a perfect monster indeed...

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[musioru]

@champagnecall​ 

||  █ ▌— the savior’s respite was one of genesis’ favorite places around spirale. it was usually quiet, a good place to contemplate, a good place for recalling the memory of free-falling and flight. it’s pleasant, in a way, to stand at the edge of a cliff and look down, down, down.

it isn’t exactly a secret, but it’s out of the way enough that he finds himself alone there more often than not.

this was not one of those times, though. someone else was already there. this stranger almost seemed to fit in, amid the flowers and fine weather, but genesis knew better, recognized someone from a big city.

❝ i hadn’t expected anyone else to be here at this time, ❞ he said, his tone almost resembling something apologetic, but not quite hitting the mark. ❝ what brings you out here so late in the day? ❞

[musioru]

@sanguiscreen​

||  █ ▌— the woman seemed to be writing something, genesis noted. he wasn’t normally a nosy person ( or, well, that wasn’t quite true ) but was oten curious about what others in this city could get up to.

and he considered himself appreciative of the arts, as a general rule. this city had so many people, from so many places, most of them foreign and unfamiliar to him. it was always interesting to find someone with whom to speak.

this woman looked... formidable. likely intimidating, even, to someone who was not genesis, someone less used to dealing with intensity in others. she seemed incredibly unflappable, which was another factor that interested him.

❝ you seem hard at work. what are you writing? ❞

[musioru]

invitedeath​:

it’s a surprise that he answers so honestly. somehow he had anticipated some mysterious reply, wrapped in layers of poetic nonsense on how he felt this way and another, but instead he received quite an admission of his confusion. it was not something he himself couldn’t relate to after all, this almost helpless unfamiliarity with things, but sephiroth was a creature who adapted in the face of such things. he moulded with the world, until it became right to simply destroy it and carve his way. 

“ tools without a purpose wither and rust. “ he replies, observing how genesis frames himself in this new light. he feels as if they are meeting different versions of each other, forged in different fires, but the reason for that he cannot exactly place. perhaps it’s simply because they have both endured something without the other, their paths diverging into chaos and flames. some part of sephiroth resented him for that, for that loneliness he had been so bitterly tossed to. but here they sat now, as two monsters left to forge what they could from this world for themselves.

“ the past will haunt you for as long as you allow it. there’s no consequence for it, however, in this world. let it build you or destroy you. “ he had chosen the former. he could never forget the past, not for the scars it has inflicted upon his very soul, but he instead fuelled it into something more. a determined spite which saw him regain his strength. let that be the lesson, not that one should simply try and outrun their history. “ there is a disconnect in this world from the future and past our selves once knew. this is a new time altogether, a disjointed present. until i find a way to break free from it, i have become content to exist in it. “

||  █ ▌— genesis needed a direction, above all else, lest he stagnate. but was stagnation really such a bad thing? he’s exhausted himself on fighting, for the moment. there’s nothing wrong with a respite, is there? a chance for one to build up one’s strength in preparation for the next inevitable battle? genesis knows himself, knows that for all his passions and pursuits, combat is the only thing at which he truly, consistently excels.

that his skills come up lacking when compared to sephiroth is... not the point. it’s something he needs to concede on, one way or the other. it’s consumed him enough already. yes, an unused tool will eventually rust, and break. the damage can never be fully repaired, either. the memory of breakages can render a weapon unusable. it’s better to melt down such a thing and forge it anew.

respite, this. 

the wine is good.

❝ i’m attempting not to dwell in the past, but i’m certain i don’t need to try and put into words how difficult that is. every loss i’ve ever endured has shaped me, one way or another, ❞ he says, uncertain. building and destroying are both forms of that, in their own ways. he’s certain he’s braved the fire only to come out scorched, but somehow it has not destroyed him. that’s something. he is trying, here, to let go of things like resentment.

it’s a process.

❝ and are you content to exist within it? to exist here, like this? ❞

[zweifluge]

Angeal is not what you would call romantic. 

He is a lot of things: loyal, chief amongst them, to his best friend. He is strong, physically, but sometimes keeping himself in check with his emotions is a little difficult. Call it whatever you wish; the point remains that Angeal struggles with the concept of courting and love and romance because he doesn’t think himself worthy of it.

But he read somewhere that love is a friendship amplified, something that burrows itself deep within you and doesn’t let go. Love is what keeps you up at night and helps you sleep in equal measure.

Angeal isn’t ready to say he’s in love with Genesis, but he’s known he’s loved him since they were young. He also knows Genesis holds poetry in his soul, vines that wrap around his bones and speak beautiful words out of his mouth. Angeal is steel and metal and harsh: he is a botched experiment, a SOLDIER, a man and a monster in equal measure. 

It doesn’t stop him from searching for months for what to give Genesis. Ever since their kiss he feels the fire on his lips and his fingers ache for something to hold that reminds him of Genesis. Genesis: the origin or formation of something, a beginning.

His handwriting is shaky, so he throws the paper out. He tries again, this time after wrapping a small parcel in plain brown paper and scrawling across the wrapping:

Genesis –

I don’t know if you’ll enjoy these, but I hope you will. The woman at the bookstore had never heard of The Goddess, but I looked over these and I thought you might be able to find something that you 

I’m not good with words. I think there is a holiday about giving gifts to people you care about, so I hope you’ll like these.

Yours,

He reads over the letter one last time and doesn’t sign his name. Instead, he leaves the collection of love poems and a small bouquet of flowers on the inside of Genesis’ apartment before leaving.

@musioru

[musioru]

bulletrein​:

        HE’D GROW MAD IN SOLITUDE AND self loathing if he didn’t have a shoulder leaning on him for support. genesis doesn’t appear to be particularly friendly, but that might just be shinra’s work — soldiers aren’t meant to be pretty and nice. anxieties would always pervade his thick skull, but kindness and pleasant talk, and above all else, kindred spirits abate such rough thoughts. maybe it is a bit DISINGENUOUS, filling his mind with this conversation to hold personal demons at bay, but the other REMAINS.

❝i … i think he’s fine now. or, as fine as ANYONE can be goin’ through such things. we share a mutual friend, so i think that helps. i don’t know much ‘bout his past, but we’d both FIGHT with tifa.❞

to think that he only just barely TRUSTED cloud, hiding behind a stone faced expression and brash demeanor, but tifa, it turns out, was right about him in the end. he thinks about their midnight meeting, that sense of UNDERSTANDING where cloud knew just who he’s fighting for. a DISTANT smile touches upon his lips, like a ghost, here and gone.

she guides us to bliss, her gift EVERLASTING. he mouths those words, moved naturally. even though there’s more to his fight than gaia’s protection, it still RESONATES within. revenge may be sweet, but protecting her? protecting marlene’s future? that too is sweet, and one day it will sink in how much sweeter it is.

❝if only … i mean, i'n sure of it, but he’s there back in midgar, and we’re here. as FIRED up as i am, s'long as i’m in radiale, feels like i’m a dog chasing its own tail. all TIRED out before i can even fight the fight.❞

||  █ ▌— genesis cares for the planet, in his way. through his goddess, but also through what she embodied. he had to prioritize himself above all else, though. a terminal cellular degeneration did that, after all, didn’t it? selfishness, yes, but more than that: the need to live. what use did he have for a planet he was just going to die on anyway.

he is therefore glad he is no longer dying. he can consider the goddess, her planet, life in general... his own and that of others. he can allow himself to care what happens to others again--heroism, whatever that may be. there are many ways to interpret that concept, genesis has himself chewed over it, tossing the idea back and forth in his mind until he tired of it.

or... mostly tired of it. the definition he’d settled on was something less like himself, lately. less like sephiroth. it took a different shape, one he didn’t really know how to picture.

it wasn’t easy to make sense of such concepts after what he suffered at the hands of shinra and scientists and SOLDIERs.

❝ i’m glad he’s all right now. so long as he has others around him... that should stay that way. what SOLDIERs go through, well, it can leave one feeling very isolated. shinra tended to make us feel very... grandiose and irreplaceable, or very expendable, depending on how they wished to manipulate us. ❞

it’s... not a pleasant topic, but he speaks of it easily enough. time has passed, he is no longer with shinra. he knows he was manipulated.

❝ i understand the feeling... like being trapped, but comfortably. i worry about losing the will to fight. becoming complacent here and letting the anger drain out of me when i return... ❞

[musioru]

zweifluge​:

It took Angeal only a short amount of time to get to Genesis’ place. It hadn’t taken him very long at all, and he was already headed in that direction anyway.

He knocks on the door a couple times, a small smile on his face as he waits. His little cat ears from the costume peek out, and he’s genuinely excited to spend time with his best friend.

Or… whatever they are. He hasn’t asked yet. He probably should, though.

||  █ ▌— genesis answers the door with a small smile at the cat ears on his friend’s head. he himself is dressed a little more somberly: a ghost. he’s painted pale and ugly for the season. it seems to suit the season. too many people are dressed with the intent to disturb, and he sees no reason not to join in.

❝ well... don’t you look adorable? ❞ he asked, amused as he took in angeal’s... costume, so to speak.

[musioru]

amaikus​:

Ramuda furrows his brows and crosses his arms. 

“Laugh? Laugh?” he whines, and clings onto Genesis’ arm as he tries to tug him away. “That’s sooo mean! Why are you so mean to me, you’re gonna make me cry!”

||  █ ▌— genesis frowns, shakes his head. he isn’t going anywhere, though he would protect ramuda if it was a matter of life and death... probably. he still hasn’t forgotten the last time they interacted with one another.

❝ what’s the matter? you’re acting like this is life or death... ❞

[musioru]

zweifluge​:

He easily ignores the dull pain in his chest that tastes a bit too much like rejection for his own liking. Eyes are still cast downwards, but that’s more a fault of the rain rather than anything Genesis did or did not do. He walks towards Genesis’ apartment and tries not to complain – he knows his best friend is doing enough of that internally for the both of them.

“We’re not far, at least,” he says. “We should be able to wait out the storm.”

||  █ ▌— genesis smiles at that, unaware of the thoughts that might or might not be running through angeal’s head at this moment. he’s just happy for the company, the solid presence of angeal at his side. it’s easy, to fall into old habits like this, to let the quiet thrum of rain match his quick steps toward the townhouse he lives in.

❝ we should, yes. come in quickly, and i’ll put on some tea for us. ❞

[musioru]

amaikus​:

The frown on Ramuda’s face is comical, and he still reaches for the other man despite his obvious disdain. “You don’t see them?” he asks, and flails his arms back towards a herd of perfectly peaceful dinosaurs.

“They’re going to eat me!”

||  █ ▌— genesis looks toward the creatures, frowning. they... don’t seem to be getting any closer, at least. in fact, they seem totally harmless.

he frowns, turning back toward the pink-haired gremlin that was hiding behind him. ❝ they are unlikely to do that, though if they did i’d have to laugh. ❞ 

[musioru]

zweifluge​:

He notes the exasperation in Genesis’ tone and knows it would be best to pull away, but he doesn’t. Not quite yet. There’s lingering anxiety from the monster outside and truth be told he does not want to separate from him. Not yet. There’s a comfort in the touch, and Angeal pauses.

No words come out as he opens his mouth. He locks eyes with Genesis and finds he cannot take a step back.

||  █ ▌— genesis seems comforted as well, by the presence of angeal. his nervous hands still, and instead of pushing angeal away, he brings them up to rest on his chest, just to touch. it’s... well, there’s something in this that he finds just... safe.

angeal is safe. ❝ we’re all right, ❞ he says, then hesitates before leaning in to press his lips to angeal’s, quick, before the moment passes.

[musioru]

luciianoir​:

☆☆☆ He’s found a fishing rod. That’s good, it’s something to do, and though Noctis does not wish to sit idly by and watch as time slips past without him he’s not sure what to do. He knows he’s not the only one from his own world here; he didn’t realize that there’d been a list of contacts with everyone’s phone numbers and he could be so easily found. 

He wasn’t paying much attention when he checked it after the phone pinged an alert. It was someone he distinctly did not want to talk to, and though he thought he was free from Ardyn Izunia only for a short while he was distraught enough not to watch where he was going.

And he walked right into another man, who also didn’t look like he was watching where he was going.

Noctis made a surprised sound as the fishing wire caught in the man’s red hair. Uttered apologies were lost as he jumped back, and quickly started trying to undo the damage he’d caused.

“Ah–! I’m sorry, I wasn’t… looking…”

                                                                                 @musioru

||  █ ▌— genesis half-shouts as the wire snags his hair, his eyes widening and a cry of pain escaping him. it’s not as though he hasn’t had worse injuries, of course, but this one is sharp and surprising and, above all, at the hands of someone’s mistake, rather than an enemy combatant.

he shook his head a little as soon as the line was untangled, and tried to keep his temper under control. he’s irritated, certainly, but a mistake is still just a mistake.

it isn’t as though he has anywhere else to be, of course, but he still feels as though he’s been interrupted in some way. ❝ you weren’t, were you? ❞ he snaps, before he can stop himself, but then takes a sharp inhale and sighs.

❝ it’s fine. it’s fine. you barely pulled any of my hair out, which i suppose means that it could have been worse. ❞

he takes a moment to scrutinize the young man who had accidentally accosted him, curious. ❝ going fishing, are you? ❞

[musioru]

adresveleno​:

“Not often, no,” he says, and his body takes the head back very casually. He holds it close his his chest, below Genesis’ eye level. “A shame this happened, though. I was in the middle of research when I was taken away. Are you here to look around as well?”

He balances his head in one hand and motions to a stack on a nearby table. “I saw some interesting poetry. Perhaps it might also interest you as well.”

||  █ ▌— genesis looks down, to maintain eye contact with hubert’s head. it’s not difficult, but it is utterly peculiar, not a situation he’s found himself in before, of course. still, that’s one of the charms of this city, isn’t it?

❝ dreadfully inconvenient, i imagine. but somewhat exciting, too, i hope. ❞ he turns toward the stack of poetry, definitely intrigued. ❝ i will look at those. anything lengthy? or is it all the freeform garbage which passes for poetry these days. ❞ 

[musioru]

zweifluge​:

It took a moment to register to Angeal that the two of them were pressed against each other. He felt his body tense up but he hoped Genesis would think it was because of the monster; he’d been forthcoming about his limited flight and lack of abilities, after all. He notices a moment later that his friend has been trying to speak, and finally pulls his hand away.

“Hush,” he says, voice husky and low and serious. “We don’t know how well it can hear.”

||  █ ▌— genesis did notice the tension, but their entire situation was tense. he, too, was on-edge and restless, trying to resist the urge to move and give away their position. he didn’t hear it nearby, at least, but there was still a degree of anxiety to the situation. when angeal pulls his hand away, he lets out a sharp exhale.

❝ you know how well i can hear, however. and it does appear to have gone past. ❞

[musioru]

bulletrein​:

        PERHAPS HE SHOULD HAVE DONE BETTER in learning about the lapdogs of shinra, former or otherwise, but at times barret could be nearsighted, too stubborn to spend too much TIME on that, as if learning the names of folks like genesis or angeal would offer him second thoughts about this whole ordeal. if he’ll dwell upon this, he’ll do so far from the PRYING eyes of others. there’s far too much on the mind of the revolutionary to have second thoughts.

❝i wouldn’t know, he’s a bit quiet about his past. what i do know is that he’s a friend.❞ and i hope you’re SIMILAR enough to him that we’d be friends too, he doesn’t say, but barret is hopeful about this. he’s got a GOOD heart, even if it may bleed at the slightest touch. and already this genesis is viewed with a upturn of the lips and a relaxed stance.

laughter escapes between his lips like the WHISTLE of steam from a kettle. ❝be easier to list those who i DON’T got a beef with. among the upper levels, a'course.❞ out of those the president kept close, reeve was the only one who seemed to play fair. less vocal, less abrasive, passive in avalanche’s quest.

but well, DESPITE that, shinra is shinra.

❝mmm, but the president, he’s the HEAD of it all, ain’t it? who knows what the HELL any of his minions woulda been up to without him in charge. every single one of ‘em don’t care about the planet, and someone’s gotta PROTECT her.❞

||  █ ▌— genesis as he was even a few years ago would have scoffed at the notion of friendship, turning his nose up at anyone other than sephiroth and angeal. lately, though, his mind has found congress with others around him more willingly. it wasn’t that genesis had become friendlier, because he hadn’t, but rather that he was less angry, less bitter and hateful and mean. he was simply... calm, here.

it was something of a relief. he’ll enjoy it for as long as he’s here.

❝ that’s good. many SOLDIERs are closed-off about their past, but... usually for some reason or another. i hope that he had a clean break from the company, but i doubt it was easy to leave. ❞

barret had more than enough reason to dislike shinra, though. likely he and this ex-soldier found a lot of common ground between them, even without their obvious friendship taken into consideration.

❝ understandable. the upper echelons of that company are riddled with corruption at every turn. ❞ and there was more to be found the further one looked. the medical abuse that genesis was keenly aware of was only one bullet point on a long list of crimes, after all.

barret’s next words are... meaningful, to genesis. he understands the love of the planet (through his goddess) and inclines his head slightly to get a better look at barett.  ❝ she guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting, ❞ he recites automatically. an old habit, but not one of his worst. ❝ a noble goal. i hope the death of the president is enough to protect the planet. ❞

[musioru]

amaikus​:

Ramuda’s lower lip wobbles and he puts a hand to his chest, clutching his shirt as he looks at the stranger with wide eyes. “I don’t know why, did your pretty lady from that rap make you do this to me?”

He leans in and looks at LOVELESS again, pointing to a passage before pretending to sniffle. “Maybe… maybe if your Goddess got laid she wouldn’t be so mean…” 

||  █ ▌— genesis’ glare turns icy and he snatches the book away, closing it and putting it in his coat as he takes a step back.

❝ you won’t speak of her that way. i won’t allow it. ❞

[musioru]

dreamsembrace​:

@musioru​

It wouldn’t be entirely the truth to say that he was avoiding either of them. Zack wasn’t exactly the type to run from his own past, and in fact turning toward it had been the thing that got him in the end. But…

But…It wasn’t as though he particularly wanted to break up the peaceful monotony of every day life here on this island. Some semblance of happiness, if unease, guided him back and forth to work. The days moving by in the same pattern and ease of the pedaling of his bike through the Mistwood.

He was happy. He was uneasy.

“I gotta ask,”

“There’s a lot of reasons I don’t think this is some sort of afterlife, and I think I have a pretty good grasp on everything.” Crossing his arms, he dropped his shoulders in an exaggerated sigh. “You’re…What’s the last thing you remember? You’re still…?” The question trailed off, a lingering answer he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear or not.

||  █ ▌— genesis certainly felt that this couldn’t be an afterlife. there was a measure of doubt, but he was fairly certain he had not died. zack fair was someone he hadn’t intended to cross paths with ( not that he’d known he was here before now, angeal had evidently neglected to mention this bit of information ) but he was hardly an unpleasant surprise either.

genesis’ feelings toward him were, as ever, complex, but he was nowhere near as angry here as he was back home. at anything.

❝ alive? yes, as far as i’m aware, i am still alive. ❞

that part was simple, at least. he didn’t really remember how he came to be here, of course, but from what he understood, that wasn’t abnormal.

❝ as for the last thing i remember... my defeat, salvation from the goddess, something like that. my memory is somewhat hazy. ❞

[musioru]

invitedeath​:

of all of the potential places for a reunion, this was likely not the most expected. the gates of sephiroth’s usually so private abode were temporarily ajar for genesis’s visit, the dark iron parted just enough for a single man to make his way through. despite whatever sunshine one entered the mistwoods with, the weather around the castle is dreary and foggy. an ominous aura one could typically equate with the estate’s owner. 

the last time genesis had visited anything that sephiroth had considered home, it had been closer to a cell than a house. he’d never owned his own property, merely passed from apartment to apartment, from lab cot to steel and plastic rooms. nothing was ever really his, simply masquerading as items a normal man would own. but everything was shinra property, including himself. 

now, he owned something. many things. he was not mad with material wealth, but rather an individual and not a propaganda catchphrase or idea. no longer a concept or indeed a bad dream, he exists comfortably. can you imagine such a thing? after genesis makes his way to the building and is welcomed inside by a silent host, sephiroth closes the door behind him and leads him to a dimly lit living room.

a fire roars and illuminates the sofa, the rug, the marble tile beneath their feet. there’s wine, goblets of blood-like alcohol, waiting by the two large chairs. sephiroth takes a seat in one and reaches for the closest cup. he sighs before he takes a sip. “have you done much with you new life then yet?” he decides to ask, skipping ahead of the boring mortal talk of old friends. they aren’t quite there yet for small chatter. better to ask what he’s genuinely curious about. 

“or does the past still haunt you here?” [ STARTER FOR @musioru​ ]

||  █ ▌— sephiroth’s home is not what genesis had imagined. he didn’t know what he had imagined, but had he given it more than a little thought, it wouldn’t have been this. with a bit of consideration, though, it made sense. it suited him, which genesis was glad for. sephiroth fit into this space in a way genesis had never seen.

he could do with a little more light, personally, but he won’t say anything. it’s not his home, after all. instead, he takes a seat and picks up his wine glass, swirling the drink around a little but not yet taking a sip. his gaze drifts toward the fireplace as he tries not to get too lost in thought. what has he done, since coming here? it feels like so little, but perhaps that’s what he needs, emotionally. rest, quiet, an excuse to pursue anything other than his own jealousy and ego...

❝ i’m not sure what it is i’m supposed to do, ❞ he says, rather than answer right away. ❝ what this place expects from me, or if anything is expected at all. i feel disconnected here, but that is to be expected, isn’t it? ❞

this city isn’t home, after all. though, neither were a lot of the places genesis found himself in, especially toward the end. finally he takes a sip of his wine.

good quality, he can tell that much. probably expensive, though the two don’t necessarily always correlate. he’s had pricy bottles that tasted of chemicals, or were too corky despite the price tag.

this, though, this is nice. balanced in flavor. he smiles faintly as he lowers his glass again. ❝ i’m not sure the past will ever completely leave me alone. but i’m not as angry here. i’ve had time to... calm myself. ❞