Zack’s when he asked her for one date.

    SELLING FLOWERS

When Aerith and Cloud arrive in Evergreen Park, she mentions the time she used to sell flowers there, which happened 5 years before with Zack.

“You know, a long time ago, I used to sell flowers here.”

    YOUR EYES

In Chapter 9 Aerith comments about Cloud’s beautiful mako eyes the same way she did with Zack. In the Japanese version, Cloud and Zack answer her with the same sentence:

Aerith: きれい (...) 瞳 [Beautiful (...) Eyes]

Zack/Cloud: 魔晄を浴びた者の瞳　ソルジャーの証だ [Eyes of those exposed to Mako, the mark of SOLDIER]

    PINK DRESSES

In Crisis Core Zack asked Aerith to wear something pink when they'd meet again. Even though Aerith’s dress has always been pink since the OG, her new optional Wall Market dresses are pink as well.

“From now on, why don’t we make a promise every time we meet? (...) For example, when we meet, you always have to dress in pink.”

    TRAINING ROOM

In Shinra HQ there’s a battle simulator where Zack and the other SOLDIERs used to train in CC.  

    SOLDIER PROJECT

During the meeting with the President and the Shinra executives in Chapter 16, Hojo mentions SOLDIER types G and S. He war referring to the two main projects behind the SOLDIER program - Hollander’s Project G and Hojo’s project S.

CC: “Jenova project G gave birth to Angeal and monsters like myself [Genesis]. Jenova project S used the remains of countless failed experiments to create a perfect monster [Sephiroth].” 

7R: “We could have the Ancient reproduce. (...) I would start with candidates from SOLDIER. These would of course include S and G types.” 

    CELLULAR DEGRADATION

In Chapter 7 President Shinra points out that SOLDIERs usually die prematurely due to cellular degradation. Genesis, after being wounded in the battle simulator, started suffering of severe and irreversible cellular degradation.

“Once a SOLDIER, always a SOLDIER. Though not, alas, for very long. Accelerated cellular degradation being the most common cause of death by far.”

    FALLEN ANGELS

While Sephiroth’s black wing was shown for the first time in Andvent Children some visual elements of the Remake recall elements from Crisis Core related to Genesis and Angeal.

    KUNSEL

In Shinra HQ some troopers recognize Cloud and mention Kunsel, a SOLDIER and close friend of Zack’s.

“Cloud? You’re Cloud right? (...) We went through training together. (...) Hey, sit tight man - I’mma go get Kunsel.

    BARRET’S LAST STAND

“Worst route ever. Gimme a suicidal last stand. At least - At least - at least that’d have an end!”

Barret says this when he reaches the 49th floor of Shinra HQ backstairs - SOLDIERs floor. It’s a reference to Zack’s last stand.  

    THE LIFESTREAM 

After the defeat of Whisper Harbinger the protagonists end up in a place full of light and walk on a watery surface. The same happened in Crisis Core during Zack’s dream that foreshadowed his death, a representation of the Lifestream. 

    FREEDOM

Before entering the sincularity in Chapter 18, Aerith says that beyond the portal there’s “Freedom. Boundless, terrifying freedom. Like a great, never-ending sky.” These words are a callback to Zack’s iconic “The price of freedom is steep”.

    THE SKY

In Crisis Core Aerith told Zack that she felt safe under the plate because the real sky frightened her. She reiterates this concept at the end of the Remake when she said “I miss it, the steel sky” (aka the plate), in Japanese "The sky, I hate it”.

    ZACK’S LAST STAND

This scene is repeated shot-for-shot in Chapter 18.

For the other parts refer to the masterpost

[sixth-light]

The Crusades: A Fandom Primer

Like many of you, I am very excited to see a whole lot of fic about everybody’s favourite new Crusades-era Muslim/Christian immortal warrior husbands! However, a preliminary reading indicates that fandom is a bit hazy on what actually happened during the Crusades. Or where. Or why. They’re a much-mythologised piece of history so this isn’t surprising, but at popular request – ok like five people that counts – I’m here with a fandom-oriented Crusades primer.

Please bear in mind that I’m not a historian and this primer is largely based on my notes and recollections from several undergraduate history courses I took in the mid ‘00s. I expect the field has moved on somewhat, and I welcome corrections from people with more up-to-date knowledge! There’s also this very good post by someone who is a lot less lazy about links than I am.

Where did they take place?

The Crusades, broadly, describe a series of invasions of the Eastern Mediterranean (modern Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Beirut, Jordan, Cyprus, and parts of Turkey and Greece) by (mostly) Western European armies, religiously justified by their belief that the city of Jerusalem should be part of ‘Christendom’, i.e. ruled by a Christian monarch. In the first expression of European settler colonialism, nobles from the area of modern France and Germany founded four Crusader Kingdoms (aka ‘Outremer’, ‘overseas’) – the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and County of Tripoli.

  After a first unexpected wave of success in the First Crusade (1096-1099), which surprised everybody including the participants by conquering Jerusalem, the Crusaders were gradually driven and the last part of Outremer was lost to European control with the fall of the city of Acre in 1291. Crusades after that still nominally aimed to take Jerusalem but rarely got very far, with the Fourth Crusade famously sacking the city of Byzantium, their nominal Christian allies, in 1204. During this whole period activity that can be considered part of the ‘Crusades’ took place around the Eastern Mediterranean.

The most important thing to remember is that modern national boundaries didn’t exist in the same way; Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and the UK were not unified nations. Most of the southern Iberian peninsula (modern Spain) was ‘al-Andalus’, Muslim kingdoms ruled by nobility originally from North Africa. Sicily had been an Emirate up until very recently, when it had been conquered by Normans (Vikings with a one-century stopover in France). Italy and Germany in particular were a series of city-states and small duchies; Genoa, if you’re curious about it for some reason, ;), was a maritime power with more or less a distinct language, Genoese Ligurian (their dialect had enough of a navy to qualify). England had recently become part of the Anglo-Norman Empire, which ruled most of England (but not Wales or Scotland) and also large parts of modern France, particularly Normandy.

The Muslim world was similarly fragmented in ways that don’t correspond to modern national boundaries - there were multiple taifa states in Iberia, the Almoravid Caliphate in Morocco, the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt, and (nominally) the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad, one of the great cities of the era, although the Seljuq Turks were the major power in Anatolia (modern Turkey) and what we describe as the ‘Middle East’. 

The largest Christian unified power in the wider European/Mediterranean region was the Byzantine Empire, centered on the city of Constantinople (modern Istanbul), which quite fairly considered itself the direct continuation of the Roman Empire, the capital having been moved there by the Emperor Constantine in 323. In fact, the really big political and religious question of the time for Christians was who got to be considered the centre of Christendom (there was no real concept of ‘Europe’ at this point) – the Orthodox Church, the Byzantine Emperor, and the Patriarch of Constantinople in Constantinople, or the Holy Roman Emperor (er…dude in nominal charge of a lot of German and Italian principalities) and the Roman Catholic Church led by the Pope in Rome. The Orthodox Church in Constantinople and the Roman Catholic Church had agreed to disagree in 1054 in the Great Schism, so in 1096 this issue was still what you’d call fresh.

Onto this stage of East-West disagreement and the heritage of Rome crashed the Seljuq Turks, a Muslim group from Central Asia who swept through Anatolia (modern Turkey), Byzantium’s richest province, culminating in the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 which wiped out Byzantium as an independent military force. The southern provinces had fallen under Muslim rule long ago, during the era of the first Umayyad Caliphate – including Jerusalem, famous as the birthplace of Christianity and a holy site for Judaism and Islam as well, but also a fairly uninteresting provincial town. Until...

Until…what?

Here’s why all the geography matters: It is generally accepted that the First Crusade kicked off largely because Alexios I Comnenus, the then-current Byzantine Emperor, requested aid from Western Europe against the Muslim Seljuq Turks. Byzantium often recruited mercenaries from Western Europe; the Normans (aka the Vikings), who had settled Normandy and southern Italy in the past century were frequent hires. Hence those runes in the Hagia Sophia.

Meanwhile in Western Europe, the Pope – Urban II – was having difficulty with the current Emperor, and was eager to heal the Schism and establish the primacy of the Roman church. He declared that an expedition to aid the Byzantines would have the blessing of the church, and that a new kind of pilgrimage – an armed pilgrimage – was religiously acceptable, if aimed against the enemies of Christendom.

Pilgrimages (travelling to holy sites, such as churches that held saints’ relics) were a major part of European Christianity at the time and many people went on pilgrimage in their lives, so this was a familiar concept. Western Europe was also somewhat overpopulated with knights – don’t think plate armour, this is 1096, think very murderous rich men with good swords – who could always use forgiveness, on account of all the murder. The Roman Catholic church, unlike the Eastern Orthodox church, also subscribed to the concept of ‘just war’, that war could be acceptable for the right reasons. And so a whole lot of nobles from the area of modern France, Belgium, England, Germany, and Italy decided that this new Crusade thing was something they wanted in on – and they took several armies with them.

I’m going to skip over a bunch of stuff involving the People’s Crusade (a popular movement of poorer people, got literally slaughtered in Anatolia), the massacres of Jews in Eastern Europe, and a lot of battles, but the takeaway is this: Alexios probably thought he was getting mercenaries. He got a popular religious movement that, somewhat unfortunately, actually achieved its goal (Jerusalem), did next to nothing to solve his Anatolia problem, and gave a succession of Popes a convenient outlet for errant knights, nobles, and rulers: going on Crusade.  

How many were there?

Official Crusades that anybody cares about: Nine, technically. Crusade-like military events that immortal soldiers might have got involved with, plus local stoushes in Outremer: way more. WAY more.

The First Crusade (1096-1099): First and original, set a frankly (heh) terrible precedent, founded the Crusader States and captured Jerusalem. Only regarded as a clash of civilisations by the Western Christians involved. For the local Muslims it was just another day at the ‘Byzantium hires Frankish mercenaries to make our lives difficult’ office.

The Crusade of 1101: Everybody who peaced out on the First Crusade hurried to prove they were actually up for it, once the remaining First Crusaders took Jerusalem. Didn’t do much.

The Second Crusade (1147-1150): The County of Edessa falls, Eleanor of Aquitaine happens (my fave), the only winners are the people who semi-accidentally conquer Lisbon (in Portugal) (but from Muslim rulers so that…counts?).

The Third Crusade (1189-1192): You all know this one because it has RICHARD THE LIONHEART and SALADIN. Much Clash of Civilisations, very Noble, did enough to keep the remaining Crusader kingdoms going but access to Jerusalem for Christian pilgrims was obtained by treaty, not conquest. Indirectly responsible for the Robin Hood mythos when Richard gets banged up in prison on the way home and is away from England for ages.

The Fourth Crusade (1202-1204): Aims for Jerusalem, ends up sacking the Eastern Orthodox city of Constantinople, just not a great time for anybody, more or less the eventual cause of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453.  

The Fifth Crusade (1217-1221): Still going for Jerusalem, starts with Cairo instead, does not get anywhere it wants to even after allying with the Anatolian Sultanate of Rum, making the whole ‘Christians vs Muslims’ thing even murkier than it already was post the Fourth Crusade.

The Sixth Crusade (1228-1229): Somehow these things are still going. Nobody even does very much fighting. Access to Jerusalem is negotiated by treaty, yet again.

The Seventh, Eight, and Ninth Crusades: Seriously nobody cares anymore and also nobody is trying very hard. Kings have better things to do, mostly. People end up in Egypt a lot. We covered these in one lecture and I have forgotten all of it.

The Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229): Why take a three-year trip to the Holy Land to fight pagans when you can fight the ones in your own backyard (southern France), AND take their stuff? Famously the source of the probably apocryphal ‘Kill them all, God will know His own’ quote, regarding the massacre of most of a city harbouring Cathars (a Christian sect deemed heretical).

Can we circle back to that ‘massacres of Jews’ bit? WTF?

Crusades, historically, were Not A Good Time for Jewish communities in Europe; when Christians were riled up to go and Fight The Infidel, it was a lot quicker to massacre local Jews than travel to the Holy Land. Also, then you could take their stuff. I will note here that it is VERY TACKY to use historical pogroms as backdrops for your non-Jewish main characters so keep this in mind but, like, use with extreme caution in fanfic, okay? Generally life was a lot easier for Jewish communities in Muslim-ruled states in this period, which is why so many Hispanic Jews ended up in Turkey after they were expelled from Spain. 

What were they really about, then?

Historians still Have Opinions about this. Genuine religious fervour was absolutely a key motivator, especially of the First Crusade. The ability to wage war sanctioned by the Church, or to redeem your local sins by going and fighting against the pagans, was part of that, too. Control of key trade routes to the East was probably not not a part of it. The Crusader States were definitely Baby’s First Experiment With Settler Colonialism, and paved the theological and rhetorical ground for the colonisation of the Americas. But many individuals on the Christian side would absolutely have believed they were doing God’s work. The various Muslim rulers and certainly the local Christian, Jewish, and Muslim inhabitants of the Holy Land itself were mostly just getting invaded by Franks. As time wound on the Crusades became more and more political (frequently featuring intra-religious violence and inter-religious alliances) and less and less about their forever nominal goal, control of Jerusalem.

How’s Wikipedia on this?

Basically not too bad but I’m not totally confident on some of the bits about motivation (see: white supremacists love this period, ugh.)

Why did they stop?

The prospect of re-taking Jerusalem vanished entirely as the Ottoman Empire centralised and took a firm hold over most of the Levant (and made inroads into Europe, as far as Austria, taking Constantinople in 1453 and finally ending the continuous Roman Empire), the Spanish Reconquista and various intra-European conflicts (the Hundred Years’ War, for example) absorbed military attention, and then the Reformation happened and half of Europe stopped listening to the Pope and started stabbing each other over who was the right kind of Christian. But the concept lingered; white supremacists love the Crusades. Which is why it is a very good idea to be sparing with Crusader imagery around Niccolò in fanfic set in the modern era, and please for fuck’s sake stop with the ‘crugayders’ tag, Yusuf wasn’t a Crusader.  

What other fun facts should I keep in mind re: Nicky | Nicolò and Joe | Yusuf?

·        Genoa is not the same as Italy; Nicolò is Nicolò di Genova and would have spoken Genoese (Ligurian) and considered himself to be Genoese. Italian as a language didn’t really exist yet. The language he and Yusuf would most likely have had in common was the ‘lingua franca’ (Frankish language, literally) of the Mediterranean trading region, a pidgin based heavily on maritime Italian languages. Yusuf 300% would have thought of him as a ‘Frank’ (the generic term for Western Christians) and probably annoyed him by calling him that until at least 1200 or so.

·        Yusuf is apparently from ‘Maghrib’, which I assume means al-Maghrib/the Maghreb (as his actor is IIRC of Tunisian descent), i.e. North Africa. He could have had relatives in al-Andalus (southern modern Spain), he may have spoken languages other than Arabic natively (Mozarabic or Berber), his native area had universities before Europe did. Basically: this is as useful as saying he’s ‘from Europe’, do better backstory writers.

·        Taking the whole ‘Nicky used to be a priest’ backstory at face value: being a priest in 1096 looked pretty different to how it did even 200 years later. They were still working on the celibacy thing. The famous monastic orders were still forming. Some priests could and did hold lands and go to war (this wasn’t common but it happened, especially if they were nobles by birth). Nicolò di Genova would not necessarily have seen a conflict between going on Crusade and being a priest, is what I’m getting at. If he was ALSO trained as a knight, he was from a wealthy family; it took the equivalent several villages to support a knight.

·        ‘Period-typical homophobia’ is going to look very different for this period. They are NOT getting beaten up for holding hands. Or sharing a bed! Or even kissing, depending on the circumstances! I am not an expert on Islamic sexual mores of the era but Christian ones were heavily on the side of ‘unsanctioned sex is bad, sanctioned (marital) sex is slightly less bad’, and there was no concept of ‘being gay’. An interfaith relationship would be in some ways more of a problem for them than the same-sex one (and in some ways less difficult to navigate than a heterosexual interfaith relationship.) The past is another country.

·        Look just no more fanfics where Yusuf is trying to learn ‘Italian’ in the early twelfth century I am BEGGING you all

[lancermylove]

How To Be Cute 2 (HC)

Fandom: FFVII

Pairing: Angeal x Reader,  Genesis x Reader,  Cloud x Reader, Reno x Reader

Warning: None

Prompt: How cute the men can be to get you to forgive them. 

———————————————

Prologue: 

Again! Even after he promised you that he would not be late for a date, he did it again. This time around, you were not going to forgive him easily. When he finally showed up after a few hours with an “I’m so sorry” look on his face, you told him that you were upset. When he asked what he could do to make it up to you, without thinking, you ended up saying, “I will only forgive you if you do something cute.” With those words, you stormed away.

———————————————

Angeal

He doesn’t have a clue as to what to do next. 

Cute? He’s far from that and has no idea how to even act cute.

So, Angeal does the next best thing he can think of. Ask Zack. He will DEFINITELY know what to do.

He tries to talk to the puppy but backs out last minute when it dawns upon him that if word got out about the commander being cute, all the soldiers might lose respect for him. 

Angeal comes to talk to you and apologizes, saying he can't be cute. Ask him for anything else, and he will gladly do it. 

Little does he realize that while apologizing to you, his red face, his stuttering, and his puppy eyes already did the job.

Genesis

"Cute, huh?"

Cute is far from his style, and he would never let anyone see him being cute, but since you are the one asking, he has no choice.

Genesis shows up at your doorstep wearing a HUGE, pink rhinestone-studded bow on his head.

He confidently walks into your home and attempts to do an aegyo.

When he sees how shocked you are, he flips his hair and says with a smirk, “Didn’t think I could pull it off, did you?”

Genesis knows he looks totally fab even with a bow on his head.  

Cloud

He is just as lost as Angeal, but Cloud is no embarrassed to ask for help.

His go-to person is Zack. 

Zack and Cloud brainstorm for quite a while, but out of nowhere, the puppy thinks of a great idea. 

He dresses Cloud in a cute outfit, paints red dots on his cheek, and teaches him how to properly imitate the character he is dressed as.

When you open your door, you nearly drop to the floor laughing, but then remember that you are supposed to be mad at him.

Cloud shyly walks in and takes hold of both ears, tilts his head to one side, and says in the cutest voice he can muster, "Pikachu~."

Reno

"Cute? Seriously?" 

The Turk tries to think of ideas, but in the end, he shows up at your doorstep and says, "Babe, I am a cool dude. Cute ain't my style." 

Unfortunately for him, this makes you even more upset. 

"Aw, come on, babe. What do you want me to do?"

Reno goes to follow you but slips on a puddle of water on the floor. He gets up and slips again. 

"Why is everything and everyone against me today?" 

He makes the cutest puppy eyes you've ever seen. To add to that, he also pouts. 

"Babe, I need a hug." He holds his arms out to you, looking like he’s going to cry. 

[southeastasianists]

On the 13th of August 2021, four days before Indonesia celebrated its 76th year of independence, Jim Taihuttu’s De Oost [henceforth The East] was released worldwide. This new Dutch film about the Indonesian War of Independence (1945-1949) follows the war volunteer Johan de Vries (Martijn Lakemeier) as he arrives in Indonesia and joins a special forces unit led by “The Turk” (Marwan Kenzari), the historical and controversial figure Captain Raymond Westerling. Even before its release the film was disputed (predominantly by veterans and their descendants) and questioned for its veracity, as Westerling and his men used intimidation, violence and terror in a process that Westerling described as “pacifying the Celebes”. The international trailer summarises it as follows: “At the end of WWII, The Dutch sent troops into Indonesia. Their mission was to crush a rebellion and reclaim a colony. All in the name of peace.”

In an interview with Dutch television presenter Humberto Tan immediately after the online press screening of the film, lead actor Martijn Lakemeier said he was surprised to find out that Indonesian extras were so familiar with the events of the Indonesian War of Independence. From an Indonesian perspective that familiarity comes as no surprise. In addition to being a crucial part of Indonesia’s history, in recent decades a vibrant popular culture has emerged around the occupation and the war of independence. While the Netherlands is clearly still struggling to come to terms with its colonial legacy, Indonesians are widely using popular culture to remember the past—including the Indonesian War of Independence. Film plays a central role in this.

The international release of The East highlights that the remembrance of the Indonesian War of Independence in popular culture is becoming increasingly transnational. The result, however, is composed of cultural objects from various national contexts.

Film perjuangan

Shortly after Indonesia’s independence in 1945, a first wave of war films about the struggle for independence appeared: the so-called film perjuangan or “struggle films”. These films revolve in general around a group of freedom fighters who fight against the Dutch army: the emphasis in these films lies usually in Indonesian heroism and nationalist fervour. These films were an essential part of the birth of the Indonesian film industry. A significant example is Usmar Ismail’s Darah dan doa [Blood and prayer] about the Siliwangi Division, an elite division of the Indonesian army led by Captain Sudarto. The film is considered the first Indonesian film and 30 March, the date the film first began shooting, has been declared Indonesia’s National Day of Film. Darah dan doa may be the first film about the Indonesian National Revolution, but it has certainly not been the last.

It wasn’t Ismail’s last war film either. In Enam Djam di Jogja [Six Hours in Yogyakarta] he covered the 1949 siege of Yogyakarta known as the Serangan Umum 1 Maret 1949 (“General Offensive of 1 March 1949”). The choice to depict this particular offensive is remarkable from a Dutch perspective. After Yogyakarta was taken by Dutch soldiers during Operation Crow, Indonesian freedom fighters launched an offensive in the early morning of 1 March 1949. They managed to regain control of the city, but after six hours they withdrew. On paper this seemed like a defeat, but in Indonesian popular culture this offensive is remembered as an ideological tipping point in the struggle for independence, as a soldier in the film concludes: “The news of our attack will echo through the rest of the world, until it reaches the United Nations”.

National identity

During Suharto’s New Order (1966-1968), Ismail was hailed as the “father of Indonesian cinema”, partly due to the nationalistic subjects of his work. According to Indonesian film critic Adrian Jonathan Pasaribu, the earliest post-independence films not only set an example of what Indonesia’s national cinema should be, but also established the Indonesian “us,” who fought against the imperialist “them”. The first wave of film perjuangan ended halfway through the sixties, but a new wave appeared during Suharto’s era and rolled on into the early 1990s.

Typical of the New Order film perjuangan, as film scholar Eric Sasono has observed, is the focus on heroes and heroism to affirm national identity. In Indonesian B-movies about the war of independence that appeared in the 1970s and 1980s, and even today, the Dutch are often stereotypically represented as violent, rude and immoral. Indonesians on the other hand are represented as polite, pious and typical heroes of the people.

This does deserve nuance. Representations of the Indonesian War of Independence differ, among other things, due to the control that successive Indonesian governments had over film production. Because of the political upheavals that Indonesia went through after independence, the war has been remembered in various ways. Two films made during the authoritarian Suharto era are illustrative of this. Janur Kuning [Yellow Coconut Fronds] (Alam Surawidjaja, 1980) and Serangan Fajar [Attack at Dawn] (Arifin C. Noer, 1982) portray Suharto as a national hero, but were later criticised for creating a false narrative in which Suharto’s military role during the war of independence was exaggerated.

New Indonesian films about the war

Nearly twenty years after the last film perjuangan, a new struggle film was released in 2009: Yadi Sugandi’s Merah Putih [Red and White]. Two films followed, completing the now well-known Merdeka trilogy [Freedom trilogy]. The trilogy revolves around a diverse group of Indonesians who join the army to fight against the Dutch during the war of independence. These are archetypical war films and Indonesian blockbusters, and the start of the current wave of diverse fim perjuangan.

In most cases, the Western antagonist is represented with a backstory that incorporates European narratives about the Second World War. In the Merdeka trilogy, the ruthless Dutch Colonel Raymer (loosely based on Raymond Westerling) is interned and tortured in a Japanese camp. The Dutch soldier Robert is linked to the German occupation of the Netherlands in Soegija (Garin Nugroho, 2012) and the backstory of the English Captain Wright in the animated film Battle of Surabaya (Aryanto Yuniawan, 2015) is shown by means of a flashback in which his son is seen murdered by Nazis. In different films, stereotypical images of these occupiers and their criminal behaviour in Indonesia are either confirmed, or a “myth of pure evil” is dispelled.

Even more important than the Dutch perpetrator are the figures of the Indonesian hero and heroine. They are not only brave and fearless, but can also have doubts about the intentions of war. Male and military heroes are overrepresented in these films, but minorities can also be found in film perjuangan. The celebrated Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho, for instance, focused with his film Soegija on the first Indonesian Archbishop Albertus Soegijapranata, who bears the title National Hero of Indonesia. In doing so, Nugroho opposes the dominant discourse in which Indonesian independence heroes largely come from the same religious or military background. The film not only centres on Soegija’s nonviolent actions, but through him also gives voice to the “other” in Indonesia.

Nugroho also engages with the ubiquitous mythology of the revolutionary pemuda (“young revolutionary”) as heroes of the nation. The film critically connects the Indonesian struggle for independence with the uncontrollable violence of the pemuda, who blur the line between fighting for freedom and acting criminally. This is a discourse not commonly found in Indonesian remembrance culture. Modern Indonesian film perjuangan prove to be layered and adaptive according to new insights and contemporary concerns.

Violence

In The East, the emphasis lies on Dutch violence during the Indonesian War of Independence. This is long overdue; the Netherlands has hardly looked back at its misdeeds in Indonesia. The question of whether extreme acts of violence were perpetrated by the Dutch is a topic that is currently in the public eye in the Netherlands. In Indonesia that violence is presented as a fact and as common knowledge; Indonesian films are mainly concerned with how the Indonesians resist this violence.

Importantly, acts of violence are deeply entrenched in Indonesian war films, whether a film is strongly politically biased, propagandistic in nature, or a mainstream blockbuster. Dutch summary executions, as The East also prominently portrays, can often be found in these films. Torture scenes can even be found in Laskar Pemimpi [A Troop of Dreamers] (Monty Tiwa, 2010), which is a musical comedy about an unlikely group of independence fighters.

It is therefore more interesting to go beyond the representation of violence and look into the underlying motivations of combatants. An example might be that of the war volunteer: what motivated Indonesian and Dutch volunteers to join the war and how is it imagined in films? For instance, in The East the lead character Johan is in part driven to volunteer because of his father’s fascist past. Later in the film he reconsiders his motivations when he asks a fellow soldier “Don’t you ever question what we are actually doing here?”

Dutch films about the war

While the war is thus actively remembered in Indonesian films, the opposite can be said about the Netherlands. Feature films about the Indonesian War of Independence and Dutch actions at the time are scarce and often less explicit than Indonesian films. Gekkenbriefje [Crazy Going] (Olga Madsen, 1981), for instance, is about a teacher who does not want to refuse his conscription during the war, but tries to avoid it by being declared mentally unstable. The film is set with the independence struggle as thematic background, but takes place in the Netherlands.

Gordel van Smaragd [Tropic of Emerald] (Orlow Seunke, 1997) is set in the Dutch East Indies and Indonesia, but emphasises the Japanese occupation and Dutch victimhood during that period. The violence during the independence struggle does receive some attention, including an execution by a Dutch soldier, but it is hardly notable within the film’s broader narrative. Oeroeg (Hans Hylkema, 1993) is the best-known Dutch example of a film about soldiers during the Indonesian War of Independence and contains explicit scenes of Dutch violence. Yet the film largely revolves around the relationship between the Dutch Johan (Rik Launspach) and his native Indonesian childhood friend Oeroeg (Martin Schwab).

The East

With The East now exists a Dutch film that focuses entirely on controversial Dutch military actions during the Indonesian War of Independence. The struggle of the Dutch soldier is central to the film and the Indonesian perspective is secondary to it. Those who fight for independence remain practically invisible. We never actually see Indonesian freedom fighters in action; the Indonesian characters have little agency. An example is the role of prominent Indonesian actor Lukman Sardi, who briefly shows up as an unnamed Indonesian civilian who requires the help of the notorious Captain Raymond Westerling.

The ethical questions around Dutch soldiers’ actions on which the film reflects are less urgent in Indonesian films, as is the Dutch soldiers’ return home and their reception in the Netherlands, which The East deals with from the very first scene. The East thus opts to engage with questions circulating in the Dutch public debate. The geographical connotation of the title also affirms this perspective.

In the Dutch press, The East has been praised for its filmic qualities and ruthless representation of atrocities. At the same it has been critiqued for its lack of attention to Indonesian victims and its resemblance to Hollywood Vietnam war movies fixated on white soldiers. The film has also been released in Indonesia and it will be interesting to follow the film’s reception there. Media scholar Ariel Heryanto doubts it will lead to public protests, as the The East’s narrative supports the Indonesian nationalist agenda in practically all Indonesian films about the evil Dutch coloniser. Early Indonesian responses indeed connect the film to earlier film perjuangan and the “genocide in South Sulawesi”, but also see the Dutch viewpoint as a way of acknowledging mistakes of the past.

Positioning Indonesian and Dutch films in the same context helps to understand contrasting views on the same war. In doing so, it lays bare the differences between Indonesian and Dutch film and remembrance culture about the same war. Although previously absent, the culture of remembrance that has been so vividly present in Indonesian films for decades is now hopefully finally taking shape in the Netherlands.

This review is based on the earlier publication “De Oost in context” on 12-05-2021 in De Filmkrant (https://filmkrant.nl/artikel/de-oost-in-context/) and in print in De Filmkrant 437 (2021): 20-21.

[thinkaboutmeff7au]

flash time 115

(1997.)

I'm really good at getting lost in this place. I was supposed to go meet up with the other 2nds, but I might have gotten off on the wrong floor and taken a wrong turn. And I think I wandered through a security door with another group that I don't actually have access to...

Anyway, there's a huge break room that has a couple windows on the side at the corner, and it's full of Turks. It must be their break room...I slow down and peer through the window from the corner, just out of sight.

The bald one with sunglasses on is Rude. I've seen him around. He's standing in the corner looking at his watch. Then, there's Cissnei having coffee and a muffin at the table. Zack always says hi to her whenever he sees her. The blonde girl with the ponytail I've never seen, nor the guy with dark hair and glasses.

I hear footsteps down the hall. I quickly slip out of sight. Why am I doing this? I should be getting back to my station, but...

"'Sup, bitch," I hear someone say. It's a woman's voice with a gritty tone. It must be the blonde girl.

"Huh? Are you talking to me?" I recognize that voice, though. It's Reno, the red haired guy who always wears his shirt half unbuttoned.

The woman clicks her tongue. "Note to self, Reno responds to 'bitch' as predicted."

"Watch it, you're barely out of training," Reno says. "Tseng will have your ass...hey! Hey what's that look for?!"

A different voice giggles. "Sorry, I don't think Tseng will back you up on that." It's Cissnei. "He's got bigger fish to fry."

"'Sides, when did you become a rat? Little teacher's pet?" the other woman chides. "Hey, I can get you some concealer for those hickeys. Wall Market last night?"

"Dude! Come on!"

I take my chances and peer back around the corner through the window. Rude has popped his collar up, and the blonde woman has kicked back in her chair with a wry, cocky grin. "Hey man, no shame. I can help you touch up your roots while we're at it."

"Shotgun!" Reno hisses.

She puts her hands up. "I'm a bottle blonde, I'll admit it. I'll fix you right up."

Reno's fists are shaking, but Rude looks up. "Reno," he says.

This makes him back down, but only a little. "How the fuck do you know so much?" he snarls.

The other guy at the table, the one with the glasses, looks up from his magazine. "Really?" he remarks.

"Are you stupid? That's our thing," Shotgun says, leaning forward. "We gotta know stuff. What better place to start than in our own circle?"

"You don't have to stalk me!" Reno exclaims. "All right, what else do you know? Not about me, either! How about, uh..."

Cissnei perks in the middle of a bite of her muffin. "How about SOLIDER?" she says, then swallows. "It's easy to start with, especially if you shadow Tseng. He's eyes for their Director."

"Okay, okay." Shotgun tilts her head. "So 1st-class Fair--"

My heart jumps. I can't leave now. The small town gossip instinct roots me in place.

Reno cuts her off. "That's too easy, dude just got busted for crushing Hojo's nose."

"Okay, fine!" she huffs. "1st-class Hewley tends the community garden down in Sector 4. He's there about 3 times a week in the spring and summer. He also sits in for a jazz trio that plays above the plate."

"What instrument does he play?" Rude quizzes.

"Drums."

"Nice work."

Reno paces around her. "Okay, who else? There are more SOLDIER than that--more 1sts, even. That's still easy picking though, they're like celebrities in their own right--"

"1st-class Rhapsodos stashes his weed in Tseng's locker."

"Too easy," Reno says, albeit with a snort. "He complains about that pretty loudly when it happens."

Shotgun rolls her fingers on the table. "Okay...he's...in a gay relationship with 1st-class Cetra?"

Everyone seems to clear their throat at the same time. The guy reading a magazine pushes up his glasses and taps the side of his nose. "Don't be hasty," he mutters.

"Huh? What do you mean, they're not dating? I saw them...they're always fucking leaving together, and looking at each other with those huge goo goo mako eyes. Hell, I caught them coming out of the 1sts training room and Rhapsodos was still buttoning up his pants!"

"Just because they're fucking, doesn't mean they're together," Reno says.

"What?!"

"Don't," Cissnei says with a wave of her hand. "It's not worth it."

Shotgun rolls her eyes. "Well, if you know all that, then you probably know that he's adopted, too."

"Yup," Reno says. "He was 15 when Jenova Cetra swept him up with her three other kids. They're still down in Sector 2."

"No," Shotgun corrects, "I'm talking about Rhapsodos."

All the Turks stop to stare at her.

"What?" Cissnei asks. "Really?"

She appears to have stumped them, and she knows it, leaning back in her seat. "Oooh!" she says. "Gotcha!"

"Fuckin' Banora apple juice poster boy is adopted? Fuck!" Reno shakes his head. "How the hell...and he still got all that money for it? Lucky bastard..."

"That's enough," Tseng says appearing in the doorway, and everyone jerks back, startled, including me. "You were so busy gabbing that you didn't notice a 2nd was eavesdropping."

Uh-oh. I stumble backwards, and hustle around the corner. My heart pounds as I find the emergency stairway and race down it, ignoring the blue in the corners of my vision. Hopefully Zack can give me a pass so I don't get reprimanded...

(C.)

epilogue:

"Apologies, sir," Cissnei said, standing up and dusting off her lap. "We were waiting for you to arrive..."

Tseng shook his head and set his attention to Shotgun instead. "Rhapsodos isn't privy to that, so keep it to yourself," he advised. "They're his foster parents. He gets a cut of inheritance because of the little bit of acting he did as a child."

"A cut?!" Reno exclaimed. "You're telling me he's rolling in cash and that's only a cut?!"

Tseng glanced over to Reno with a side eye and wrinkled his nose. "Yes. You should really limit your...less savory life choices to your weekends."

"What about Strife?" Rude asked. "The eavesdropper."

"I'll speak with him later," he replied, then narrowed his eyes at everyone. "You all have your assignments. Shotgun is with me today. Dismissed."

As the room disbursed, Reno hung back with Rude. "You knew there was someone listening?" he asked.

"Yeah," he said with a sigh. "I'm on SOLDIER training duty. Hopefully Tseng will understand that's punishment enough."

Reno snorted. "Or front desk."

"Don't tell Elena that."