♥ 0 [ application ]
[nick / name]: Savannah / Sav
[personal LJ name]: hopingly
[other characters currently played]: none
[e-mail]: planetorama@gmail.com
[AIM / messenger]: with a firered
[series]: Final Fantasy VII COMPILATION
[character]: Tifa Lockhart
[character history / background]: Tifa's history is one of those long ones, thanks to Square tacking on sequel after sequel (and a prequel or two, too!) so this section would probably take up a good couple'a comment boxes since I'm so heavily tl;dr with these sections. To save you the trouble have a wikipedia link and a Final Fantasy Wiki link
[character abilities]: All of her Limit Breaks
[character personality]: There was once a time when Tifa believed in fairytale endings and knights in shining armor saving the day - where a hero would come and save a person in need. There's a part of her that still believes in the hero bit and she holds to the promise that Cloud and she made that night on the well, but most of what she does believe in was hardened after Sephiroth destroyed her home and she was taken to live in Midgar. She saw that people took care of themselves, doing what they needed to survive beneath the plates. She hates ShinRa, saw what they were doing to the planet with the mako and their reactors was wrong, and took to joining a group called AVALANCHE. She even went and let them use the bar she owns - Seventh Heaven - as their headquarters and hideout.
But the hardened outlook on things never quite kept her from keeping up a happy and optimistic attitude about things. Where there was darkness there would always be light, and where there were people harming the planet she lived on there would be those who would go and stop them from doing what they did.
And while she may have that girl next door persona going on for her, she does not fit the "damsel in distress" bill at all. She's able to take care of herself and get herself out of a pinch. After all, she was able to get a key and unlock her own restraints while stuck in a gas chamber. She also packs a real hard punch with her fists and a rough kick with her feet. She'll take down a man twice her size by using her opponent's strength against them.
With people, Tifa is the type of person who puts her friends and their feelings before herself or her own feelings. She's the one who will be found asking them about how they are, lending and ear or shoulder if its needed, or a few choice words if it feels like someone needs a shove - whether it be a rough one or a little one. She is also a rather social person, finding it easy to get along with others despite whatever their flaws or personality might be (or be at ends with them, if they do something that does not get on her good side). But despite that simple fact, she keeps to herself and locks up whatever emotional problems or feelings she has or is feeling, even when they become too overwhelming. She does not want to worry others or her friends, even if she does worry about them.
Tifa also values the makeshift family that she had made with Cloud. They had their routine that they had fallen into and the thought of losing that familial image scared (and still scares) Tifa. Because her best friend had entrusted her with his adopted daughter and an orphaned boy had been brought to them. It's one of the few things that Tifa clings to and refuses to ever let go of.
It was shortly after Meteorfall that Tifa allowed her personality to slip, going from that happy and optimistic young woman to being mildly depressed and weighed down by her own guilt. It took Barret and Cloud - the latter, especially - to set her straight. She feels guilty for what she may have done in the past, but she has learned to live with it and shoulder that guilt. There is only one way to go and that's forward.
It helped her be more strong willed and during the following years of her life she became more motherly, taking to raising Marlene and Denzel while running a bar and dealing with Cloud all at the same time.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: During the DoC ending, right after Yuffie comes barging into the bar to talk to her.
[journal post]: [the device clicks on, picking up the sound of quiet breathing - almost as if forced to keep it calm - and light shuffling of feet]
Where am ... Shelke was just over in the corner of the bar and Yuffie -- the kids, they aren't -- [she stops, noticing that she's gotten it to work] Oh.
Hello? If there's anyone that can hear this, can you tell me where I am? Because this certainly isn't Seventh Heaven or Gaia. At least, if it is Gaia it's not a city I've been to before..
And if anyone has seen two children that go by the names Denzel and Marlene, can you please tell them that Tifa is looking for them? [evident worry is hinted in her voice] I'm their mother sort of and the thought of them wandering around a weird place a lone does not sit well with me.
[there's a short pause as though she wants to ask something else but decides not to, a quiet 'nevermind' being murmured]
[third person / log sample]: With a wet slap to the counter top, a few rough rubs against a stain, and wiping the spot dry with a clean towel Tifa took a step back to marvel at her job well done. With an approving nod and small grin she set the wet rag into the sink and dried off her hands with the dry one.
It was getting late and the kids were already in bed. There had been no call on the phone - neither hers or the bar's - but that was okay. "He'll be back soon." Their lives had fallen back into a routine it had once been following Meteorfall and the introduction of Denzel to their family. To have him back home like that...
Without even realizing it, she found herself smiling as she went about the duty of locking up the bar (Cloud could let himself in, he had a key) before wandering to the stairs. We're starting to be like a family again. Marlene and Denzel are happy again, it's nice to be able to welcome him home. But...
Even though their lives had returned to what they had been before the Stigma had settled in - Tifa peeked into the children's room, casting them each a look over before whispering, "good night you two, sleep well," to their forms - she still went on with life as though everything was fine. She was just a friend. Tifa did not want to assume anything more of what this life could be. What it could entail to because thinking far ahead could never be good, could it?
No, thinking that far ahead never got anyone too far without having to come to another crossroad.
Entering her own room and closing the door behind herself, she went about getting ready for bed. Unzipping her shirt and stopping at the sight of a deep mark across her chest. "So much has happened. One thing after another -" a pause, her hand to the scar "- maybe this is just a calm before the storm. Even if something bigger comes along we'll still stay this way, won't we?"
As strong as a woman she was, as much as she loved her friends and valued each of them dearly, it was her stubbornness to let go of the image that caused her selfishness to surface. But as long as no one else knew, as long as she kept it away, then she was fine.
Tifa would always be fine.