Animus Application: It's the great god bird through it all

[pinnaculum]

Player Information

Name: Fox
Personal Journal: foxysquid
Age: over 18
Contact Info: DW PM; plurk: teacuppity
Other Characters Played: Kariya Matou. I will be dropping Professor Hojo if accepted, for obvious reasons.

Character Information

Character Name: Sephiroth
Character Series: Final Fantasy VII
Character Age: appears approximately 7; technically in his late 20s, if going by Sephiroth's original birthdate, but it's complicated.
Character Gender: male
Alternate Universe
Canon Point: Shortly after he was revived by the Lifestream. Sephiroth has been found in the ruins of Midgar by Cloud Strife, and after some discussion among various parties, is now in the custody of Vincent Valentine. He has been staying with Vincent for only a few days at this point.

Background Link: original game wiki entry; Advent Children wiki entry; character wiki entry

Additional info about child Sephiroth:
There is not a great deal of information about Sephiroth's childhood explicitly stated in canon, but to supplement the wiki entry, the following facts are clear:

❇ He is the child of Professor Hojo and Lucrecia Crescent. Though some do speculate that Vincent Valentine, who had feelings for Lucrecia at the time may have been Sephiroth's actual biological father, there is no proof of this, and Hojo seems to believe that Sephiroth is his actual son.

❇ Before his birth, he was exposed, in the womb, to genetic material from the entity known as Jenova. At the time, it was believed that Jenova was one of the Ancients, or Cetra, a race of unknown but presumably great power that used to inhabit the Planet. However, Jenova was not a Cetra, but was in fact an alien being who fell from the sky thousands of years ago and was responsible for wiping out the Cetra. Sephiroth is never told that his mother was Lucrecia, and she is never able to see him. He is told instead that his mother's name was Jenova, and that she died.

❇ Exposure to Jenova's genetic material, as well as to radiation from a substance known as Mako had an effect on Sephiroth's development both before his birth and throughout the years of his early development.

❇ He was born in the town of Nibelheim, and he spent at least some time in the Shinra Mansion there when he was a child. It is not known how long he was kept there, but it was long enough that when, years later, he returns, he finds the countryside oddly familiar.

❇ Professor Hojo was responsible for beginning the experiments on Sephiroth, his son. However, at the time they began, the head of Shinra's Science Research Division was Professor Gast. According to the Ultimania, Gast left the project and Shinra approximately three-four years after Sephiroth's birth, and he clearly does remember time spent with him, at one point wondering aloud why Gast didn't tell him his origins. Even years later, Sephiroth speaks highly of Gast, and he is one of the few people Sephiroth is ever shown to admire.

❇ Professor Hojo, however, he refers to as "mass of complexes" and a poor scientist. He has a clear dislike and lack of respect for him, going so far as to be dismissive when Hojo is in danger of being kidnapped, saying to forget about him, unusual for someone known to be quite conscientious otherwise.

❇ Sephiroth proved to have extraordinary abilities and potential as a powerful fighter at such a young age that Shinra began a program based around him to produce stronger warriors, years before Sephiroth himself would be old enough to enter that program.

AU Background: In this AU, events unfold as they do in canon, up to a certain point. During the events of Advent Children, Sephiroth is killed by Cloud, and the disease Geostigma is cured by a healing rain. However, Sephiroth's consciousness and Jenova's cells have not entirely been removed from the Lifestream, even though Sephiroth and the Remnants were killed. There are still some traces of the taint remaining. There were parts of Sephiroth's consciousness abandoned in the ether, so to speak. Parts of him that had been deemed "useless" by the monster he became, and so not worthy of keeping. The memories of a child. The memories of friendship.

In Aerith's Church, several months after Sephiroth is once again "destroyed", a small child appears. He is the result of the Lifestream concentrating all that remains of Sephiroth in one body. He has silver hair and glowing green eyes, much like Sephiroth and the Remnants. When asked his name, he replies "Sephiroth". He has the memories of a seven year old Sephiroth and no conscious knowledge of any of the events that have taken place in the world past the time that Sephiroth would have been about that age. However, he has troubling dreams, and from time to time appears to remember things his seven year old self could not have known, though these memories are fragmented and confusing even to him. He recalls the names "Genesis" and "Angeal", though he has only a vague concept of them as friends he once played with.

Cloud Strife discovers the young Sephiroth wandering in the ruins of Midgar, as played out in this thread. Not willing to take care of the child himself, Cloud nonetheless isn't willing to give him up to Shinra (or what remains of the company), and he certainly can't kill what appears to be an innocent (if mutated) child, in spite of who that child is. After much difficult debate between Cloud and his various friends and associates regarding what to do with the new arrival, Vincent Valentine steps in. He views Sephiroth as his responsibility, as the child of the woman he loves. He takes Sephiroth in, and so the odd child has a home, of sorts.

Things aren't settled quite that easily, as Sephiroth's reappearance has political and scientific ramifications. This is, after all, the younger self of the powerful, inhuman man who almost destroyed the world more than once. Said world is at a crossroads, a new infrastructure rising to replace the rubble of the old. It is a shifting society, the shape and fate of which are still uncertain. Yet it is not a world without its intelligence networks. It is impossible to prevent knowledge of Sephiroth's reappearance from leaking out, slowly but surely. Rufus Shinra is very interested in studying the child himself, for his own reasons (which he would swear are not harmful), and certain political factions wish to obtain him for their own ends. Vincent is having none of it. With the aid of his friends, he attempts to keep Sephiroth as safe as possible, both from those who would use him for their own ends and from the unpleasant truth of his past.

Vincent consents only to cooperate with Reeve Tuesti and his scientists at the WRO. They are determined to discover, as quickly as possible, precisely why and how Sephiroth has been returned to life. Is it a chance for the once-great hero to gain redemption, or is it something more sinister, a sign of coming danger for the Planet? And what will happen when Sephiroth finally discovers his past? Is he doomed to repeat the actions of his older self? Or will nurture triumph over nature? (The answer, ultimately, is that it will, but no one can say that for certain yet.)

Personality:
In the games, we see Sephiroth throughout his twenties. This Sephiroth appears and acts more than ten years younger, so undeniably there are differences, but it is possible to extrapolate what he was like as a child. An individual's personality is already distinct by Sephiroth's apparent age, and one can already see the adult self forming within the child. Sephiroth in particular was a rapidly-maturing prodigy, referred to as a genius, and a child of exceptional skills and awareness. He would already be closer to his adult self than most children his age. As he himself later says: "I knew ever since I was a child, I was not like the others. I knew mine was a special existence. But not this kind."

It is clear that he had socially interacted with his peers at this age, if he knew enough about other children to consider himself a person apart. However, considering the way Hojo treated his "specimens", and how important Sephiroth was to Shinra, it is undeniable that his upbringing was not that of an ordinary child. We know that he was born in Nibelheim, injected with cells thought to be that of a Cetra while still in his mother's womb. Even though he was Hojo's own son, and he was Hojo's prize experiment, he was still treated like an experiment. He was taken away from his birthplace at such a young age that he cannot remember it, although when he returns to Nibelheim, he finds the countryside vaguely familiar. He has spent much of his life in a laboratory, raised by scientists, with the intention of making him into a superior warrior. He does not play ordinary childhood games, but games designed to hone his fighting and strategy skills. He has no sense of belonging anywhere, nowhere he considers home. He expresses this when asking Cloud how it feels to come back to his hometown, stating that he doesn't know because he doesn't have one, a fact he considers important.

The defining aspects of Sephiroth's personality are curiosity, coldness, courtesy, and confidence. These would not have been absent in him as a child.

Curiosity:
Like any precocious child, Sephiroth wants to know things. He wants answers to his questions. In his case, he is given precious few of them. He was never told much about his origins and his nature, and as he admits to Genesis in Crisis Core, he has been searching for information about these things all his life. Currently, he is as curious about his origins as he ever was, as even Vincent is reluctant to tell him the truth about himself.

Sephiroth has clear views about the scientists who worked on the project he was a part of. Professor Hojo he considers a hack, a walking mass of neuroses. Yet Professor Gast, who left the project so early on, is one of the few people Sephiroth admires. Sephiroth has a great interest in the sciences, and being the person he is, likely read anything he could find by this man he admires, even as a child. His choosing Gast over Hojo also emphasizes his strong dislike for the latter man, as Gast was Hojo's rival. Gast was a scientist who was much more ethical and rational. This choice and admiration for Gast illustrates his interest in the sciences. As a boy in a laboratory, he is surrounded by scientific study at all times, and it is no wonder that he would pick up an enthusiasm for the field, especially since he is aware that that might be the way to answer the questions he has about himself (he does use that knowledge in Nibelheim to read through all Gast and Hojo's reports).

One of the few times Sephiroth speaks about Hojo is when he relates a story about a disagreement they once had concerning the use of the term "magic". Sephiroth questioned him continuously and ultimately won the argument, although Hojo was unwilling to admit that fact. Sephiroth is someone who asks questions, pursues arguments, and thinks independently, even when dealing with an important authority figure.

He wants to know everything, and while he already has a fair amount of knowledge concerning mathematics, science, and warfare, where society and interpersonal relationships are concerned, he yet has a great deal to learn. Curiosity is one of the driving forces in his life, and when exposed to new people or experiences, he reacts with eager interest rather than trepidation.

Coldness:
Sephiroth is not entirely human, and there is something in him that sets him apart from others. This would partly be due to the Jenova cells within him. They effect his appearance, and Jenova has become part of his genetic makeup, integrating her DNA with his. His emotions and instincts, then, much like himself, are not purely human, but are informed in part by the instincts of an alien apex predator that consumes worlds.

The extent of Jenova's influence on his personality may be unknown, but where matters of nature vs nurture are concerned, Hojo's treatment of Sephiroth, and Sephiroth's lack of any clear parental figures or family structure, must have contributed to his aloofness and sense of difference.

This can make him seem cold and remote to others. Canonically, the only two people Sephiroth was ever truly close to or formed strong emotional bonds with were Genesis and Angeal, and Zack, to a lesser extent. This suggests that Sephiroth finds it more difficult to relate to ordinary humans in general, let alone to become friends with them. Yet at the same time, it is these bonds that prove he is capable of such attachments, even if he may not find it as easy as others do.

Courtesy:
He was raised to be the perfect war machine, so it is only natural that he would be taught to be polite and obedient. In canon, before his life begins to destabilize and his friends desert him, he follows the orders he's given, rarely questioning them, acting in Shinra's best interests. He was expected to enter SOLDIER and fight for Shinra, and that is what he wants to do. He is efficient and polite in his dealings with others.

Young Sephiroth is as polite as his older SOLDIER counterpart, but more stiff and formal, even wooden in manner, as he has not yet been well-socialized by the time he'll spend in the army. For this same reason, he is less likely than his adult self to assert himself and defy authority, as he has not yet had that experience of independence. His will is nonetheless already quite strong. Because of his training, he is difficult to upset, and some might find him oddly unemotional for a child. Due to his upbringing, selective socialization and lack of emotional sensitivity, he doesn't necessarily realize when certain direct questions or comments are impolite, and he can be blunt or too inquisitive, but he does his best to be as mannerly as possible with the knowledge he does have.

Confidence:
As the sole human subject of Project S and the focus of the attention of all the research around him, Sephiroth was in many ways the center of the universe in which he was raised (although Hojo was the one who controlled it). He was taught to believe in and rely on his own strength, and he grew up believing that there are none stronger than he is--a belief some would call arrogance, but as it is true at the time, it is a warranted arrogance, an accurate assessment of his abilities. As a child, too, he is confident and fearless. He has always been physically powerful due to the experiments performed on him, and he has never had any danger to fear. This leads him to be rather sure of himself. Even as a child, though nowhere near becoming a general, he won't hesitate to tell someone what he thinks they should do, or to try to take charge of a situation, not even if people discount him because of his age. These, too, are things he's been trained to do.

Fears:
At first glance, one might say that Sephiroth has no fear. However, this isn't the case. He's been trained and conditioned to feel no fear, which isn't the same. It is clear enough in the game that all the feelings that Sephiroth was taught not to display are still present, if suppressed, which is part of the reason why his anger eventually explodes with such force. Sephiroth does have buried anxieties. He doesn't like being subjected to tests or controlled. Though he may be more used to such things by now, he found them as alarming as any child would, especially as, when Gast left the project, there was such a jarring change in how the project was run and Sephiroth was treated. Hojo was no longer being kept in check. Sephiroth fears being immobilized or helpless or made to do things against his will. In his strong dislike of Professor Hojo, there is also a measure of fear. Because of his drive to learn everything, he also fears being left in the dark, figuratively speaking. He senses that unknowns can be dangerous, in part because of the information about himself he doesn't know and is already searching for in some ways. Also, Gast, the one person Sephiroth has had any affection for in his childhood, disappeared completely from his life early on. This adds to his difficulty in forming attachments, and if he does manage to form a close connection with someone, losing them would have a large impact on him, and he would fear that possibility.

Sephiroth is additionally haunted by nightmares, images from the life of his older self. He finds these very troubling, though he is unable to understand them. He often sees the figure of Jenova, or the devastation caused by Meteor.

Weaknesses:
He is powerful, but he is still a child. While in some ways this makes little difference physically, since he's stronger than any normal adult and an intellectual prodigy; emotionally, he is unable to read others well, and so could be manipulated or misled. He likes to fight because he thinks it's fun. He doesn't have a strong moral sense, as he hasn't been encouraged to develop one. His only morality is based on the fact that SOLDIER, which he hopes to join someday, is billed as the protectors of the people, the heroes of children, and he wants to emulate SOLDIERs. However, since SOLIDER is no longer in existence, this dream has no chance of being realized, and his morality is based on shaky ground, at best.

He is intelligent and well-trained in strategy, but is not fanciful or imaginative at all, and so problem-solving involving creativity that is not combat-related presents a problem for him. While he has been socialized, it's been in a rather staged way, and what he learns is monitored and controlled, so his social skills and social knowledge are not finely honed. Nuances that even other children would pick up on are lost on him, though he makes up for this by being as polite as possible. Also, he is very stubborn and reluctant to ask for help, determined to do things on his own.

Abilities: Sephiroth's strength, speed, and agility are already much greater than that of the strongest adult human. He is capable of leaping so high and for such lengths that the ability is similar to short-range flight. He can also teleport for brief distances, and he is capable of energy attacks, even without the use of Materia (which is a tool people use to access magic in his world). Sephiroth has special attacks he is depicted as using or is said to use during Crisis Core: Heartless Angel, Octaslash, and Super Nova, as well as the beams of energy he can focus with his sword. It's doubtful that he would already be able to use these at full strength, but as he has been trained and tested as the basis for SOLDIER, which has already begun, and his abilities were innate, he likely has weaker and less controlled versions of these attacks. Though not as powerful as he will later become, he is already formidable fighter, especially for a child of his age.

Sample:
Sephiroth moved soundlessly through the corridor. He traveled in leaps, not unlike a bird, though he had no wings. There was little that was human about this particular gait, though there was no one to see him and remark upon it, so he could do what he liked. He wasn't moving particularly fast, as he had nowhere in particular to go. He was simply enjoying the movement for its own sake. As he was on an airship, his possible destinations were limited. It was only a matter of time before he hopped into the pilot's cockpit.

"Vincent, would you make that kid stand still?" Cid spoke gruffly without turning away from the steering console.

"He's fine," said Vincent, from his unofficial post near the emergency controls on the other side of the flight deck.

Sephiroth walked instead of hopped across the floor of the deck, gazing out the broad window toward the settlement to the north that they were rapidly approaching. "Where are we?"

"Wutai," was Cid's answer. "You'd better get used to it. We'll be staying there a bit. Unexpected detour."

He was familiar with Wutai, and he didn't hesitate to share his knowledge with the others aboard. "Wutai is an independent nation state, known for its cultural heritage, natural resources, and isolationism. Its primary exports are lumber, minerals, and precious stones."

"Used to be, kid. Used to be." Cid shook his head.

Sephiroth turned toward Vincent, to whom he deferred in such matters, and Vincent inclined his head. This must be yet another area in which his knowledge was lacking or incorrect. There seemed to be so many of them now, and it was frustrating. He was used to knowing things, to being right. He would have to solve the problem as soon as possible. "Is there a book about it?" he asked, hopefully.

"There's a book about everything," said Cid, "but not on this ship."

"I'll find you one soon," Vincent offered, and Sephiroth was reassured. He could read about the things he didn't know, and then he'd know them. It was easy enough.

Sephiroth walked forward until he could almost touch the clear surface of the flight deck's observation window. He didn't touch it, because Cid said he didn't like smudges, and Sephiroth wanted to respect his wishes. He gazed out toward the buildings as they grew closer, no longer a distant point on the horizon. He could see them more clearly. As was the case almost anywhere they went, there were the unmistakable signs of a great disaster. Some buildings were in ruins, others barely standing. Evidence of rebuilding was everywhere: scaffolding, new structures under construction, and stacks of raw materials, but these things weren't enough to disguise the wreckage. "What happened here?" Sephiroth asked.

He knew the answer would be the same vague one he always received from Vincent, and he was right. "A natural disaster. The same one that hit Midgar. It was a worldwide event."

"More like unnatural disaster." Cid muttered under his breath, so faintly even Sephiroth could hardly hear him. If Vincent had heard, he didn't show it. "Kid still gives me the creeps," added Cid. Sephiroth sensed that he hadn't been meant to hear those words, so he didn't turn toward the pilot, instead somberly studying the half-ruined city before them. Sephiroth didn't know what the creeps meant, but he could guess. He had heard or overheard similar words numerous times now. People were frightened of him. That was why they were in this airship, leaving Midgar. They were taking him away. What had he done? Why did they fear him? Before he woke in the church in Midgar, his last memory had been of going to sleep in his room in the lab. Everyone said that years had passed since then. They must have been right. The lab was gone. Midgar was gone.

The researchers in the lab, had they been afraid of him? He didn't know. It was only recently that he'd come to realize most people were. Most people, but not Vincent.

"Creeps," Sephiroth said to himself quietly, committing the word to memory.

"What was that?" asked Vincent, as he came to stand beside him.

"Nothing," was Sephiroth's answer. He kept his gaze fixed ahead. When the man put a hand on his shoulder, Sephiroth didn't move. He could be polite. He could stand still.

Bonus threads:
here & here