Absolutely gorgeous work.

This is a brilliant story. Such a powerful meditation on what it is to be a monster, and to be human. My only criticism is that I don't think you need the very last line.

Amazing writing, and so, so sad.

Your style and finesse (love that one too!) and characterization are ridiculously amazing and will you marry me?

~Kat

...This is an incredibly well-written story. The sheer depth of character, the detail, the humanity - it isn't breathtaking but numbing, not painful but quietly -there- in the truest sense. Here are the facts and here are the failures and here are the good things and the bad things and the reasons that aren't really good enough - but that's just life.

The lack of quotations works well; you did do your job. It makes everything stream. The intricacy of the format shears down to simplicity. - Raw is the word I'm looking for. Truly excellent work. Thank you.

You want to ask him, force him to talk to you, but he doesn't like talking anymore, not about anything important. You're just supposed to know, just like he's just supposed to know, and even though you both do, it's just not the same.

- I love that.

Everything is perfect. The characterization, pace, and amount of description.

This is the best fanfiction I have ever read.

I ache after reading that. It's a story that won't have me sobbing, but have me blinking back tears for the next couple of hours. I can't put into words how raw this story felt. Excellently done.

Man, I'm so glad I found Epitaph again. I read it maybe two or three years ago, and had looked for it off and on without avail since all I could remember of your fic was that it was fucking awesome, long, didn't have nearly enough reviews and left me feeling empty, unsettled and heartbroken. I purposely spent quite a while searching for it today and obviously found and re-read it; and felt exactly the same way I did the first time, but I guess that's what brilliant writing does to you. However, this time I'm leaving a comment...which I apologise for not doing sooner considering how much I loved Epitaph.

I've always avoided second person POV stories because they're usually written in a way that throws me out of the story; I just can't get in to them when they're trying to involve me in a way I don't want to be. But your writing doesn't do that to me, though it's hard to pinpoint why. Maybe because this is so clearly written for Rude.

It's goddamn heartbreaking, this fic. I must be a bit of a masochist to read it again when it affects me this way (and the time it takes! :P), but it's hard to tear myself away from such a deep affecting story.

God, I don't know what else to say. Your characterisation and style is brilliant. I'd love to know what sparked this fic and your own view on your piece. Though it seems you haven't been on FF for quite some time.

Sanshain xo

A epitaph for love. For all those things we thought we felt someday. So your story give me a strange pain, but also makes me think about those thing we are afraid of. Thank you.

I am rude-centric all the way and this is .. is just wow. I am purely so in love it for the characterization you gave him ( since there wasnt much personality given in-game). Its just down right gritty and i dont usually read FF7 slash but because of a rec. I decided to read this, Iam not disappointed at all either.

The way you wrote it was what really brought me into it, like the reader talking to Rude and telling him all. Something i imagine that was hard to write but i fucking love it. Seriously, it was lovely.

Well, cheers! )

I read your "Furious Angels" some months ago, and have onyl recently discovered the song. Connect point A to B? Oh, yes.

Major kudos on this. Your style is refreshing, I highly enjoy your point of view on Rude; he's always been a favorite of mine. Such an enigma... you portray the depth his character presents so very well.

For one to truly enjoy a story, a tale, one must connect to said literature in some sort of way. I, for example, had to grasp my chest and read with such a hungry ferocity for absorption immediately after I had came to: "It's his shield, you're realizing, that cheerfulness with nothing beyond it; the way he flaunts his shallow emotions has always hidden the fact that he's kept the deep ones secret. His superficiality, his entire I'm-awesome ego, everything about him is perfectly suited to keep him safe.

And as he drags you to a crowded table and immediately begins with the seduction of the person in the nearest seat, you're realizing that it had never been the sex he'd been after but rather the superficial acceptance and approval. He's purposely made himself fun, exciting, and ultimately untouchable because he's terrified of actual, serious rejection. It's almost, you think, like he needs to constantly prove that people like him,"

I felt sick. Physically ill. I've been there - still - battling an existence such as that whilst all the time searching for the meaning of being extant. It's a dark, lonely little shithole one puts themself into when they choose that path. It's also very hard to leave; it's desperate because of the comfort factor it provides.

I recognized with your simple little miles-deep fan-tribute. And for that I truly appreciated it. Awe.

Much, much respect.

-L.B.

When I think of this story the only words that come to mind are "mind fuck". I loved it so much that I read twelve times in one sitting. The line "sane as reality and cynical as winter" just stuck in my mind.

I... I really don't know what to say. I'm reviewing out of courtesy, but I'm no good at saying the same kinds of things a billion other people have already said.

This has to be one of the most painful stories I've ever read.

And I'm a masochist, because it's one I'll come back to again and again.

Well, first off, I'd like to inform you that I could figure out who was talking the whole way through, so you did your job well.

Beyond that, this is absolutely brilliant. My friend recommended it to me, and I'm really glad that I read it, because it's difficult to find good fic nowadays. This was very... well, I hesitate to say 'lovely' because that's decidedly the wrong word. Maybe 'raw'? At any rate, it was wonderful.

Holy shit, this one was fucking amazing. You are an incredible author, you really are. The story was really sad, it had me almost in tears when I finished reading. Very well done, this is going to my favourites.

Great work, it really takes a while for the whole thing to sink in. Fantastic twice over.