askerian: Serious Karkat in a red long-sleeved shirt (Default)
askerian ([personal profile] askerian) wrote2011-05-26 11:38 pm

ff7/daemon AU, three ficlets

Reposting two ficlets I wrote for the prompts post, edited a little bit, and a brand new third ficlet about the crossdressing quest thing. XD (I might write more about this moment, I haven't figured out yet what else happens differently enough.)

Sephiroth, age five:

Sephiroth is five year old when his daemon starts mimicking the daemons of people they are around. Which is a normal stage of development in children, perfectly on schedule.

What's not normal is that when this happen his daemon doesn't flit back to something else in a matter of minutes, or, if interacting directly with that person and their daemon, as soon as they have left the room.

Sephiroth has always had a surprisingly long attention span for a child. It shouldn't be called abnormal, it should be called remarkable. The lab hands are impressed, the caretakers find it adorable. Professor Hojo has not a word of criticism about it; if any, when he sees a little tonberry toddling after the boy he even tends to smile.

Sephiroth's daemon can stay a tonberry for days after a visit from Hojo, and Gast would be all ready to hail it as proof of developing parental bonding if Sephiroth's face didn't go so utterly blank.

When he moves, he mimics the tonberry, too.

Gast gets the scalpel back before he can swing it down into his own daemon's flank. But try as he may he can't convince Sephiroth to get his daemon to stop mimicking people's.

He starts bringing the boy in his office when he has paperwork to do. It doesn't stop the behaviour but at least when his daemon rolls around as an otter with Gast's Shelag, Sephiroth actually smiles.

+

Shelag:

Hojo's unnamed tonberry: (WHY SO CUTE. DX oh well, that's to camouflage its evil. okay then. We have to account for the Hojo who pulls babes on a beach as well. Yes, that's it.)


Elena & the Turks in Wutai, vacation


"Oho. Target acquired," said Marco, who was fond of war movies, with his tail up like a flag and the wings of his nose fluttering wildly.

Elena straightened up. She'd hoped they'd be useful on this mission -- they were The Newbies, there were lots of blunders she needed to make sure her partners forgot as soon as possible -- but she hadn't expected their chance to come so early.

Reno and Rude were off somewhere -- coordinating a last-minute whatever with the head of the troops stationed there, they'd said. But that left her alone in front of the inn and really annoyed, because it had been ages, and naturally there were no convenient Wutainese brats in the street for her to grab and ask to give a message, only an old senile guy and his weird racoon thing, who both glared at her for being... she didn't even know if the issue was "not Wutainese," "A Turk," or simply "a woman in pants". She preferred to think it was being a Turk, so she gave a haughty little sniff and turned smartly on her heel -- something she might have, perhaps, copied from Rufus Shinra a little. The boss did know how to make an exit.

The second they turned the corner she grinned at her daemon, who wagged his fluffy tail and cocked his goofily oversized, drooping ears, and was off like a shot, nose to the ground.

Spaniels might look really cute, and eminently pettable, and like all dogs they indicated an ability to take orders well, but first and foremost they were hunting dogs, and once they caught a scent nothing could make them lose it.

A half hour later she was somewhat wishing he would have lost it anyway.

Marco dangled from the mouth of Flunky Number One's Doberman mutt like a puppy, just as she dangled from the man's shoulders, hands tied behind her back. Flunky Two and his toad ambled behind, and they'd get her before she could get back up even if she managed to squirm enough to get dropped. That disgusting Don Corneo's goose honked and preened and bumbled before them, and sometimes pecked at Marco when he bared his teeth. He had too little range of motion to manage to bite, just like her legs were restrained too tight to kick that old, disgusting pervert in the teeth when he slapped her butt as punishment for her daemon being rude to "his precious Fabulosa."

They were never going to live this down, either.

+

"All wrong," said Reno, his heel the only thing that kept Don Corneo's hand from losing grip.

Fabulosa honked, running around blindly, her wings beating the air so close to Reno's leg she almost -- almost -- touched him, and if she and Corneo had been smarter Elena might have thought it an attempt to get him to get away from her person, playing chicken. Except if she'd been smarter she would realize that Reno stepping back wouldn't save him; really the other way around.

Reno wouldn't have flinched even if she had touched him -- he was a veteran Turk, the most cold-blooded person she knew -- but in the end Tahoe decided she'd had enough of it and struck without warning, uncoiling lightning-fast. The goose screamed at the first bite.

Tahoe rattled her tail-tips together and flared her hood, swayed to strike again, and in trying to get away Fabulosa went and threw herself right off the edge.

Farm geese didn't fly, not really. They fluttered at best, but Fabulosa was just as paunchy and out of shape as Don Corneo was.

Elena berated herself for being so squeamish, but she had to admit she was relieved when Reno lifted his foot and let gravity have Don Corneo before the distance between man and daemon tore them apart.

She'd seen him consider it. She knew he could have chosen not to give that small mercy, too. But it hadn't been necessary, and it hadn't been in his orders, and in the end, Corneo hadn't been worth it. When Rude helped her down from the statue she went quietly, still thinking about it, about how Reno was everything a Turk should be, and how she still wasn't.

"Thank you," she said. "I never expected you to come help," and it was true, she hadn't; she should have managed alone; she wondered how annoyed they were. Marco was still in Ben's mouth, as the powerful jaws carried him down with a care that wouldn't have broken an egg.
"Don't act so weak," Reno replied, his eyes slicing to the band of outlaws standing so close, outnumbering them. "You're a Turk!"

"Y--yes, sir!"

He turned away to answer a sudden phone call from the office; casual like he didn't notice the potential danger, now that Don Corneo's other captive was rescued and they didn't have a reason to cooperate. Elena stayed quiet, trying to decide if Reno's 'don't act so weak' had meant 'stop shaming the name of Turks,' or 'of course we'd come.' The second one seemed a bit like wishful thinking.

"Yes... Yes... I'll get on it right away."

"Was that the company?" Marco hazarded.

"Yeah, they want us to find Cloud..."
Rude and his pit bull daemon straightened, watching Cloud and his friends, who had just dropped into fighting stances. Elena swallowed and lifted her fists. Just because she'd blundered again today, blundered right now, in front of them, she wasn't going to let embarrassment stop her -- fighting she could do, and if those were her orders...

... And then Reno went and he -- right there, staring at Avalanche, having just heard and relayed the order to hunt them down, he said, "No, today we're off duty."

...oh.

Marco's head jerked up, staring at Tahoe, and he took a small, cautious step in her direction, a tiny whine caught in his throat. Tahoe threw him a glance, and then Reno grunted, got out a cigarette, and started walking up the statue's arm, right past the bunch of terrorists who still stood there with weapons in hands, Rude and Ben strolling after him. Elena and Marco jumped to follow.

Oh. Oh. Maybe they'd -- no, she was misunderstanding -- but it really did seem like --

"So," Reno said when they reached the bottom of the mountain paths. He and Rude exchanged a long, talking look, Tahoe looping easily through Ben's front paws.

"I'm sorry for getting caught," she said. "It was--"

Tahoe rattled her tail, just once. "What were your mistakes?"

"I went alone."

"Why?"

"Because the scent might have been gone, and--"

"You're a Turk. Some days you'll have to work alone. What were you planning to do after you were caught?"

... She'd made the right call? Well, not the right one, but -- oh, right. She'd taken a risk, with the available information, and Turks didn't -- couldn't -- play it safe anyway. He didn't seem to even question that of course she would be planning something, she wouldn't give up just because she'd been captured. Elena straightened her spine a little. "Well, I -- I was waiting for a chance, I -- someone would have had to let me down at some point and then, um, I thought -- they'd have to sling me on their shoulder for it -- I'd have gone for their kidneys..." She swung her fists down in a vicious arc in illustration, giving Reno a hesitant look.

"Hm."

He shrugged, looked down at Tahoe, turned on his heels.

"North-west?" Rude suggested. Elena blinked from one man to the other.

"Hm. What's it like again?"

"Windy."

"The waves?"

The tiny stub of Ben's tail quivered happily in response.

"Uh, Reno? Rude?" She looked back and forth once again, hope starting to rise even as she tried to keep it down. It was almost as if she was starting to feel her way into their almost telepathic communications, but...?

"The beach, Elena, the beach. What else do you want to be doing in Wutai on vacation?"

They strolled away in the direction of the chopper, casual and cool like -- well, like Turks, and offing someone who threatened one of theirs was all in a day's work.

Oh. Oh. Reno had meant it like that, that of course they'd come for her, or else why would he have bothered to ...

They'd put off a job for her.

"Dancers," Rude suggested.

"Shyeah right, if there's a titty bar in the whole island no one will admit it to me."

Grinning, Elena jogged after them.



Marco:

Tahoe:

Ben:

+


Quest to Crossdress~


"Cloud," she said, concerned and utterly serious, "why don't you dress up as a girl? It's the only way."

Cloud had only thought his day was going downhill fast before -- Aeris insisting to come along, Tifa to rescue -- but this precise moment was when he realized at the end of the slope was a rather nice cliff, and he had just rolled right over the edge.

If either Aeris or Simon had started to laugh Cloud would have dismissed the whole thing. Instead Simon streaked ahead through the crowd with the intensity of a lion on the hunt, Aeris following on the housecat's heel with her fingers tight on Cloud's wrist. He threw Skally a pleading look, but she merely kept trotting along, eyes bland and whiskers twitching in silent mirth. Traitor.

The rest of the morning whirled by in a mess of brain-searing moments that he did his best to exist through without thinking too much about. His reputation in Wall Market was probably beyond repair before he was halfway through hunting down everything Aeris insisted he needed to pass. It was almost a relief when he could retreat to the clothes shop and disappear in the changing room.

Almost, because whenever he was there it meant he had to put on the dress again.

"Why do I have to change underwear again?" he grouched, trying not to think too much about silk cupping his privates. Brr.

"It'll show through the dress, Cloud," Aeris replied patiently. "Are you ready yet?"

He didn't want to be, but he was, so he pushed the drapes open and trudged out, dress, perfume, lingerie, wig and all, already somehow knowing that in a matter of seconds Aeris would start in on his posture and gait instead.

"Hm, not bad," said the dressmaker's little black terrier, trotting all around him so that her long belly-fur swished around her short paws like a floor-length skirt, tail straight up like an antenna.

"You're right," the dressmaker replied, looking Cloud over thoughtfully. Cloud stood there and pretended he was elsewhere, which had been working pretty well so far for him. "This may be a new business for me."

His daughter was so pleased with her father's returning enthusiasm for his craft that she offered them the dress. Cloud tried halfheartedly to look pleased; thankfully everyone was still exclaiming over the dress and wasn't looking at his face. Apart from Skally, who looked cynical and mildly amused.

"Yes, yes, very good," she drawled, and licked one of her paws, the picture of unconcern. "Just one small issue. How are we planning to disguise my being female?"

Every eye turned to her; she huffed and kept grooming, ignoring them pointedly. Skally was a slender, long-legged feline, and her fur was short and sleek enough that there was no way on earth to disguise the utter lack of balls under her tail.

Simon dropped off the counter where he was making nice with the dressmaker's daughter's mouse and strolled up to her, tail up. "Hm, actually, that man might like that one of his potential paramours might possess a rare same-gender daemon."

He started circling Skally, looking her up and down the way Aeris did before deciding that he needed a tiara or a pair of high heels; Cloud was tempted to warn Skally but she'd abandoned him to his fate earlier, she could manage on her own.

"What will be harder to disguise," Simon added after a long, thoughtful pause, a purr rolling under his voice, "is your predatory strength, how lethal you are. It's lucky you also have a hunter's grace, and such a dainty, elegant muzzle..."

... Alright, wait a minute there, thought Cloud, not sure if they'd been complimented or not. Skally merely watched the daemon strolling around her with a jaundiced eye and replied, "You're aware that I'm about four times your size, right?"

Simon tilted his head and tried to look mild and innocent.

"... Tomcats."

Cloud choked. Aeris hummed out a distracted little song and started poking around in the hangers. "Oh, Miss Cloud is so pretty, I'm jealous. I need a new dress too!"

The frenzy of activity this provoked around the dress shop managed to thoroughly distract everyone from the topic of her daemon's shameless behavior. Cloud was not fooled.

He was also doing his best to pretend he was not, actually, standing around in high heels and silk panties, so he just sighed and looked at the flyers on the wall until it was time to go.



Dressmaker's:

[identity profile] sour-idealist.livejournal.com 2011-05-27 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
Buhbuhbuh little Sephy trying to figure out how to be human and not wanting to grow up like Hojo! I love how you don't make excuses for him and yet you can still play our heartstrings like a lute. And Aerith's utterly shameless side will never cease to be entertaining.

[identity profile] sour-idealist.livejournal.com 2011-05-28 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
I can't quite picture Aerith - especially with her earthy side emphasized - with, like, a winged daemon. (Which I think normal people can have, even.)

[identity profile] sour-idealist.livejournal.com 2011-05-28 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
(Crap, I was thinking like a pegasus - 'winged daemon' is really way too vague here.)
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[identity profile] midget-arnold.livejournal.com 2011-05-27 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
Tonberry daemon...ridiculously cute. Somehow. Despite Hojo's evilness. Children mimicking others around the the point of painful- and it being Sephiroth especially really pulls out the woobie. You know I wonder if anyone has written a Hojo who isn't an evil scientest convienent plot device.....aaaaarrgh. Tonberry has infected me with it's cute death waddle and widdle lantern of doom..

Oooh the Turks. I'll admit I've always liked Elena best. She was awkward and made mistakes and actually grew as a character even as a minor one. Her learning how to play with the big boys was even better. The best part was the solidarity of the Turks and you got that dead on. And...is that blur next to the picture of Tahoe supposed to be a person for scale? Reno's daemon as a Midgar Zolom... I know it's a rattlesnake, but the thought was amusing.(Then again I'm half asleep so take it with a handful of salt.)

Ah, Crossdressing Cloud. I love this snippet and I think it manages to pull more of his personality than some of the others. He's not confused yet and that shows. He seems much more whole. Simon the Tomcat deserves kitty scritchens for being shameless.
ext_407641: (Default)

[identity profile] shewhoflies.livejournal.com 2011-05-27 02:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Y'know, I clicked it thinking, "of course the crossdressing one is going to be my favorite." Imagine my surprise when the other ones gripped me just as easily.

Seph's ficlet is... kind of scary, to be honest. I wonder what his daemon is like later, and how much it freaks people out.

As for Elena -- w-what. You make me like the Turks! How did you do that, I've only ever felt mildly interested at best, before. But hee, cold-blooded and nakama and -- eeeeeee, I liked it!

The crossdressing one was every bit as fun as I thought it would be. Poor Cloud. ...not really. >:-D

[identity profile] m-a-foxfire.livejournal.com 2011-05-27 04:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Eee Tonberry.

...Hahaha I love how Simon and Aeris are a perfect match in shameless pervyness.

(Anonymous) 2011-05-30 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
i love how cloud is just like *sigh* /you idiots with your perviness/ and then goes all *stoic face*
also! yay TURKS!and cute lil' baby seph whos gonna have a wolfish daemon later right? if i remember correctly...
keep up the aweome/fantabulou/i need a whole new word to describe your coolness/!
*puppy eyes stolen from zack* i can has more y/y?/scurries off to read again/

[identity profile] kohikari.livejournal.com 2011-06-16 01:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Rereading the first piece, I got a little confused. Whose daemon was tinyseph going after with that scalpel--his own or Gast's otter? I think it was his own babydaemon (in tonberry form) that was the intended target, since that was what I assumed on the first couple readthroughs, but since the piece is presented in Gast's POV, I'm getting a little mixed up. ^^;;;