fivedecisivefactors

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Work has been kicking my ass during the week and then I've gotten roped into errands and whatnot on the weekends. About to try to get some things done though, in my FFVII blogs and over on my BG3/WoW blogs. It may not be much but I'm at least going to try for something.

#|| out of coffee || { ooc }

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Alright. Tomorrow night—or rather tonight because what is sleep?—I have a Cowboy Bebop tribute concert to attend, but then I have the next three days off and I fully intend to get some things done on my FFVII blogs, too, though, at present, Vincent is perhaps the loudest [ currently debating if he needs his own sideblog separate of the others so he doesn't take over the multi ]. Tseng is next loudest.

#|| out of coffee || { ooc }

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He should simply leave her to whatever might be her fate in the midst of this latest disaster to which the President had deployed them to lend aid. Perhaps that would be easier.

No, in fact, he knows that it would be easier. After all, he knew even as Valentine had ask his assistance and informed him the ninja was still in the crumbling building--because where else would she be except in trouble, of course--that any attempts at assistance would be met with such [ deserved ] vitriol as he receives now.

Yet, he had entered into the building even so for reasons he cannot quite fathom [ or perhaps, simply, he will not acknowledge them ] and, as he has done that much already, it would be just as well that he sees it through.

"The only one who will get either of us killed is you if you persist with such obstinance."

As the words leave his mouth, he hears the approaching danger before he sees it and--with neither word of warning nor request for pardon--he lifts the young woman and all but throws her backwards and out of the way. He dives to the side almost with the same movement, even as the ceiling explodes into shards as debris comes crashing through from the floors above them, and rolls to regain his feet.

Dark eyes scan the room for any further dangers then snap to her, first to be certain that he had, indeed, gotten her from harm's way and then with that steady gravity and calm that ever has seemed simply part of his demeanor.

"Valentine said that the building is becoming more destabilized by the minute--a fact you now have seen for yourself. Would it not be more prudent for any animosity to be set aside in favor of turning our joint efforts toward expediting an egress?"

@fivedecisivefactors liked for a starter

She near enough growled at him. 

“You.”

It was spat, rather than stated. Anger washed over her like a wave crashing onto the beach. Truth be told, she found herself angry with everyone associated with the company. There was no one person, it was some huge amorphous entity that she could rage at. 

What was wrong with a little rage? At the right time, this might have been productive for her right now it might just get them both killed. Seemed funny that he was here when it seemed like the planet was going to blow up. The maths was mathing. 

“You do this? You’re going to get us all killed! Idiots!” That last one slipped out without much thought. Guilt was assumed rather than considered. “That’s so typical.” 

#evcryopeneye​ #|| the direct approach is used for attack but the oblique is what achieves victory || { v; post dirge } #// I figured this could be some other incident rather than AC or DoC. There's always a crisis. xD #// Could be some new extremists or just a natural disaster. #// Meanwhile - my Tseng running around still in the middle of disasters while now in his 50s post DoC - 'i am too old for this shit.' #// xD

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He sees the way the other seems to sag, the way the weight doesn't seem to be set aside, but rather it is simply shifted internally once more, set again into the prison of his ribcage and chained back into his heart.

For a moment, Tseng closes his eyes and simply breathes. He's never felt that he was well-equipped for such conversations, for soft things like comfort and reassurance, for not simply further shattering things with deadly and blood-stained hands. [ 'You aren't a monster, Tseng.' ] He knows that he is only human--well, most days he knows it, at least--but it does not change how... inadequate he feels when it comes to something so basic to being human.

[ Why couldn't you be here as well for this conversation, hm? ]

Opening his eyes once more, however, he sighs, quiet and soft, before he tries his best, just as he always had for Sephiroth and for Reno and for Rufus. For all of these young people who were shaped by the only true monster he has ever known and struggled to carry the weight of for most of his adult life.

He reaches out and places his hand upon the other's shoulder.

"... And yet, there is no need for you to try to accomplish such a feat alone, Sephiroth. There are still those who would help you. Those who care for you."

[ How unnatural it feels to say the word aloud, even now! So long it had been a thing that he could think or feel... but had always needed to leave unspoken--for his own sake as well as that of those to whom the word applied. ]

Those two simple words said in that familiar voice is enough to deflate his rightful anger. It takes some of the wind out of him, his shoulders loosening. He has so much to be angry for, so much to complain about, to rage about. There are so many people he could and should lash out at, all of them so far beyond his reach.

It is only now that he has grown and become something more than that lab rat repurposed into a weapon that he understands.

Still, his mind remains no less troubled, and the anger still gnaws at him. There is anger at everyone in is life who lied to him, who fooled him into thinking he was Someone, who built him up into something that resembled a person only to tear him down and leave him in pieces that cut his hands when he tries to gather them back up and put them together. Too, he is angry with Tseng because while Tseng had always done so much for him, it had never quite been enough. How could anyone have looked at a child and agreed that that child should be sent to war? How could anyone have agreed to it?

Tseng had known him as a child, and while he had always offered him a safe haven, what Sephiroth had really wanted was to be saved, he has come to realize too late for it to be of any use.

None of this he will ever voice, and he does not voice it now.

And in the wake of Tseng's words, he is tired. Heavy bones sag with weariness, the straightness of his shoulders sinking down even further. His head even hangs somewhat, lowering, his gaze drifting elsewhere. Set it down, but how is he to do such a thing when carrying is all he had ever known? His life had been scrutinized by everyone, his mere existence hinging on what others thought of him, how others reacted to him. If they thought him useful, he could live. If they did not think him useful, then...

He knew what happened to them. He had done it himself.

"...I'll try..." he offers with all of the reluctance of someone who had no faith in his ability to do anything, much less do as Tseng advised. Everything he had been was broken. The sense of self that had always been so fragile had cracked in half and been trod upon by the careless boots of cruel words designed to both impart truth and to wound him.

#warofthebeasts #v; tbd #// TT^TT

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@warofthebeasts continued from here

For a moment, he regards the Turk, someone he had once considered his oldest friend. The man who had done much to mold him into the man he had become, who had offered him safe haven from nightmares, who had been one of few to see him as a person and not a weapon. He is grown now, yet this man always reduces him to the child he had never been allowed to be except in private moments far from the eyes of those who do nothing but hurt him, and now all he wants is to make himself small and to be protected for once.

"Everything I have lost is like iron around my neck, dragging me down into darkness," Sephiroth replies quietly, cold, distant, and wishing he could be warm again.

"When do I drown? Yesterday? Tomorrow? Next week? I've lost everything. My friends. My name. Everything that I ever was, everything that I ever could have been, I've lost it... I cannot even walk outside without someone wanting to kill me for the death of a town that was fine when I left!" He is a child again, lashing out at the unfairness of his life to one of the only handful of people who had ever bothered to listen to him.

"I know..."

His voice is quiet, even, patient, so like times in the past when his steady calm was needed amidst the raging storm.

How simple a statement and yet how much weighs upon those two simple words. How many things they could mean.

' I know what you are saying. '

' I know what you have faced. '

' I know it is not fair. '

' I know that you do not deserve it. '

Perhaps all of them, at once and all together.

But between and upon those two words also are balanced all of the words that Tseng will not say--and perhaps cannot say [ except within the quiet darkness at midnight in his their? room to the only person in whom he has ever fully confided, uncertain until she responds or does not if she was even awake to hear such confessions ] .

He had lost his home and his family. He had lost comrades and friends and so much besides. He had been forced to give up his beliefs, his values, his honor, and--to some extent--himself. How many lives had been affected and how many lost by actions for which he carried out or issued the orders? Begin and end with the Plate being dropped and that would be hundreds, perhaps thousands there alone.

He hesitates for a moment before he repurposes a concept in the hopes that it might offer some hope, some solace, as it had when it was said to him.

"Who you are, however... That is lost only if you allow it to be. The perception of who you are is what has changed. Who you are and who they think that you are... those are two different people, and that is through no fault of yours..."

There's the slightest pause before at last Tseng looks to him once more, his expression that same gravity and composure that ever it has presented to the world... yet something else besides. Perhaps a bit of warmth. An attempt to reassure, as best as he is able.

"All that you have, all that you can do... is to keep moving forward. To decide who you will be now: will you play the part they have written for you? or will you be true to yourself? If the latter, there may be some who accept it. There may be some who do not. You cannot control what they think. There is only what you know. And your actions. The rest you cannot carry. Set it down."

#warofthebeasts #v; tbd #// TT_TT #// I am now all in my feelings again. #// And we can both solidly blame me for starting this.

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❛ SUCCESSFUL WAR  FOLLOWS THE PATH OF DECEPTION. ❜

❛ THUS WHEN YOU ARE ABLE TO ACT, FEIGN INCAPACITY; WHEN DEPLOYING, FEIGN INACTIVITY; WHEN YOU ARE CLOSE, APPEAR TO BE FAR OFF; WHEN YOU ARE DISTANT APPEAR CLOSE. WHEN YOUR ENEMY SEEKS AN ADVANTAGE, LURE HIM FURTHER; IF HE IS IN DISORDER, CRUSH HIM; IF HE IS ORGANIZED, BE READY FOR HIM; WHEN HE IS STRONG, AVOID HIM; WHEN HE IS ANGRY, GOAD HIM FURTHER… ❜

–– THE ART OF WAR, Sun Tzu ––

promo template

#|| my own worst enemy || { self promo } #|| the usual suspects || { promo } #|| out of coffee || { ooc } #// I dunno. #// Still on a Baldur's Gate III kick and yet here I am again.

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TSENG | for anonymous

#|| successful war follows the path of deception || { about tseng } #// He's just so #// SIGHS #// It's so rude honestly.

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angst & conflict starters

volume: iii

sentence starters for angst and conflict. feel free to change the pronouns/tenses/etc. as you like! content warnings: aggression, conflict, swearing

❝ how can you be so heartless? ❞

❝ when did you become so cruel? ❞

❝ the world doesn’t owe you anything, when are you going to realise that? ❞

❝ spare me the pity party. what do you want? ❞

❝ don’t blame me for your fuck ups! ❞

❝ stop running away and take responsibility! this is your fault!❞

❝ what are you going to do? run away again? ❞

❝ where were you when i needed you!? ❞

❝ too little, too late. ❞

❝ i think… i think you should leave. ❞

❝ i don’t want your apologies. ❞

❝ sorry? that’s it?! you’re sorry?! ❞

❝ take your apologies and stick them up your ass! ❞

❝ don’t think, for one second, that your apologies will make a difference! ❞

❝ ah! just the person i didn’t want to see! ❞

❝ there’s the door, you can see yourself out. ❞

❝ you’ve got a lot of nerve showing your face around here again. ❞

❝ is there a reason you’re back? ❞

❝ i know i’m the last person you want to see right now, but i needed to see that you’re safe for myself. ❞

❝ you’re pretty fucking selfish, you know that? ❞

❝ how dare you make my grief about you! ❞

❝ what’s left to lose? ❞

❝ what’s left to lose? she’s already taken everything else from you. ❞

❝ just when i think you’ve hit rock bottom, you manage to surprise me. pretty fucked up how that works, don’t you think? ❞

❝ how many times will it take for you to understand? ❞

original post // more of this series check out @rainydayrpmemes for more!

#memes #starters

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🔥〖 NOW SHOWING IN THEATRES! 〗🔥

An EPIC TALE brought to the stage featuring the story of one bard who gained the power to control the flames that burned within. His journey will be told in a series of fiery acts that show how he rose from the ashes to take his place at CENTRE STAGE.

~

🔥 ~ directed by Maxie. Writer is 25+ ~🔥

Independent, canon-divergent portrayal of Genesis Rhapsodos from Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. Defaults to pre-CC era but is willing to go anywhere in the FFVII timeline. Please read the rules, bio and pinned post prior to interaction.

Selective. Semi-private. OC friendly. Multimuse friendly. Duplicate friendly.

Featuring the MAIN TIMELINE, many ALTERNATE TIMELINES and ESTABLISHED AU VERSES for other media including OVERWATCH, FALLOUT, DISHONORED and more!

『 RULES | BIOGRAPHY | VERSES | HEADCANONS | IMAGE CREDIT 』

#|| out of coffee || { ooc } #|| the usual suspects || { promo } #// AHHHHHHHH!!!! #// - SCREAMS FOREVER - #// 👏👏👏 #// WHAT A BRILLIANT WRITER!!!! #// WHAT A PHENOMENAL MUSE!!! #// IF YOU ARE NOT FOLLOWING THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING

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Do I have any actual Canon basis for writing Tseng as 5'11"-6'0" tall? Nope. Not at all. He just look Tall.

Also, I think that's around the height Rufus is supposed to be? Which would make sense for him to be around the same height as Rufus, because he seems to be his main bodyguard and similar heights tend to be helpful in that regard.

#|| out of coffee || { ooc } #|| successful war follows the path of deception || { about tseng }

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🐝  *  ―  𝑷𝑶𝑺𝑰𝑻𝑰𝑽𝑰𝑻𝒀 𝑻𝑹𝑨𝑰𝑵.  reblog this post and give the person you reblogged it from a small compliment in the tags.  just something sweet and simple that’ll hopefully bring a smile to their face.

#// So I am still not on much at present because Life and Moving™️ is taking up all of my time and energy #// BUT. #// Whenever I *do* check in here #// It is a Joy to see the Mun on my dash #// Whether chaos or crack or AUs or Serious or Genesis just being Genesis™️ #// It always brightens my day #// So creative and such a great grasp of the character #// Just Brilliant and so much Fun. 👏👏👏

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👀

Did it now?

#|| out of coffee || { ooc } #// Have I been here in the past month or two? Nope. #// Even still. #// This makes me happy.

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lack of interaction ≠ lack of interest. sometimes, life gets in the way, or my muse doesn't cooperate with me the way i want, or i'm simply too anxious to take the first step. but just because we currently don't have any interactions going, doesn't mean that i'm not interested in writing with you and your muse(s). maybe the perfect opportunity hasn't presented itself yet, or i couldn't think of a good enough plot but that never ever has anything to do with you. after all, we're mutuals for a reason and that's usually because i enjoy seeing you on my dash and would love to write with you ― whenever that may happen.

#|| out of coffee || { ooc } #// Alternately: my life remains in shambles #// It's definitely Me and not You. #// 😂😂😂 #// But 1) I still very much want to write with all of you #// 2) I hope for me and my brother to be moving out soon—away from our parents #// Which should substantially correct the 'life is perpetually in shambles' thing #// I appreciate all of you so much for sticking around #// The next month to two months I'll likely be spotty still while I try to work this out #// But then I hope to be here. #// ❤️❤️❤️

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Aaaaaand now Ray Stevenson has died. I grew up watching him—ever since first seeing him in King Arthur (2004)—and I am so sad to hear of his passing. Dagonet. Porthos. Edward Teach/Blackbeard. Firefly. Gar Saxon. Volstagg. All such wonderful roles and I loved his portrayal of each one. He will be missed.

#tw; death #|| out of coffee || { ooc } #// This week has sucked. #// It is Monday.

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━ THE SLUMS' BEST MERC.

centered around FF7R & events of Advent Children.

written by wolfy ( they/them ); 25, 6+ years writing experience, & low to medium activity. NFSW/dark themes present.

AU, multi-verse, multi-muse, OC & crossover friendly!

template credit.

LINKS.

rules. | mun & muse. | verses. | headcanons. | thread tracker. | cardd.

#|| the usual suspects || { promo } #// Such a nice writer!!! #// And a fabulous portrayal!

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Alright. Last update/reblog for the moment: getting out my laptop to start working on this stuff now.

Okay. Unless I get derailed again, I plan to:

have @weariedshield 's carrd completed tonight [ A muse from Path to Nowhere game. He will have a FFVII verse as a SOLDIER on the run. He was no doubt soon to be promoted to First Class but was made a scapegoat for something and RAN, intent on getting revenge on those truly responsible for what happened. ] Maybe get some thing going if anyone wants to plot?

Probably try for a few replies at @thegreatsesshomaru and @intheheartofariver

Try to get some things done here and @ofduskorofdawn over the next several days if muses cooperate

Potentially move @adamnedmartyr to be a sideblog here so it's easier to write him again.

Some time in the next week, set up @aworldofmania — which will feature at least a few other muses from Path to Nowhere. As well as setting up @heartlesscasanova [ Howl of HMC ] and @lechevaliermelancholique [ highly divergent and HC-based Haji from Blood+ ]

get @torememberalostname [ Haku of Spirited Away ] moved over here

I am so behind because Life. But FFVII and anime. This is my brain right now.

#|| out of coffee || { ooc }

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UPDATE: I am a dumbass. Haku is already here, I just skipped over him when I was looking at my sideblog list for here.

Okay. Unless I get derailed again, I plan to:

have @weariedshield 's carrd completed tonight [ A muse from Path to Nowhere game. He will have a FFVII verse as a SOLDIER on the run. He was no doubt soon to be promoted to First Class but was made a scapegoat for something and RAN, intent on getting revenge on those truly responsible for what happened. ] Maybe get some thing going if anyone wants to plot?

Probably try for a few replies at @thegreatsesshomaru and @intheheartofariver

Try to get some things done here and @ofduskorofdawn over the next several days if muses cooperate

Potentially move @adamnedmartyr to be a sideblog here so it's easier to write him again.

Some time in the next week, set up @aworldofmania — which will feature at least a few other muses from Path to Nowhere. As well as setting up @heartlesscasanova [ Howl of HMC ] and @lechevaliermelancholique [ highly divergent and HC-based Haji from Blood+ ]

get @torememberalostname [ Haku of Spirited Away ] moved over here

I am so behind because Life. But FFVII and anime. This is my brain right now.

#|| out of coffee || { ooc }