#out of the deepground i mean

[priceofreedom]

rebirth is gonna destroy us i just know it

#as a zerith stan knowing aerith dies in zack's timeline is messing me up #like... they cannot meet unless they 'fix' the timelines or whatever #there's a chance the characters are not actually dead in zack's timeline but idk... #so yeah in the original timeline zack is dead of course #but in zack's timeline they are ALL dead. allegedly #so essentially it's like. if zack gets to live the others die instead?? #what is zack's timeline gonna be like? i'm so curious and confused and lowkey scared aksjhkahlds #it's too soon to assume things but it doesn't look good for zack 🥴 #he only has cloud atm and he's still in a bad condition apparently #he wasn't anywhere in that last scene in the DLC so either zack left him resting somewhere #or something else happened? #idk about y'all but i'm kinda going insane thinking about theories #the more i rewatch the trailer the more i realize how depressing it could potentially be... #also sephiroth might be travelling between the timelines #and i'm thinking... zackseph reunion maybe? 👀 #he was also calling genesis but the trailer was from Ever Crisis right? #so what's going awn....... #i've seen ppl saying the tornado which potentially killed the party probably let weiss nero AND genesis out... #out of the deepground i mean #so does that mean zack will have to face the three of them at some point? that happened in HIS timeline #anyway i'm rambling ajskhakjs i HAVE TOO MANY QUESTIONS

[getvalentined]

I've never done a full breakdown of everything that happened to my version of Vincent while he was under the knife (although there is a partial breakdown from like 12 years ago on Ask Vincent Valentine), but @spinejackel tagged my recent Vincent doodle gushing about autopsy scar (Vincent Has a Y-Incision headcanon supremacy!) so I figured it was probably a good time. This is also probably the best method, since I can apply the right tags and trigger warnings to hopefully keep it from hitting the people who would be disturbed.

For anyone who doesn't know, figuring out the fucked up physiology of victims of science is like my entire jam. I think this is what happens when you let a chronically ill child watch Akira and the original Bubblegum Crisis OVA and most of the works of Masamune Shirow. All that before FF7 even existed. This means that the explanation under the cut may seem excessive, and this post is very long. I've been building it over over a quarter century, I don't think there's any avoiding it at this point.

Warnings for body horror, nonconsensual body modification, medical horror and torture. Basically, if there's anything you can think of related to becoming a victim of science under the rule of an unethical sci-fantasy oligarchy, it's probably in here to some degree. It's explained plainly and simply, in clinical but not visceral detail.

My headcanons for what Hojo did to Vincent are pretty specific, albeit not precisely comprehensive; 27 years later I still don't really have a particularly solid concept for how he turned Vincent into a shapeshifter, although at least we know it's not something entirely specific to Vincent—Hojo repeated that facet of the experiment in Azul, but not in any other SOLDIER operative even in DeepGround, implying that it's only possible if very specific physiological conditions are met. The minimal concept I do have involves a twisted application of the concept of incarnate summoning as it appears in FFXIII-2, but it's very vague and also not the topic of this post. Maybe later.

Regarding the Y-incision/autopsy scar, my headcanon is that once Hojo tweaked Vincent into being able to regenerate from any injury—an enhancement that is confirmed to be entirely Hojo's work in Dirge—the professor of course felt it necessary to run various tests quantify the usefulness of his handiwork. He did this first by inflicting various surface injuries, then by causing more extreme bodily trauma, which eventually culminated in Hojo removing the majority of Vincent's internal organs in order to measure how long it took them to grow back and, assuming they did grow back, how the new ones compared to Vincent's original parts.

To be able to observe this as closely as possible, Hojo kept Vincent's torso open for the entire process—which he repeated twice more in order to check the weight, size and structure of the newly-grown organs in comparison to the originals. This study proved that most of them did grow back, but the majority of them stopped developing much earlier than was appropriate for Vincent's age and size. The difference was consistent, Hojo just never figured out why most of them grew back smaller and less-developed.

The reason this happened is based the fact that most of the organs in the human trunk are used in digestion and other related processes, and Vincent's regeneration means he doesn't need to eat or drink anymore. His body only expended as much energy as was completely necessary to develop those organs to the point of being functional rather than normal, because they're not really necessary. Vincent is glad he still has them, though, because he does still occasionally eat (usually in social situations) and also he'd be really sad if he couldn't even have coffee.

Vincent's brain activity remained normal during the entire process, although that may have something to do with Hojo driving a bunch of fluid lines into his head and flooding the inside of his skull with mako to keep him awake the whole time even while deprived of oxygen. (Rebirth spoilers, but seeing the bit in the Nibelheim Protorelic questline where Hojo does something super similar to this, after this has been my headcanon for decades, was a trip.)

Two organs didn't grow back at all: Vincent's appendix and one kidney. This was also the result of efficient energy expenditure, as the human appendix isn't necessary for survival, and only one kidney is really required. (Each time Hojo removed the new kidney, the one that grew back would be on the opposite side, which bothered Hojo to no end.)

His lungs grew back a little larger, possibly because his skeletal structure never quite recovered after his first transformation into Galian—his arms and legs are noticeably too long for his body, although not to the point of looking impossible, and likewise his ribcage settled to breadth that would allow for larger lungs. He doesn't really need these anymore either, related to his brain being exposed to so much mako during the process that it can now operate without oxygen if necessary, but switching himself over from aerobic to anaerobic respiration is really unpleasant and Vincent tries to avoid it when he can.

His heart was pretty normal by the time Hojo was done with him, although his heartrate had dropped to like 20bpm even when elevated. Again, if respiration isn't necessary, there's not much reason for the system to be active. (By the time Lucrecia was done this had dropped to around 5bpm on average, although it's completely arrhythmic and jumps all over the place when he's not either particularly active or on the verge of a transformation.)

This was the experiment that left Vincent susceptible to degradation, which Hojo didn't realize until after finally closing him back up. Upon realizing that Vincent's body wasn't responding properly to a different test (a repetition of an earlier experiment related to the regeneration of external tissues and features), Hojo just kinda threw him in a tube to be disposed of at a later date, kinda like that scene in Arrested Development where there's that dead dove in a bag in the fridge. The incision healed at some point during the period that Lucrecia was working on him, but early enough in her work that the tissue couldn't flawlessly regenerate (like it does in the present), leaving him with one more gnarly scar on top of all the rest.

Vincent is self-conscious about all the physiological changes brought on by what was done to him, often to the point of loathing. His left arm is the worst—it rotted off while he was in the throes of degradation and grew back as something that he hesitates to call his arm—but Vincent hates that Y-incision scar almost as much. Some days they tie.

(It has come up in appropriately horrified conversation with Shalua that, considering how his regeneration works, Vincent could probably get rid of all the scars on his chest if he somehow peeled the skin off his torso in a single swath. He will not be doing that. Besides, it might grow back the wrong color/texture/etc, like his left arm. Not worth the risk, much less the suffering.)

Also I gotta finish off this entry with the extremely stupid headcanon reveal that Vincent's (honestly fairly impressive) dick was cut off during the first round of bodily trauma regeneration tests—and Hojo has never felt the sort of rage he experienced upon discovering that it grew back bigger than before. This occurred early enough in the experiments that Vincent was not awake for it, and thus has no idea how the fuck this happened, and does not want to talk about it ever thank you very much. I've never mentioned it in public anywhere because it is extremely stupid, but I hope someone out there finds it as funny a concept as I do.

#vincent valentine #headcanon warning #body horror tw #torture tw #medical torture tw #it's all described in scientific detail #not visceral at all #but it's still very much horror #so please be aware #and do not engage if you're not into that #fandom ramble

[rottenpumpkin13]

Alright SOLDIER floor! You now have to share the entire Floor with Deepground and their SOLDIER's. Best of luck and hopefully nothing is on fire.

*Angeal and Sephiroth are having their morning tea*

Angeal: You know, I thought this whole sharing level 49 with Deepground thing would end in disaster....but it's surprisingly calm

*Weiss and Nero walk by in the background dragging Genesis' unconscious body*

Sephiroth: I know exactly what you mean. It turns out they agreed to keep out of the way if we gave them a peace offering.

*Genesis is trying to crawl away. Weiss drags him back by the tail of his coat*

Angeal: What peace offering?

Sephiroth: Oh, don't worry about it.

*Weiss and Nero walk by in the background carrying Genesis, who is tied to a stick with an apple in his mouth*

Angeal: ....hey....wait....have you seen Genesis lately?

Sephiroth: Oh, I barely noticed he's been missing.

*Genesis runs by, still tied to the stick. Weiss and Nero chase after him with electric rods*

Angeal: Huh....weird

#ff7 #ffvii #final fantasy 7 #sephiroth #final fantasy vii #ffvii crisis core #genesis rhapsodos #ff7 crisis core #angeal hewley #weiss the immaculate #nero the sable

[altocat]

To perhaps lessen the angst pile a little, because I guess that's what we're doing tonight:

Imagine younger Sephiroth following Hojo into the basement where the Deepground experiments have been going on, sticking around out of curiosity, and interacting with them. Just... a teen Seph meeting tiny Weiss and even tinier Nero makes me sad but also very happy.

I need help

He'd be very interested in them. He'd sense that they are somehow altered and unique like himself, drawn to them the same way he is drawn to Genesis and Angeal. And because Sephiroth is a relatively subdued and polite child at this time, they take to him readily. More brothers!

...I could be very mean and say that Hojo then makes them fight each other. But nah. Tiny friendship bromance pile. Let me have this.

#asks #ff7 #ffvii #final fantasy 7 #crisis core #sephcanons #sephiroth #dirge of cerberus #Hojo #nero the sable #weiss the immaculate

[fightabear]

Hi. I know ur very into Dirge (ff7) and wanted to know ur thoughts on the ending as i was confused. How did Wiess die, how long was he dead for and what was his and Nero’s plan? Ur a art account so don’t answer this if you don’t want to post not art content

HAHA oh anon, oh anon.

i'm always happy to blather about dirge but this... this goes into the deep lore. the forgotten lore. the lore of ancient bygone times.

by which i mean playonline.

playonline was a short lived multiplayer mode set in deepground where the player character is a tsviet. it lasted for about eight months and then went offline, and with it - went basically all of the lore surrounding deepground.

we're still missing a lot of information. but, we have a vague understanding of what's going on thanks to the cutscenes (which we also never got stateside) translated by grimoire valentine. you can watch that here and it explains a little bit.

the tl;dr is that Weiss had a virus in him and if he killed the Restrictors (DeepGround's jailers, there's a whole mess of lore there) then the time-release virus would be let loose and Weiss would be damning himself to die.

Now, this is sort of where things get shaky as we don't know how long it took the virus to kill Weiss, nor are we entirely certain when PlayOnline took place in the grand scheme of things. Rosso said that they killed their jailers three years ago, and at some point Weiss died and Nero started pretending to be Weiss to keep DeepGround in line, and then Hojo made contact with Nero and proposed the whole Omega deal.

But we don't know when any of these beats take place. Weiss could have been dead the full three years and Nero was just hanging out by his corpse in full delululand until Hojo found a perfectly good body just waiting to be inhabited. I think it's a safe bet to say that even if Weiss had died, Nero would have found a way to perserve the body in hopes of finding some kind of cure.

( There's also the possibility that Weiss' death was more a brain death and his body kept breathing / he was experiencing some kind of 'locked in' syndrome - again, we don't know!)

He also could have just been battling the illness and may have only died recently.

I believe it was said somewhere that he died while using his SND abilities to hunt for a cure, which probably only could have happened once the networks came back online. I was under the impression for years that Hojo possessed Weiss and told the plan to Nero, but after reading the Japanese script it seems that Nero knew it was Hojo the whole time and just went with it.

Again, shit is shaky. Hojo Jojo apparently needed the networks to come online in order to make contact with DeepGround again. We know that's fairly recent, as if I am remembering correctly, that's what the festival in Kalm is celebrating.

We also aren't sure if Weiss was involved in the plan, or if Nero had just lost his fucking mind at this point and was agreeing to do what Hojo proposed without considering that it was - y'know, Hojo. We do have Weiss' speech so it's entirely possible Weiss was still alive during this hunk of it and then died as things went on.

As for the plan - I gotta be honest, I don't think either of them were spearheading this thing. I'm pretty sure this whole hysterical idea came about because Hojo took advantage of Nero's intense grief and Nero was just doing shit without thinking too hard about it. He probably thought he was doing what Lucrecia did for Vincent, because I sure as shit don't think Nero would think destroying the entire planet to get his brother back would solve his problem of 'well fuck, we're separated by death'. So I'm not sure Nero even fully understood what would happen when Omega ascended until Hojo monologued about it and pissed him off enough to come back from the dead.

Nero and Weiss only really got a plan when Nero ( who, I'm still shaky on what's happening with Nero in those final moments. My best guess is his physical body finally gave out and due to Circumstances /gestures vaguely at chapter 9 of rebirth/ his soul can't go into the lifestream for Reasons) wrested control back from Hojo and fused with Weiss. They did intend to just give the middle finger to the planet and soar the stars, because at that point - what else can they do? But Omega was corrupted because Nero is as impure as things in the lifestream can get, and so they manifested a fucked up version of it.

My personal take is the brother's didn't fully fuse and that the "omega" weiss rides around in the Omega Weiss fight is what's left of Nero / is basically what Chaos would look like if Chaos wasn't using Vincent as a host? And the reason why Chaos "goes back to the planet" is because Chaos fucks off into Nero's body and Omega is still sort of chilling out in Weiss.

#nero the sable #weiss the immaculate #ff7 rebirth spoilers #ish #there's a vague mention

[izunias-meme-hole]

Underrated Villain of The Day - Professor Hojo

Wanna know why Sephiroth had a whole breakdown at Nibelheim? Well you can thank this bastard right here. Professor Hojo is Sephiroth father, Shinra’s head scientist, and quite one of the biggest bastards in the entire series, right next to Kefka, and his son.

Hojo is perfectly described by his son as a “walking mass of complexes,” a literal narcissist and a textbook mad scientist who cares only about his research and theories. He performs many horrific experiments on unwilling human subjects with no regard for their welfare, and eventually even experiments on himself using Jenova cells. However what always stood out to me are how involved he actually is in the narrative of the original game and the expanded upon lore from both the compilation and remake, along with the relationship with his son. Between the abominations in his lab, deepground, Sephiroth, and literally all of Soldier, Hojo has quite the rap sheet that we’ve yet to see all of.

As for his son? Sephiroth was a result of the Jenova Project, something Hojo himself worked on, meaning that the poor kid had to put up with this man since he was in the womb. Sure other scientists were involved, including Gast Faremis, but through the series it’s consistently implied that while Hojo may not have been around that often, whenever he was near the young Sephiroth it was a bad time in and outside of the labs, and the worst part is that Sephiroth didn't even know that this man was his biological father. Yet despite how much suffering he’s caused towards his son, Hojo sees Sephiroth as his biggest success, however in his eyes Sephiroth is just a literal monument to his own genius rather than an actual person. So even his appreciation for his son is just him stroking his own ego! What an absolute dick!

It’s honestly amazing how consistently twisted Hojo is, and how he consistently manages to have a huge impact on the lives of many characters in the world of FF7, even the Big Bad Sephiroth. Like no wonder the One Winged Angel is a momma’s boy. His dad was a genuine piece of shit!

Edit: Because I KNOW someone will bring this up…

…Yep. This tells me everything I need to know about how far he’s willing to go for science (dude that is a person and an ANIMAL. WHY TF DO YOU WANT THEM TO BREED WITH EACH OTHER YOU SICK FU-).

#Professor hojo #hojo #final fantasy #final fantasy vii #ff7 #ffvii #underrated character

[paradoxicalmuffin]

Do you guys think any of the SOILDERs had blood related children ?

It just dawned on me that soilders have been around in Ff7 for a few years before Cloud and there have never been any counts of Soilders having families or children.

I understand that it could be a number of reasons why: Shinra keeps them too busy, the dengregation gets to them before they can have kids. Also deepground happened.

But Hojo mentions in the remake that Aerith should breed with a soilder. And I have no doubt that un-named Firsts would get down and dirty with some of their fans. Zack was actively seeking out a girlfriend and would flirt around. There are no rules against it there.

If that were the case, I feel like Hojo would be all over the offsprings of SOILDERs. I mean Sephiroth was from a normal human woman and impossibly strong.

Personal Headcannon of mine is that Soilders become sterile after a certain amount of time. Either the Jenova cells leave no room for reproductive cells to form. Or the extreme mako radiation nukes their sperm count.

#final fantasy 7 remake #final fantasy crisis core #random thoughts #final fantasy 7 #zack fair #cloud strife #sephiroth final fantasy #also it would be really sad if zack does get with aerith in another timeline just to find out he cant have kids #elmiras mention of 'you choose power over a normal life' would have more of a sting to it #i just love angst 😔

[dark-elf-writes]

Anyway third time travel au idea because I have no self control

Genesis doesn’t get grabbed by Deepground but isn’t allowed to join with the lifestream so he just kind of wanders as a force Lifestream ghost and watches over Cloud because there’s… not much else he can do.

(He tried following Sephiroth, or the thing that was once Sephiroth really, for a while. The mix of guilt and grief and fury has nearly knocked him senseless and made him ache for his materia… and a physical form to use them.

It would be a mercy to end his once friend, he knows. Sephiroth would have hated to be anyone’s puppet. )

So he follows Cloud, a not so silent spectator as he watches the man save the world.

And then do it again.

And again.

There are others watching now, Zack who had thrown a spectral arm around his shoulders and called him soft, the ancient girl with her sweet smile and sharp eyes.

It her that offers it. The chance to change all of this as the thing puppeting one of Genesis’ best friends bodies resurrects itself once again.

What meaning does time have to the three of them? They were as much of the Lifestream as they were not. What was to stop them from going back and changing all of this.

He would never admit to it, but Genesis had grown fond of the man who was once the boy, of the one who stood between the world and destruction time and time again. How could he not after following him for so long? Truly a hero worthy of the Godess’ blessing.

And Genesis… wanted better for him than those ever tired eyes and lonely days between fights spent kneeling in a shattered church staring at his hands for hours at a time. Better than silent panic attacks in dark rooms before he took up his sword to slay his demon yet again. Better than the never ending drive to move forward when all the man wanted was rest.

Perhaps he could give that boy something better. Give him a world that didn’t need saving. Give him rest after all this time.

No hate; only joy, for Cloud was beloved by the Goddess.

Nothing will forestall Genesis’ return.

So in the end he goes back and has to figure out how he’s going to get his hands on his son future apprentice, make sure he and Angeal don’t start to degrade again, and stop Sephiroth’s Not Mother from assuming control all while he’s still technically a teenager himself.

The Not Vampire he collects from a certain mansion isn’t incredibly helpful for any of those goals, but Cloud is fond of him or will be anyway and Genesis is nothing if not generous.

#the elf talks #ff7 #Vincent: you’re like… ten #Genesis: I am also a single father what’s your point #Genesis runs away from Banora to not so accidentally squire a child and gets aquired himself instead

[doberbutts]

Anyway the question that always gets asked whenever I reveal that I'm not actually into the Cloud/Tifa thing is who do I ship them with if not each other.

The answer is a little more complicated than all that because from the start I considered their relationship something closer to a QPR before I even knew what that meant. I was calling them platonic life partners back then. People who don't feel any romantic love for each other but have chosen to stay regardless, or perhaps because.

I think, before, Cloud thought he wanted to be for Sephiroth what Zack wanted to be for Angeal. A puppy-like affection, a mentor/mentee comradery, and a close connection. I think Sephiroth would have hated it. He was cold and standoffish to Zack until circumstances forced them together, and even then he only really opened up due to Zack's connection to Angeal. I don't think having his own "puppy" would have been welcome at all. And I think Cloud would have been forced to come to terms with reconciling his hero worship with the reality of everything.

He and Zack were friends, but Zack was actively dating Aerith at the time, and Cloud didn't know Aerith existed back then. And within the narrative, Zack and Aerith are "parents"- with how often Aerith is referred to as a mother with Zack standing beside her, and Cloud is among those who repeatedly mistake Aerith for their mom. Zack does it once within the complilation, before he meets her for real, Cloud a few times, *after* he knows who she is. Clearly even when [redacted], Zack and Aerith are intended to be read as a couple, but then that once again removes an option for Cloud.**

The others... eh. I could be pursuded with the right argument but within canon itself it doesn't hold much water. Once we eliminate those four, he's got affectionate negging with Barrett, a quiet respect for Vincent, and a mutual back-scratching with Reeve. He's vaguely willing to play ball with Reno and Rude but not willing enough to let his guard down, while he treats the other Turks with some distain. He mostly tolerates Cid and Yuffie he both treats like and calls a child- she's the youngest so fair, but still removes her from the playing field. Anyone else connected to Shinra he actively dislikes, so Rufus and his flunkies are out.

We've got confirmation that he doesn't remember Kunzel and if Tseng remembers who Cloud is, he's being characteristically tight-lipped about it but Cloud certainly doesn't remember him. The OG Avalanche crew all died, even though Biggs lived in the Remake, and they weren't close. The Remnants of course mostly wanted to kill him the entire time. Deepground barely acknowledges his existence. Angeal died before Zack met Cloud and Genesis was too deep in his own shit to care.

So like. That doesn't really leave anyone.

Personally I think Cloud has way too much unresolved grief and trauma that he still has not worked through. It's years later in Advent Children when he's finally able to begin to move on from [redacted], and despite that even more years later in Dirge of Cerberus he's still notoriously distant and moody and prone to flaking. He's still questioning who he really is, can he actually trust his own memories and senses, and how much guilt is he willing to shrug off his shoulders for his actions while under someone else's control.

And I think being a distant moody asshole that pushes your friends away because you don't know if they're actually real or not is a difficult mindset to be in while also trying to be in love. So he doesn't try. His friends do love him anyway however exasperated they may be with him at times when he shuts them out while Going Through It. But it means he's not really building anything with any of them either.

Except Tifa, who keeps a room and a bed and a desk for him when he decides to come back, whose bar he calls home, who adopted a scared little boy with him, who watches their friend's adopted daughter with him. Who takes a family photo of the four of them together, which sits on that desk. Who quietly sorts the research papers as he hunts for a cure for an incurable disease affecting their son. Who yells and scolds him not because he left and stopped coming home, but because he gave up and shut her out when he contracted the same disease rather than letting her help.

"You don't answer the phone, but I don't see you throwing it away."

Out of all the voicemails on his phone, it was hers saying Reno had dropped by the bar looking for him and being vaguely threatening with the kids that got him to go see the Turks. He did not followup on Reeve's invite to the WRO. He didn't go chasing oil with Barrett. He didn't visit Yuffie in Wutai. But Tifa says "Reno was here being his usual weird self, I think something was wrong", and he went to investigate.

I don't ship it. I think he believes he's too broken for romance. And I think she's very patient to wait for him and give him the space he needs. Maybe they're FWB. Maybe it's entirely platonic. But the compliation has shown us that it's *something*, even if it's deliberately vague on what type of something.

**I do sort of like the "first this guy [redacted] my boyfriend, then he [redacted] my girlfriend, after trying to [redacted] my childhood best friend and succeeding in [redacted] my entire village and also my mom. This Sephiroth guy sucks" paired with Sephiroth's "tell me what you cherish most, give me the pleasure of taking it away" vibes of Cloud/Zack/Aerith don't get me wrong, but also as said Aerith and Zack were dating at the time but Cloud does not know who she is (or even that Zack has a girlfriend) and it is Very Important that Cloud not know the name Aerith until after Zack [redacted] which would imply sort of shadey behavior on Zack's part. And I don't really see him as the type to cheat, so.

[rainbowcarousels]

As I'm making notes for JBSWM(2), I'm collecting a lot of my thoughts of Genesis's parentage so here is a splurge of them.

It’s likely Genesis was the first baby born in the Jenova project. It’s been confirmed he and Angeal pre-date Sephiroth and given the meaning of his name, I’d say Genesis being first makes the most sense. As such, it also makes sense that Gast - a man obsessed with the Cetra - would be the person to provide the other half of the genetics of the first baby born with ‘Cetran’ biology.

Considering Gast named Aerith, calling the beginning child of a new project Genesis makes a lot of sense. As does putting his fingers in that pie - or in this case, likely petri dish.

When asked about Genesis’s parentage, they made a point of saying they didn’t want to reveal that just now.  If it was just another random third scientist in the Jenova project, there would be no reason not to say so. Therefore whoever it is has to have some importance and Gast would fit the bill.

Genesis and Aerith have more than a passing resemblance to one another. Their designs for Ever Crisis especially so given that there is the lopsided red designed outfit for Aerith that screams Genesis. You can see what I mean here.

It’s not the only echo between them. Aerith’s final cast is Holy while Genesis’s is Apocalypse, almost like two different sides of the same coin. They are both headstrong and chaotic people, but with a deep spiritual connection as that drives them. Even their parting words are an echo of each other - both promising to return.

There’s something weird about Genesis’s genes. In Deepground, the elite - the Tsviets - are given Genesis’s cells but the interesting part is that it doesn’t appear as if they were weird because of the Jenova cells but something else. A big deal is made of Weiss being ‘immaculate’ in that he has no Jenova in him yet he has some of Genesis in him.

As such, there has to be a significant enough shift between Jenova cells and what they had from Genesis in Deepground. It does beg the question then: is degradation only worsened by an influx of Jenova cells? Like the body is out of balance and begins to mutate or degrade or both. This had led me to wonder if it’s possible that Genesis and Aerith were in fact full siblings, not half, and while it’s not my personal theory, I do think it’s POSSIBLE this happened for a few reasons:

Gast’s lab in Icicle Inn is remarkably set up for a man who’s been on the run for two years. This has made me think they’re actually hiding in plain sight in the same lab that he used when they were excavating Jenova from the Northern Crater.  Given that we know he meets Ifalna there, it’s possible that Ifalna was a participant of the Jenova Project whether she knew it or not.  I do believe at some point, Ifalna was part of the project - even if she didn’t know what it was. When Hojo catches up to them at Icicle Inn, he not only calls Ifalna by name - something he doesn’t do often with test subjects - but the way he speaks to her is an accusation, as if he knew her but hadn’t known she was Cetran. “I've been searching for you, Ifalna... or should I say, Cetra!” This aligns with one of the Ultimania’s that notes that when Gast left, he freed Ifalna to run with him. This implies that Ifalna had been at Shinra. My best guess is  Ifalna had been working with Gast and the team without ever having seen Jenova. Then she found out what Jenova really was and tried to stop it, tipping her hand in the process to Gast about her heritage and they left before anyone else on the team could find out anything.  The reason I don’t personally subscribe to this is because they wouldn’t know what she was enough to want to use one of her eggs in ‘77, given Gast doesn’t leave till ‘83 and the entire project is supposedly shut down in ‘84 when Lucrecia left. (Don’t get me started on the fact it sounds like Lucrecia left after Sephiroth’s birth which logically would need to have been ‘78/ ‘79 for first soldier to make sense and that this means she was literally in the same building as her son for five years) It makes more sense that he is Gast’s - a materia expert in his own right so it makes Genesis’s connection to materia an echo - but not Ifalna’s to me.

The fact Deepground seems to be a law unto itself and very isolated sort of makes it work a little better in the world. The entire Scarlet has access to it threw me from Remake, but why would someone like Scarlet tip her hand when she knows something other execs (especially Hojo) doesn't?

Within a few years of the Wutai War’s commencement, Genesis, one of the survivors of Jenova Project G, enlisted as a SOLDIER. The scientists of Shinra were eager to learn about Genesis’ potential having witnessed Sephiroth’s superhuman strength, and the reaction of Genesis’ cells with Mako infusion was carefully studied. Genesis, along with his friend and fellow product of Project Gillian, Angeal, were dubbed SOLDIER Type G. In Deepground, this was no surprise, since all of the colored Tsviets had been injected with Genesis’ genes. It was a prerequisite to earning a color title, and becoming one of the strongest and most gifted soldiers within the facility.

We get this little bit from Deepground which if you remember that the Jenova Project pronounced Genesis (and Angeal) not Jenova enough becomes really interesting. It’s almost as if they couldn’t tell when they were babies so they wrote them off only to realise there may be something there as they got older, but Deepground was literally set up to study the ‘unique’ genetics inside Genesis and became the lab version of the wild west in the process. Why would you do that  with someone who you don’t think is interesting enough to keep? It’s almost as if someone interfered. While I tend to judge Gast harshly, I could believe this was him - or could just have been Hojo making sure his kid got the traumatic childhood. It wouldn't hurt that he hated Gast either.

When it comes to using magic, we see words used in the casting when it's done by someone with a strong connection to magic. We see it in Aerith, we see it Yuffie and if we look at his limit break literally being the text of LOVELESS, we also see it in Genesis. If you add in his unusual connection to the lifestream (even his Avatar form uses it) then Genesis's connection to the planet seems to be stronger than most. It feels as if this is supposed to be important but as of yet, I don't know why.

I'm sure I'll add to this list at some point but I needed a way to get my thoughts down and this ended up being it.

#rainbow rambles #more like rainbow lists #genesis rhapsodos #ff7 #there is also the theory the body jenova was in was cetran so all the boys have some cetra in them #but that doesn't explain genesis being considered unique enough to study and create literal people from #but not so much that they want the caged version #makes you wonder if his foster parents ever did take him to the doctor so they could get some fresh bio samples though #there's a nightmare for you #theory crafting

[cwarscars]

Legit i've been so worked up over mgs3 delta and the master collection that I FORGOT about rebirth lmao. They showed A LOT imo. Do you think a third game could be possible?

(( m8 dont even get me started on metal gear solid because when that trilogy comes out - i am literally having a week off work to replay them all. as for the mgs3 remake? i dont even care about the ligistics or my boy, kojima - i just wanna see volgin look amazing in modern graphics B)

but yeah ! rebirth-wise! they're absolutely gonna do a third game! i imagine that rebirth will end around the forbidden city / temple of the ancients maybe? probably when aerith dies in the original. honestly, it'd be amazing to see more than that but i can't see them blowing their load on the northern crater. they'll definetly wait before showing that bad boy.

i'm really interested in what they're gonna mix up. with the weapon shown in the trailer, tifa in the lifestream and the doctor (mideel?) i imagine we're gonna see things mixed around a lot.

honestly, i hope they don't reveal cloud's backstory super early on but i have this terrible feeling that they will. one of the best moments of the og is when cloud reveals himself to essentially be a fraud ( but not without his trauma / reason! ) even the scene where tifa 'finds' cloud in the lifestream. it's all so well written and beautiful to follow but it comes at /just/ the right time. pretty much immediately after that, you have the fall of shinra and then sephiroth. i've got the vibe that with this remake series - they're gonna end up showing this scene way too soon in order to show more sephiroth, deepground shit. idk how i feel about that.

honestly though, for all of my thoughts of remake - i do love it. i mean, i hate it too but i love it lmao. i'm sure i'll love rebirth even they ruin the plots in the first ten minutes of the game. it wont be without it's downsides, so far - it's lookin boMB. ))

#but what do YOU think are you excited??? #are you splitting at the seams for MGS3 REMAKE #wheres our next trailer????????????? #(ooc) #(answered)

[myristicisms]

The metallic tang of blood always managed to seep its way bone deep into her senses, foul and disheartening that she could smell when work came her way before really seeing it. It's a constant onslaught to her nose day in and day out but such was the life of a medic ( if one can call what I do that. ) in a place like Deepground. It could be worse, at the very least they don't have her in the actual meat of what the research department was actually for and Valk cannot help but be grateful for the fact. Wounding others wasn't her ideal way to waste time, it never had been and she knows her empathy makes her appear weak to the residents of the place she begrudgingly called home; Good, it meant they wouldn't waste time on her.

Respect wasn't something commonly offered to those seen as weak but the raven haired woman knew well enough that those she tends to wouldn't dare bring harm upon her, perhaps out of some odd form of fondness for the woman or the fact that even though her and the Restrictors didn't see eye to eye, they still had to ensure her safety and the residents weren't stupid by any means. Regardless of her falling into her own thoughts though, that familiar metallic scent once again invades her senses, duty calls it seems and thus she stands to retrieve her medical kit; Prepares herself for whatever wounds she's about to see and tries to stamp a gentle smile upon her face.

When a new man steps in, Valk can't help but to look curious. New faces in Deepground weren't exactly uncommon but she knew most of the residents by now, fourteen years of working in the labs had her interact with damn near everyone beneath the building, some had passed in combat but she knew almost everyone. This man certainly had never visited her lab before, she'd wager he must have only joined recently and for that, her heart breaks. Another cog to join the machine and she only hopes this one won't crack under the pressure of keeping it running.

“ You're new. ” The words weigh heavy upon her tongue, like lead pulling the muscle back down into her throat as some attempt at silencing her. There's a hidden sorrow in her tone, fingers deftly unlocking the metallic case before she nods towards the lone seat centered in the room. “ I'll be tending to your wounds today and... Presumably in the future, what can I help you with? ” She hasn't had to give that speech in years, uncommon as it was for new recruits to end up in her chair since most often died upon their first mission or didn't need to be closely looked at.

A brief starter for @sleeplesswork | Sonon Kusakabe

#muse;; miriam #sleeplesswork | sonon kusakabe #verse;; shackled butterfly

[quartercirclejab]

hey question I'm not gonna play ff7r until the entire thing is out because of neuroses but have you noticed if there's a definitive establishment of whether or not they're keeping the ff7 collection games canon in this are we going to see fucking dirge of cerberus shit in this game

it would appear so, for reasons i will keep under a readmore for spoiler purposes

"canon" in the sense that characters from Dirge of Cerberus do appear- Yuffie's sidestory in Intergrade specifically deals with Deepground and the Tsviets, we see Weiss the Immaculate and actually fight Nero the Sable

that said, Yuffie's sidestory takes place before she meets Cloud, which itself happens 3 years prior to Dirge of Cerberus

so i'm going to call this a soft yes- the characters themselves are clearly in play, but they're appearing earlier than they're supposed to, which may mean timeline alterations will alter the events of Dirge of Cerberus, or possibly nullify them altogether. how this impacts other parts of the Compilation is difficult to say. could be a Back to the Future situation, one never knows

#jab plays remake #ffvii remake #ffvii #final fantasy vii #final fantasy vii remake #dirge of cerberus

[stagnantmako]

okay its my 2am i should be in bed bc i work tomorrow conspiracy theory hour, but. here's my remake theory.

the ff7 team has recently come out and said that dirge is too much of a spoiler to remake. and i'm taking that to mean that means that genesis is behind most of what we're seeing unfold in the remake timeline.

we already know that the snd can be used to hack the planet (dirge is anime and wonderful) and that weiss fused with omega, so that power is most likely still within him.

some scientists within shinra are talking about how they're trying to make their own summon spirit. genesis' appearance at the end of dirge evokes the imagery of a summon. ergo - i think they did some fucking shit to genesis and the real reason he sealed himself away was because he's gained some ability to read the past and future of the planet so he sealed himself away until the exact moment weiss had the power to do what he wanted.

and what is what he wanted?

to massively unfuck his fuckups. to make sure zack lives. to make sure aerith lives. and to either put sephiroth down once and for all, or to save him from the jenova infection.

( i will make a batshit insane post about how i think the jenova infection operates like a cordycepts/toxioplasmosis infection somewhere down the line but my GUT FEELING is that the jenova infection amplifies your greatest desire, convinces you it is the core of that desire and spreading the infection is important to achieving it and so your behavior and personality changes massively as a result

hojo wanted to be the greatest scientist - now he's spreading the infection.

genesis wanted to save himself. so he also spread the infection.

lucrecia recognized she was fucked so she locked herself up before she could spread the infection.

sephiroth is the new host of the majority of the body / infection and now its moved on to the next phase of its life cycle - reunion, destruction, and setting sail for the stars again. this is why hojo also tries to do this in dirge.

shinra seems to go off the fucking rails once the corpse is brought back to HQ and more people are exposed to it. )

if genesis promises that weiss can save nero, weiss would be completely onboard with the plan and would assist. i don't think he cares much for the destruction omega caused - but the brothers are stupidly codependent, that's all it would take. the promise at a chance of saving nero and preventing himself from killing his baby brother with his own hands.

and also like... unfucking nero killing all his men and spitting in the face of what he tried to accomplish would also be nice.

i'm torn on what exactly i think the whispers are because i don't think its necessarily the planet trying to keep things on track. since i think genesis is ultimately enacting minerva's will and trying to fix the rot that's taken root... but he can't do it completely, so. separate timelines.

( that might merge who knows )

one where he's exerting his influence enough to save zack, where things are going to completely diverge because genesis is trying to fix things.

this may also be why genesis declined to help nero and weiss escape from deepground to begin with as genesis was sacrificing himself (and by extension, them) in that timeline to ensure weiss became omega, ascended, and gained enough power to do what he needed him to for a better ending.

but in the remake timeline, genesis could be onboard to help the brothers and may in fact recruit zack for that cause.

tl;dr i think genesis and weiss are core players. and nero is going to be vital because he's important to weiss, has some obvious connections to chaos and parallels with sephiroth, and ultimately - the tsviets are managable and fine if they get what they want.

i just feel if we have a timeline where characters who fucking died are up and walking about, we're going to get the most insane ragtag party we can fathom and i am here for it.

and all they want is freedom from deepground.

#ooc. #here's my corkboard of conspiracies #almost 20 years of my favorite game being the LEAST LOVED one finally coming in clutch

[fightabear]

So I was thumbing through the FF7 wiki as I wait for tea to boil, checks the entry for loveless. Read the prologue, paused, read it again slowly.

This could be one hundred percent scuba-diving for meaning where there is not, but that's the fun of speculating wildly in the hype before a new release. so here's... whatever this is.

Prologue

When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end The goddess descends from the sky Wings of light and dark spread afar She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting

This is basically the ending of Dirge. The war of the beasts (Deepground) bringing about the worlds end. Omega now comprised of both Weiss and Nero (light and dark) spreading its wings in preparation to take all life on the planet.

My conspiracy hat started buzzing at the possible readings of this in how it played out in the game. The idea that Loveless wasn’t predicting the original timeline, it was about the conditions to unlock Remake.

So with that aggressive theorizing in mind...

Act 1

Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess We seek it thus, and take to the sky Ripples form on the water's surface The wandering soul knows no rest. Three friends go into battle. One is captured One flies away The one that is left becomes a hero.

So, I'm going to presume the "Act 1" here is what happened before we take control of Cloud.

Even if they’re not friends I genuinely think could very well be referring to Cloud, Zack, and Genesis. Since he has that line at the end of Crisis Core when he’s sharing the apple with Cloud and Zack, and it’s meant to be that echoing moment of what he’d wanted with Angeal and Sephiroth.

In this moment, the three become the "friends" of the story.

In the original timeline, Zack is the one who "flies away". As he dies he's lifted into the air, we see feathers, we cry as Why plays and Cloud suddenly comes into awareness because he has been thrust into the role of hero.

I think in Remake, Zack's version of Cloud is going to remain comatose for some time as he's still working through the mako poison. It could also, in theory, be that his consciousness is the Remake Cloud's. So the body remains, but his mind is currently living in this other timeline and the reunion that was talked about will be the reunion of the two disparate Clouds.

Now with this said, I did do some digging and someone posited that the "flies away" line is meant to be something more like wanderer which fits Cloud even better.

I do think the key point of deviation is simple - Genesis was always meant to be the prisoner, and this time he accepts his role. Maybe his encounter with Zack involved a lot less stabbing, like he went easy on him or surrender, something so Zack isn't already barely on his feet.

In the original timeline, Genesis fucks off for reasons we still do not understand though now I'm wondering if it's because the gift he received was knowing that he has to do a bunch of convoluted shit to fix his mistakes. But if he has accomplished that by doing some timey-wimey bullshit to begin with, that means that now doesn’t have to be passive. He's reintroduced into the story in a new chapter he's penning himself.

So maybe the prisoner escapes in this version before the world ends.

I think it's important to note that Cloud still had to break fate in order for all of this to work. Thus sort of feeding in to the flying away line? Like, if Cloud has been shunted to a parallel timeline in order to break the bonds of fate so Zack can proceed - he's not there anymore.

Act 2.

Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul Pride is lost Wings stripped away, the end is nigh There is no hate, only joy For you are beloved by the goddess Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds

This right here honestly just reads like Act 1 Remake Cloud to me, leading into Act 2. Cloud is the shattered soul.

He's having "dreams of the morrow" - dreams of the future, and his brain is a fucking mess.

The rest? I think it's Genesis' point of view on Cloud. And that this right here - what is to happen in remake - is Genesis atoning for setting all of this into motion by eventually sacrificing himself in place of Aerith.

So like... if we think of the fight between Zack and Genesis, Genesis was trying to usurp that hero role. But if he knows the future, maybe that changes how that battle plays out and rather than beating the shit out of Zack he steps down and they share the apple. So Zack isn't as worn the fuck down when he fights the never ending infantry.

Act 3

My friend, do you fly away now? To a world that abhors you and I? All that awaits you is a somber morrow No matter where the winds may blow My soul, corrupted by vengeance Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey In my own salvation And your eternal slumber

Honestly less sure about this one, but I think this also ties into this being Genesis planning to end Sephiroth once and for all and to liberate himself from his mortal coil so he can be with the Goddess.

The "my friend" here - most likely soliloquizing to Sephiroth, asking if he really intends to do the shit he's doing.

But this NEXT bit...

Act IV My friend, the fates are cruel There are no dreams, no honor remains The arrow has left the bow of the goddess My friend, your desire Is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess Legend shall speak Of sacrifice at world's end The wind sails over the water's surface Quietly, but surely

I think he's chatting to two separate friends here. The first friend? Cloud. That's the fate that Cloud was dealt. To have all the people he cares about die. Zack's SOLDIER honor and dreams, and Aerith dying.

The second part - that feels like a message to Zack. The "sacrifice" here could be a lot of things, but I think it's Genesis saying that this go around he's going to do the dying.

Zack? Zack's the Gift of the Goddess. Zack is the key to saving the day.

Loveless is a story wherein all of the players are on the stage and they are able to get a better ending than the one that fate had written for them.

Even if the morrow is barren of promises Nothing shall forestall my return To become the dew that quenches the land To spare the sands, the seas, the skies I offer thee this silent sacrifice

With this said, I'd be interested in what retranslations of the poem is because just plugging it into Google seems to change a lot of the meaning.

BUT IN SHORT i think that loveless is all about the remake timeline and Genesis will end up sacrificing himself.

#final fantasy 7 #crisis core #genesis rhapsodos #sephiroth #cloud strife #zack fair

[gcldfanged]

🔮 - Is there anything you have been wanting to add to your plot whishlist?

Hrm, I was thinking about making a post last night, so let me think:

As mentioned before, more action oriented scenes. Doesn't necessarily have to be Jae vs Your Muse, but how they work in a team and synergize is always interesting to think about! I just like playing around with the magic and combat mechanics from the game put into a more realistic setting.

Getting into why Jae has certain affinities to materia like Poison, Binding, and Subversion.

General theory about the Lifestream, magic, and materia- Similar to the meta post I did comparing Executioner's magecraft system to FF7's.

If the Turks have had treatments or enhancements done to them and why. I mean, with walking tanks like SOLDIERs, I would have to assume that agents get some milder form of enhancements in order to keep up/be useful? Otherwise, I feel like their branch would be obsolete if it's just full of milquetoast humans. Why not just send the company's business litigation lawyer into battle, it'd have the same effect- Being, none.

More crime stuff, nobody wants to seem to do crime stuff except me and Cas???

Anything that fundamentally changes Jae, for better or worse. In general, his post-Meteor self is far WORSE because he's really come into his own as a crimelord, but was there some event that incited this change? Maybe. Or does someone manage to soften that thorny exterior?

More inter-Turk drama? Since Jae isn't exactly popular amongst his fellows, nor is he considered part of the 'Core' group of canon Turks/the ones who aren't in B-Division.

This came to mind in a alternate verse with @annjiru where Jae offers his soul up to an eikon (summon) in order to help Zack beat down Angeal Penance, but what THAT entails. I kinda liked the whole 'human serves as vessel' aspect of Odin from FF14's lore, so I might go with that kind of situation and what that means for Jae. Does he still have his memories? Is he just linked to the Eikon now as like a subconscious part of it's mind? Has this kind of pact ever happened before? LOTS OF QUESTIONS.

Deepground shit, I just love Dirge PlayOnline and how they developed the Restrictors and Color-Ranked Tsviets. Plus anytime I get to have Jae get the shit kicked out of him is fun.

MORE CROSSOVERS, GET HIS ASS IN A DIFFERENT SETTING!

#poeticphoenix #◈ ooc #◈ rp wishlist