Chapter 12: The Dirt, Part I
February 19, 0008
The next day, after both candidates praised up their campaigns, the dirt began to pile up on each other's opponents. Jack and Sumner Balen wasted no time in soiling Tifa's name.
The first thing they went after Tifa was for, naturally, the way she used to dress.
"Is this the woman you want as your president?" Sumner Balen began at a coffee shop in Rocket Town.
He was holding an older picture of Tifa in her white crop top and short black skirt. She stopped wearing that right before she got married to Cloud, but, as you can see, it's still coming back to haunt her.
Sure enough, a bunch of loud "nos" sounded the coffee shop.
"And that's not all!" Sumner continued. "Did you know she had a pole in her Seventh Heaven bar? What do you think that was for?"
The crowd booed again.
That was a lie; there was no pole in the bar. Tifa never let anyone see her underwear, let alone her breasts, butt, and lady parts. She changed after gym class in a bathroom stall. She never even went to a gynecologist in her life!
"We want a president!" Sumner shouted.
The crowd cheered.
"Not a stripper!" he continued.
The crowd cheered again.
"Not a whore!"
The crowd roared.
LATER…
Two hours later, Tifa was asked about Sumner's comments at a press conference.
"Ms. Strife, is it true you were a pole dancer when you had your Seventh Heaven bar?" a reporter naturally dared to ask.
"Not a bit of truth to that rumor," Tifa shot down. "Until I got married, nobody had seen my breasts except for me behind closed doors."
That again. She said that a lot. But, in all fairness, it was the truth.
"Mrs. Strife?" asked another reporter.
"Ms. Strife," Tifa corrected.
"What about the picture of you wearing a short skirt and a belly shirt?"
"It's called a crop top," she replied. "Millions of girls and women wear crop tops. I'm not the first, and I won't be the last. But I work out. I take care of my body. I'm proud of it. And guess what? This is how you'll look if you take care of yourself."
To her surprise, there was a loud applause.
"I'd imagine your husband appreciates it!" another reporter shouted.
"I love Cloud more than anything," Tifa continued. "But I wear my crop tops for me, not him."
The crowd cheered again.
To each her own. As for me, I do own crop tops, I've only worn them while on a date with Tobin. I do wear them for him. But I certainly don't consider myself a hooker or a slut for wearing them. Tifa was right; list of girls and women rock them.
And I'm proud of my body as well.
Besides, how many guys stroll down the road with their shirts off?
But I'm not the only one with that opinion. The evening news that night had a field day with it. They asked this one mother of three what she thought of it, though I knew she would have a bias, as she was wearing a crop top.
"I think it's positive," she replied. "I think it'll encourage young women to take care of their bodies."
The icing on the cake came when they interviewed an eighty-year-old lady.
"I wish I looked that good in a crop top when I was twenty," she said.
ROUND 2
February 20, 0008
The second round of dirt came the next day, at another rally in North Corel.
"Gentlemen," Jack Balen began, "Tifa Strife is nothing but a nasty, violent woman. I've come in receipt of this violent video of her beating the shit out of someone."
He then played a video on a tablet.
Sure enough, it featured a nineteen-year-old Tifa, in her old crop top and miniskirt, punching a man.
"You think you can violate me? Objectify me? Well, you've picked the wrong girl to fuck with!" shouted a familiar alto on the tablet.
"Goddamn, Miss Lockheart," a voice that sounded like Barret's observed.
"Call me Tifa," she was heard saying.
The video ended there.
"There you have it," Jack Balen said. "She identified herself by name. And she beat up that poor gentleman unprovoked!"
The crowd booed.
Idiots.
There is an explanation, of course. This particular video was shot the year before, when Tifa was nineteen. The video was indeed accurate, but there was one crucial moment it was missing.
But they should have figured it out on their own, given what Tifa was saying.
Here's what actually happened.
This was when Barret first met with Tifa and asked her to join AVALANCHE. While he was interviewing her, a bunch of marathon runners ran by.
And one of them smacked her butt.
Not smart.
Mind you, the Shinra would never have prosecuted the perv; even rape was tolerated. So the former Ms. Lockheart, also aware that Barret would be interested in seeing her fighting skills, decided to take matter into her own hands and clobber him. He was left with a broken nose, but no permanent injuries.
LATER…
"He smacked me on the backside," Tifa honestly defended at her own rally that night. "That's called sexual harassment."
"Official channels," a reporter insisted. "Official channels."
"The Shinra was almost as sexist as the Downings," Tifa insisted. "They never would have gone after him. He would have just smacked one woman after another without a care in the world."
"But why beat him?" the reporter demanded.
"Well, basically because he slapped my ass," Tifa replied bluntly.
The crowd, to Tifa's surprise, cheered again.
"I'm a strong woman," Tifa continued, "but it does hurt. He assaulted me, and I had to defend myself."
The crowd cheered again.
"And, thanks to that viral video, now the whole world knows the consequences of treating a woman like an object."
The crowd roared in approval.
ROUND 3
February 21, 0008
The third pile of dirt came from that very rally and presented itself at a private meeting with Jack Balen, Sumner Balen, and a few staff, like Jack's secretary, who was organizing the files.
"A president who says 'ass,'" Jack Balen muttered. "Not professional material."
"You said 'shit' a few times," Sumner pointed out.
"Everyone's used to it," Jack insisted. "But Mrs. Strife is a lady. Ladies aren't supposed to swear."
"That sounded sexist," Sumner pointed out.
"The Downings are sexist," Jack corrected. "I'm just familiar with society's expectations. Trust me, I don't like the Downings, either, but it's a necessary evil."
"That's right," Sumner added. "They say you can't defeat her without them."
Jack grunted.
"What do you mean, I can't defeat Tifa Strife? I'll defeat her, and I'll defeat her badly. She won't know what hit her."
"And then, you'll fill the void," Sumner Balen added.
"I'll do more than fill the void after I defeat Tifa Strife," Jack Balen sneered. "I'll fill the void, and then I'll fill her void."
"She's married," the secretary pointed out.
"I don't give a shit," Jack Balen replied. "I've had more married women than President Shinra ever did. That says it all."
"Right," said the secretary as she handed Jack a cup of coffee.
LATER….
Tifa addressed that issue at a press conference that evening.
"I'm only human," was the answer she gave. "Everybody swears. I taught my husband every swear word in the book on my swingset when we were little."
The audience laughed loudly, which was almost enough to make them forget about the whole thing.
"If you have a problem with a president that says 'ass,' you're an ass," shouted someone in the audience.
"Thank you!" Tifa laughed.
"Ms. Strife," a female reporter began, "what about the time you said the R-word to Barret Wallace on the stairwell when you broke into Shinra Headquarters?"
"That never happened," Tifa dismissed. "We didn't even take the stairs. We stormed in through the front. But, yeah, I'm only human. I do swear just like everybody else."
The controversy ended at that moment. She did have a point; everybody swears. Even the Downings probably do. I sure as hell swear. I swear when I drop something. I swear when I stub my toe. I'd swear when Tobin and I had sex.
And, as you can see, I swear when I write memoirs.
Of course, there was a lot of dirt to dig on Mr. Balen as well.
THE STUFF THAT MIGHT HAVE GONE UNNOTICED:
In the game, if you decide to take the stairwell in the Shinra Building, Tifa does indeed utter the word she was accused of uttering. Of course, in the original Premonitions, they do go in through the front, thus negating that scene.