I'm back with thoughts on my other 3 FF7 SIs and their thoughts on Seph
Crystalline (aka Reno's partner): has been working with Reeve for a long time, so knows Seph as well as Reeve would. Which I'm not totally sure what that means tbh but they would have a surface level understanding of the kind of person he is. Reno might also tell them stories about him tbh.
Arranged marriage au si: this one might actually have interacted with him more as they have a role that's like... publicity based. And I'm sure Shinra would want Seph to make public appearances or at their private charity balls or whatever so I'm sure they've actually spoken with him (though I imagine he usually rejects such requests outright sksbskhd). I wouldn't call them friends but they are on good terms.
Meow meow si...has nothing sksbskshd maybe they saw him in the lab but he would have just been another face so. Nothing smsbsjjshd
@one-winged-dreams your tags ended me (me in the kitchen giggling at my phone) but also I really haven't given much thought to how Aura feels about Seph besides generally fear skdbdmbdhd so I'm going to think on that now!
Rufus does tell them in one of the earlier chapters of long tic that Sephiroth was the actual killer of Rufus' father. But that's very abstract. And they'll know about him from the Jenova experiments that Hojo documented. But I don't think that fear will feel concrete for a while. I think once Tseng gets hurt it might start to feel more real to them? But they are still a level removed. We'll have to see if Rebirth changes that at all. I don't think there's much where Rufus directly is in the same place as Sephiroth iirc 🤔 which is the only reason Aura would be since I don't see him going to pay them a visit specifically
Most importantly they don't know him before he goes off the wall though so smsbsmdjhd
And thoughts about how the Remake timeline will diverge for the RufAura ship!
Contains spoilers for the opening sequence of Rebirth?
I was not expecting that our fight with Destiny at the end of Remake would actually impact Midgar. I figured it was in a pocket dimension or something smsbhdhd but uh no it actually fucked up sectors 1 and 2 in the form of an aggressive tornado if I recall correctly
So mostly what I'm rethinking here is the sort of leisurely approach Rufus has to courting Aura in my original fic, as well as wanting to highlight Aura's trauma more which is something I fell I fell down on in my original long fic.
I'm currently mulling over the idea that Rufus is going to out of the blue promote them to Director to replace the missing Hojo and manipulate them into accepting, and win their heart relatively quickly and just yoink!!! partner now. 🤔 pending future developments of course, we only got as far as about to leave Kalm in game so wksbskdjd
This approach would also help me highlight Rufus' view that he's not "in love" with Aura he just has "roles" for them and he's putting them into the roles. He is actually full in love with them after stalking them from his house arrest for years but shhhhh he doesn't wanna acknowledge that KWBSKSJSHE
So that would be a big change to the ship!!! I'm still thinking through it. But initial ideas...
well at the moment my hand is doing good! So some ff7 si rambling. @virus-selfship tagging you as both my inspiration and you said you were eager so :D mostly under the cut as this is gonna get long fkjdsahkj
THE PRIMARY SI...AURA GOLDEN
Scientist at Shinra who finds the wrong kind of attention focused on them when they produce a breakthrough in the production of All-Materia. Scarlet takes claim of the research and the result (shocking) and Aura gets nothing. Aura gets bad advice from their parents to confront Scarlet about a raise and WOW that goes badly. Scarlet has them transferred to one of the labs with a high injury and mortality rate. Luckily, Rufus is there. Well, sort of. This is during the time in Before Crisis where he's under house arrest in the Turks HQ, but still has all his administrative VP access. He's been watching Aura for quite some time (with his crush that he's decidedly not calling a crush), and when he sees the transfer he promptly reroutes it to somewhere safer and not associated with Scarlet.
As an aside, he was fucking with lots of people who were rude to Aura ALL THE TIME from his house arrest. He also got them moved off the sector 7 plate and into sector 5 housing way ahead of schedule, and demanded Tseng bring him whatever they had for lunch. He was stalking them through the Shinra security cameras fkjdsahfkjds
ANYWAY once he becomes President he's like :) Aura will be a really good pawn wife and so I am going to promote them and ask them on a date. Truly convinced himself this is about getting people on his side and not just falling for them. Okay Rufus. ANYWAY! They start dating, Hojo runs off, he promotes them to Director in Hojo's place, they enjoy being in love, and then shit hits the fan. Aura sticks by Rufus the whole time, all the way through AC, of course. So that's loosely the course of that!
Other fun facts about Aura, in their spare time they make hella weird materia, for fun, including one that makes you smell bananas when you use it. I wrote a fic about this fkjdsahfkjdsa also they have a modified Slugray that they can control with a controller (it's a ps4 controller lol) or their voice depending on the mode. They also wear a lot of materia in their daily clothing. They love materia.
THE SECOND PRIMARY SI...CRYSTALLINE ANGEL
This SI is childhood friends with Reno. They grew up in the slums together. Reno was the scrawny orphan the bullies liked to pick on, and Crystalline was the cry baby tattle tale who liked him. They both had little childhood crushes even back then. Crystalline's parents got enough money to move up to the plate, and that was the end of that. :') Crystalline carries around a materia on a chain (Barrier!) that Reno found in a trash pile when they were kids, back when neither of them actually knew what it was.
Now, Crystalline works directly with Reeve as the Principal Software Engineer for his department. They oversee projects more than they do actual software these days, but it's good work. It feels meaningful, even though they know Shinra is corrupt as hell. At least they are doing good with city planning and resources for citizens...right?
One day they cross paths with Reno out of the blue. This would be early in the Before Crisis timeline probably. Verdot is still around. Reno and Crystalline are both ??? no way. But they don't have time to say anything. They each use their admin power to look the other up. Reno is the one to do something though - he sits with them at lunch one day and they get to talking and start up a friendship.
Oddly enough, the ever flirty and suave Reno is struggling to confess to Crystalline, who recognizes that he flirts with everyone and thus doesn't believe he means it with them. So he's struggling. but it DOES happen!!! and they get together ❤️
SECONDARY RUFUS SI ONE...MEOW MEOW
Lightvoid the Wrathcat. I have written fic for this but never posted it (the above two SIs have LOTS of fic hehe). Basically, this SI was...someone who worked at Shinra. They don't remember who they were anymore. Hojo decided at some point to experiment on them, and they simply disappeared. Just a nameless victim. His experiments turned them into a Wrathcat - like the Wrath Hounds, but a bit smaller and a cat. They are a silver tabby also! They can turn back into a human, but they long stopped doing that in Hojo's lab. Due to the questionable nature of all of this, Hojo didn't properly document, and very few people know they are actually a person. Does Hojo even know? It's unclear.
One day when Rufus is down with Darkstar for her check up with Hojo, Darkstar gets upset and obsessed with the Wrathcat, sensing their intelligence. Rufus sees how insistent Darkstar is and ends up adopting the unnamed cat, forcing Hojo to hand them over. He names them Lightvoid as a contrast to Darkstar. Lightvoid takes a long time to warm up to him, but he's so happy when they do. And they're really happy with him and Darkstar.
Of course, eventually it's time to take them in for a check up with Hojo, and that's when they freak out and eventually turn back into a (naked) human and with vocal cords that haven't been used in years beg him not to take them. Rufus is understandably shocked and confused but calms them down. They struggle to speak. He asks their name. They say Lightvoid. He asks for the one before that. They don't know. They don't want to know. They like this.
And there's lots of shenanigans in this one. Honestly I'm not sure if it will end up being a romantic ship or not but it's really fun.
SECONDARY RUFUS SI...TWO! Wendy
This is an arranged marriage au with Rufus! Wendy, from a well to do wealthy family, is set to marry Rufus from basically birth. The two spend lots of time together, and Wendy supports Rufus unquestioningly, even when he's unkind to them as a young kid struggling to deal with his father's abuse. They even help him with Avalanche (Before Crisis).
The problem comes when Rufus becomes President and is like "cool anyway Avalanche can die now" and Wendy is like WOAH bro, I thought we were supporting them??? They're RIGHT and Rufus is like um??? no???
he's so used to Wendy always being there he's completely taken them for granted, so when they threaten to leave he's like "lol sure okay" because they ALWAYS come back to him, ALWAYS.
But then they find the main crew as they're leaving Midgar and join up with them. Which is such a pain for the Turks tbh. The Turks are like we have to bring them back but YOU WON'T LET US USE FORCE ON THEM??? Rufus is like if I see a single bruise or scratch I will have you executed :) can't tell if he's joking.
The main trio is quite wary of me and honestly that's fair a huge part of my motivation is a fuck you to Rufus for taking me for granted fhdsakjfhkjdsa but also I'm super prissy princess and struggling with this outdoor shit. But Aerith and Tifa are really friendly to me and I can provide helpful info! I just am super recognizable so that's a problem fkjdsahfks but very high charisma so there is that!
Once the crew gets captured and brought to Junon Rufus is really mad at me. He's really upset. And he locks me up in a bedroom and tells me no one will come for me OR miss me and also fuck you- fkhkjdsa and yeah everyone DOES leave cause...well they figure I'm safe and there isn't time. They don't want to leave without me but that's how it is. I do totally take it personally - "I'm not one of them". I don't hate them for it but it hurts because it means Rufus is right.
And once Rufus cools off actually he's. Well. Comes to me for comfort. And we make up especially with the impending end of the world. Even get an apology out of him. And I apologize. And it's good for us.
okay my summary document for this au is really funny fkjdahfkjdsa
Um OH YEAH my role besides VP's wife was charity events and balls and stuff. So I worked with Reeve and the Turks for that! This is a very fun AU and rereading it made me want to actually write for it KJHFKWJHFKEW dammit Rufus-
Outfit H4 is a WARDROBE GOAL. I was thinking this for FF7 Aura, but if you have another in mind who you think would rock this 👀 I'm all ears! (Dragonsmooch)
@dragonsmooch this one spoke to me a lot!!!
whenever I draw ff7 stuff I'm always slightly compelled to add that green glow I associate with mako reactors so there it is fkjsafkdahfks
Rufus and Aura! This piece is a riff on these really cool old timey couple photos! But with a Midgar twist. I'm really really proud of this piece and I hope y'all like it as much as I do 🥺
