Entry tags:

#game, final fantasy

Vincent/Yuffie (Final Fantasy VII, FFVII: Advent Children, FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus)
Title: Seasons of Sun and Snow
Author: Kath (tainted4life, known as Nagia on FF.Net)
Pairing: Vincent Valentine/Yuffie Kisaragi (Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, SOME Dirge of Cerberus)
Spoilers: The game. Aaaaaall of it. And Advent Children— all of it. And a bit of Dirge of Cerberus.
Warnings: Well, the perceived age difference can be squicky, and the state of fandom seems to be such that het squicks people. Aside from that, it's all just spoilers. And footnotes.
Additional notes: This essay's title and all segment titles taken from Algernon Charles Swinburne's The Triumph of Time. Also, thanks to farononstarwolf and cheloya for their help.



I: as this to me (or, the characters)


"...boring story number one!" -- Yuffie Kisaragi

Vincent Valentine's story isn't actually boring. Tragic? Yes. Old? Yes. Incredibly melodramatic and just totally nuts? Oh absolutely. But that story, while important to understanding Vincent, isn't the focus of this particular section.

Quick facts about Vincent Valentine: he's quiet, he used to be a Turk (read: Professional Psycho-/Sociopath With A Gun), he has four demons living in his head, he was in love with a woman who didn't love him back and later died, and he has self-blame issues the size of Russia.

At the beginning of FF7, Vincent was quiet, reserved. He didn't say much, and when he DID talk, it was in this Dracula-wannabe "woe is me oh my ANGST" sort of thing. But as the game progressed, Vincent loosened up. He began to crack jokes— really corny jokes, at that. He became more positive.

And lo, all the fangirls rejoiced, for Vincent was showing signs of recovery.

But by Advent Children, Vincent is back in his angstbucket kick. He tells Cloud, when speaking of searching for redemption, "I've never tried." He is the one who knows what's going on, and yet he is blind to his own good sides.

Dirge of Cerberus shows no signs of stopping the angstbucket trend, though from the FMVs I've seen, he definitely loosens up a bit towards the end— again.

To sum Vincent up: quiet, messed up in the head, starting to come out of his shell, and he's the poster child for "it's not a combination of schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder if the voices are real."


"I feel as though I have seen her somewhere before..." -- Vincent Valentine

Yuffie Kisaragi is a person who is hard, extremely hard, to forget. She's tiny, fierce, clever, cheerful, hyper, and impulsive. In short, she's about as "loosened-up" as most people are ever likely to get without having a lobotomy¹.

In FF7, she was somewhat bratty, cheerfully robbed people, and was a very tough, and often irritating, little girl. She got motion sick and grumbled and complained. But she had her good sides: she was innovative, she was externally better adjusted than most of AVALANCHE, she was energetic. Her best point was her love for Wutai.

In Advent Children, the girl who stole from AVALANCHE, who got motion sick, who kicked butt and took names? She came back. And she was better than ever. She was still motion sick, she was still exuberant, she still loved Wutai², and she still loved her shiny things (namely, Materia).

Summing Yuffie up: loud, vibrant, short, talks big, clever, LOVES WUTAI WITH A BURNING LOVE, can steal like whoah, and energetic as all get out.

II: We had grown as gods (or, canon interaction)

When speaking of canon interaction outside of Dirge of Cerberus, there is almost none. In FF7, Vincent and Yuffie were optional characters. They didn't make it into any of the FMVs, and most of their lines were slight variations on the generic.

In fact, there are really only two scenes where Vincent and Yuffie interact and talk with or about each other.

The first is when they meet— in either direction. If you get Yuffie before Vincent, she will complain to him that his history is boring³. If you get Vincent before Yuffie, upon meeting her, he will remark that she seems familiar.

The second incident is the Materia Theft Incident. This incident is a major characterization moment for Yuffie. It's how we know how much she loves Wutai: enough to steal for it. She is willing to do something that could be considered a few steps away from murder... In order to save her country.

Vincent's reaction is just as interesting as Yuffie's actions. It could be interpreted in several different ways.

VINCENT (to CLOUD, about YUFFIE): Unforgivable.

He is angry with Yuffie. Possibly disappointed in her. Is he possibly even... hurt?

We can't know for sure. This game wasn't released on technology that could show facial expressions.

The fan author has to decide for him-/herself how to interpret that.

Unfortunately for the author, Advent Children is equally empty of conversations between Vincent and Yuffie. It's Cloud's story. The one time they interact in Advent Children, it is in a group scene, and Vincent and Yuffie are playing their roles. Vincent is being mysterious, aloof, and entirely too knowledgeable for comfort. Yuffie is distractible, hyper, and immature.

There isn't a lot of basis for shipping here, is there? No subtext. No in-game text.

Most of this pairing is conjectured interaction.

Right up until Dirge of Cerberus.

From the opening right up to the ending, every Yuffie-involving FMV I have seen, has hinted at some sort of bond between them. They're friends.

In one very, very note-worthy clip⁴, Yuffie becomes flustered. Twice. In both cases, Vincent has either shown concern or thanked her.

Even these minimal bits of Dirge of Cerberus makes it quite clear: Yuffie is interested in Vincent⁵

Does Vincent return the interest?

That's up to the author.

III: halves of a perfect heart, made fast (or, not exactly a case of opposites attract)

Opposites? They're not opposites. That's the entire point of this pairing, for me. They are different on the surface, they go about things in different ways, but they really are two sides of one coin.

I've already written an essay about this⁶, but it all boils down to one thing.

They both need people desperately. And people push both of them away.

Yuffie is too loud. Vincent is too quiet. Yuffie is bratty and selfish. Vincent is creepy and self-flagellating.

People tend to avoid them, when people avoiding them is the last thing they need.

IV: I have hidden my soul out of sight (or, my take on this)

Obviously, I'm pro. I like VY (also known as Yuffentine).

I see in this couple a beautiful friendship. Any interactions at all between them intrigue me. Whether they'll "argue" or discuss things or merrily pretend that the other doesn't exist, you have to admit that locking them in a small room for an hour will produce interesting results.

It doesn't matter to me if Yuffie and Vincent are just friends, or if they almost have a romantic relationship, or if they get married or whatever. The interactions and contrasts between the two interest me.

I don't think either of them really knows how to handle the other. They're different enough that approaching each other doesn't really work. Yuffie gets distracted, Vincent gets irritated, Yuffie gets bored, Vincent clams up, Yuffie tries to pry him out, Vincent goes back to being irritated.

You just sort of have to love 'em together. Their relationship isn't going to be easy, but it's going to be fun and hilarious and rewarding⁷.

That's what's so great about it.

V: You have chosen and clung to the chance they sent you (or, contra)

Not convinced? Well, here are some of my anti-anti-arguments.

1. It's pedophilia.

Um, no. In some states of the USA and in many countries, 16 is the age of consent. Not only that, but most VY fic is post-game, and Yuffie's canon age is about 18-19 right now.

Vincent is at least twenty years older than every character in the game, with the possible exceptions of Gorky, Staniv, Godo, Hojo, Bugenhagen and Red (who doesn't count, because he is emotionally something like fifteen).

Pairing him with Sephiroth is STILL an icky age difference. Same for Cloud, Cid, Tifa, Reeve, Aeris, and anyone else you can think of.

Another thing you might want to consider is the fact that Vincent's mental age, when he comes out of the coffin, is still somewhere around 27. He spent thirty or so years in a coffin. There may have been introspection of some sort, but there was obviously almost no growth.

Not only that, but Vincent seems pretty immature. He is taking blame onto himself, in order to avoid responsibility. He whines and he bitches and he moans about his "sins", but he never tries to be forgiven. He never does anything about it⁸.

Yuffie, on the other hand, is mature enough to see that she can't change the past. She can't take back what Sephiroth or ShinRa or her father did. So instead, she channels her energy into fixing it. She doesn't angst. She doesn't bullshit herself or anybody else.

Which of them is more mature, here?

2. There is no basis for it in the game.

I've already addressed this. There's no basis in FF7 or AC, but Dirge of Cerberus shows at LEAST a one-sided Yuffie/Vincent, and Vincent/Yuffie is totally possible.

3. It weakens Yuffie.

No, it really doesn't. Being involved with another person does NOT weaken you. Get out of your cave.

Yuffie would have to be strong in order to deal with Vincent's angstmuffin tendencies. She'd have to be strong not to be continually hurt by Vincent's closed-mouthed-ness. She'd have to be strong not to just give up and wander away to go snog with some starry-eyed Wutaian boy who worships her⁹.

4. But what about Lucrecia?

The woman is dead, firstly. And secondly, Lucrecia never loved Vincent. No, really. The new Ultimania guide has a pink arrow from Vincent to Lucrecia, saying "Unattainable Love".

Vincent needs to wake up and see that Lucrecia wasn't perfect.

Now, can Vincent recover from Lucrecia? It's entirely possible. And while I wouldn't recommend Vincent finding another girlfriend in order to do so, I don't think that Vincent will get over Lucrecia without seeing the truth about her. And he's not going to see the truth about Lucrecia until somebody shows it to him. Repeatedly.

VI: The strong sea-daisies feast on the sun (or, recs and resources)

Fics:

The Classic Recs:

Sink To the Bottom With You, by Catalina. The longest and best-known of the good VY fic. Sadly, it's incomplete, and it's moving very, very slowly.
Faith and Feather, by Rose Flame. One of the best-known Yuffentine fics out there. An absolute classic. Incomplete, massively long, and an awesome read.
Sunshine in Winter, by Guardian1. Guaranteed to make you CRY LIKE BABY! Another classic. This is, seriously, like the VY manifesto in and of itself: everything in this pairing that could possibly go horribly wrong goes horribly right...
Growth + Autumn Song, by Enkida. Again, these made me cry. Beautiful.
Learning How to Breathe, by Faronon Star Wolf. I may be a bit biased, but here it is anyway. It's hilarious. Yuffie and Vincent are PERFECT.

The Cream of the Crop:

But That Was In Another Country, by Guardian1 Guardian1 just writes things that make me cry. This is actually a fic exploring how the FFVII world got sucked into Kingdom Hearts. Gorgeous.
Landslide, by Enkida. Again with the hilarious. It's my guilty pleasure, but oh, WHAT a guilty pleasure!
Tamatebako, by Karasu Kurokiba. Amazing. Delirious. Evocative. Yuffie is brilliant. This whole fic is brilliant.
Break all the Porcelain, by Karasu Kurokiba. Again with the amazing and evocative. The description is gorgeous, the narrator was a stroke of genius, and it's just lovely.

Forums:

Yuffentine (FF.Net): http://www.fanfiction.net/ft/561244/2837/1/
Sunshine in Winter (AC.Net Forums): http://forums.adventchildren.net/showthread.php?t=9651

Mailing Lists
Fort_Yuffentine - Extremely, extremely quiet.
Yuffentine_fanfiction - also pretty quiet. There was recently a lively discussion about Squiffie vs Yuffentine, and how Yuffentine compares to other pairings....


Livejournal Communities:
yuffentine
deadbfsociety (pro-Aurikku)

My Other Essays:
Why I Like VY At All: http://www.livejournal.com/users/tainted4life/281308.html
Why I Like it Better Than VT: http://tainted4life.livejournal.com/238206.html

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Footnotes!
I -- II III -- IV -- V -- VI
¹ This entire paragraph is a HUGE understatement.
² The first time Yuffie enters Advent Children, she is calling Cloud about disappearances of children in Wutai.
³ Don't misinterpret this-- Yuffie could have all SORTS of interesting reasons for saying this. A lot of what Yuffie says is deceptive if taken fully at face value. Don't forget: she's a liar and a thief.
⁴ This one, translation here, under a "SPOILER" cut.
⁵ I win.
⁶ Right here
⁷ and Reeve would totally take pictures and use them for blackmail.
⁸ Part of this may come from the fact that he doesn't think he can be forgiven. It's still angsty and immature and he needs somebody to kick him in the teeth and bring the truth to his attention.
⁹ and would appreciate her for the goddess she is.