Valenwind Week 2025 With All The Cid And Vincent Shenanigans That Came To My Mind! Plus An Extra Illustration

i'm playing the original for the first time (i played the remakes first, yes i'm awful, don't wanna hear it) and today i got vincent and why doesn't anyone talk about the easter egg of the safe code???

36-10-59-97 is the code to the safe with the basement key (and lost number) in the original. but the SAME CODE is used in shinra manor's basement during the part where you control cait sith. used in completely different parts of the manor. but still there. i recognized it INSTANTLY.

...still confused a little about somethin' everyone else seems to take in stride.

what exactly is the relationship between cait sith and reeve tuesti...?

like, cait is a robot. there are multiple copies of cait sith, ala the extra one in reeve's office in rebirth, the one being crushed in chapter 13 of rebirth, the one that blows up in dirge of cerberus. dirge of cerberus also has that awful scene where there's a cait sith inside of a reeve robot. (it. scared me. so. bad.)

does reeve control him? but he doesn't have to, 24/7, because in dirge of cerberus, the two are in the same room, and they interact. and you know, cait works 24/7, even when reeve is in board meetings and whatever. does he program him from his office?

maybe that's why cait takes a nap is cosmo canyon and freezes at the end of nibelheim, in rebirth. he's being updated with reeve's new information...?

i like to imagine reeve is embarrassed, a little, about using cait sith. everyone else on the team can use their real bodies, really be in the fight, physically put their lives and livelihoods on the line. aerith gainsborough dies, in their quest to save the planet from sephiroth. in dirge of cerberus, he holds himself as if he doesn't see himself as a real member of the group, only someone who helped out.

i think yuffie probably helps the most with this- recalling things cait sith did in battle, treating him as if he's been there the whole time. (she's probably got a little bit of it on her own, what with being the youngest member, and with different motivations than everyone else.)

when cid and vincent get clued in on reeve's imposter syndrome, they're probably much less subtle about supporting him. cid isn't exactly a subtle man in the first place, and vincent doesn't do a lot of nuance in his day-to-day life (autistic old man.). telling reeve how proud they are of the good he's doing, attending all his little team building whatchamacallits, just generally doing their best to be supportive. by being the best husbands they can be.

LOOK WHO CAME IN THE MAIL!!!!! HE'S SO SMALL. AND SO CUTE. RENOOOOOOOO :D

update on rebirth hard mode: i hate that evil fish. terror of the deep?? who let it trap all 3 party members at once?? fuck that shit and shoutout to enemy skill plasma discharge on tifa, that shit saved my ass.

also i got to see one of my top 5 yuffie moments, where she waves and goes "thank you very much!" and barret mockingly goes, "you're welcome!" they're so dumb i love them. so found family core of them tbh.

after taking a 4 month break after beating the story, i am back on my rebirth grind for the plat (i'm going to go insane but i like platinum trophies.)

i'm reading the kids are alright: a turks side story and there's a bit where the turks have decided to look for jenova again, but there's a lot of interference from the people from edge, so when kyrie canaan gets attacked, tseng goes to check on her (and sort of kidnap her... dw about it), but she has a conversation with kadaj of all people and when i tell you tseng was freaking out.

"Opposite her was a teenage boy with silver hair and a well-structured face- and Tseng immediately felt his heart rate increase. He bore far too strong a resemblance to that infamous Shinra Company creation. Maybe it's just the silver hair, Tseng tried to tell himself, but the piercing eyes, too, called him to mind. A man once hailed as a hero who later tried to destroy the world.

"The memory of facing Sephiroth and all his fury came rushing back- being cut down, left for dead. It was all the Turk could do to stop his limbs from trembling as he looked the boy in the eye."

like DAMN. tseng is one of the most stoic, put together people in this universe- to get the information that from his point of view, sephiroth renders him terrified?? that's fucked.

i bet rosa hated. (hated!) being treated like she was weak, for being a white mage. that she spent her teenage years proud and ready to serve, just like cecil and kain, but was always shunted to the backline and protected, despite the fact that she could protect herself. that being kidnapped by golbez and being forced to be a damsel in distress drove her insane. that she wanted to protect cecil and kain just as much as they wanted to protect her- maybe even more.

on my rebirth replay i had the stellar idea to write down the loveless prelude and compare it to the "original" loveless poem. also it's color-coded.

later i'm gonna think harder about my big "explore differences" note. maybe on the airplane. i mean, what do you do on an airplane anyway? analyze fictional religious poetry.

LITERALLY I LOVE THEM

Cid, Reeve, and Vincent together form a functional human being.

Underrated ship