#A Story Retold; FF7R

[cloudyfenrir]

𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐃  &  𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐅𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 || ACCEPTING

@scorching-passion​​:  hand .   hold  out  a  hand  for  my  muse  to  take

Curse these dilapidated buildings, how is Cloud supposed to get to these drakes if the stupid rooftops decide to cave in? He really needs to learn that aerial combat is not his style and to stop taking on drake jobs.

As fate would have it, it seemed that the soldier he met during that little excursion to sector 4 had heard the clattering sounds of human crashing through wood and scrap metal and went to investigate. As Cloud laid in the mess after kicking a wooden beam off of him, huffing in irritation as a shadow comes into his peripherals. Roche holds out a hand to the now scruffy soldier, Cloud simply stares up at him for a few moments as he processes and processes until he realizes that Roche is offering to help him up.

Embarrassed at the state Roche has found him in, Cloud does take the other’s hand and allows himself to be helped up.

“That hurt like hell.” He dryly comments, brushing off the dust and dirt off of his uniform once on his feet.

[thefirstthaumaturge]

- Continue from X - @cloudyfenrir He was reacting to her. The aches...she felt them too. But, being here on this planet already for a couple of months made her accustomed to it. Thankfully, this pain wasn’t as severe when she approached other warriors. Jenova would be proud. Thinking that made her shake her head in disgust.  ❝ You sound defensive. Did I say something wrong? I was just observing you. ❞ Arialla may appear human, but she wasn’t of this world. Even trying to blend in as a human made her look awkward. She was trying her best.  ❝To answer your question, it means you’re suitable in protecting those who want to destroy this planet.❞

[cloudyfenrir]

As Cloud listened to Chadley explain his difficulty creating new materia, the SOLDIER was surprised to see the kid expressing such frustration; the fact that Chadley mentioned taking too long seemed very strange, the boy told him to always catch his breath and simply try again whenever Cloud struggled. Was Chadley stressed? Was the internship particularly harsh with punctuality? Who knows but it's clear the kid's struggling.

"Well... it's not like I'm doomed without new materia, there's no rush." Cloud replies, unsure of how to suggest Chadley get some rest as he seemed very, very work orientated.

"Maybe... you're tired. Rest will cure anything that ails you, from what I've heard." That seemed gentle enough, he wouldn't want to cause Chadley's temper to flare up even more; Cloud couldn't remember there ever being a time Chadley wasn't available, he questioned if the boy actually slept at all. Maybe a good night's sleep it's all Chadley needs and he'll be right back in the saddle.

"Don't worry about making up for anything. Would rather have working materia than something that'll blow up, y'know?"

Continued from here @cloudyfenrir​

Had it been a minor setback, as it usually happened, he would’ve been fine with it. Yet, today, no matter how hard he tried, his systems just weren’t functioning. Moving was proving to be a struggle, as if this body wasn’t his. In truth, half of it… or maybe most of it, really wasn’t. He had no idea how much of it was still… himself. Today was more proof of that. A blatant reminder that he was a mixture of materials, both organic and inorganic. Closer to unreal than anything else. 

He had managed to force himself to continue creating that materia he promised Cloud. Every move mechanical and much more stress-inducing than the other before it. How long had it been since Cloud had completed the tasks he had given him? He had been patient enough and yet he was still not done. 

Frustration had been the only fuel to actually make his body react. Anger soon came over and his tightened hand was soon hitting the wall. A hard blow, noticeable by the noise it caused… Quick breaths, just as mechanical as all the other actions. After the angered blow was gone, his systems maintained the difficulty that seemed to be the norm now. 

Different than all the other things going on in his head was the voice of Cloud that soon approached. Anger mixed with worry and the boy slowly turned to him, shaky and pathetic, trying to keep his faulty movements in check.  

“I cannot do it.” was his initial answer, unable to face his candidate. It was as simple as repaying him for his efforts… Couldn’t he do that? Did he really need ShinRa after all? That couldn’t be… “I cannot create your materia, despite having such splendid intel… It has been a long time already… I do not know what to do to make up for this blunder.” 

[mooncaps]

thoughts on FF7R’s ending

Spoilers for both the remake and the original will be discussed.

Ultimately we can't be sure what exactly they're trying to do here until we get future installments, but...

Yeah, I'm definitely less than fond of the Whispers as a plot element. They seem like a lazy conceit when you could just write actual reasons for the characters to do what they do, succeeding and failing on their own, rather than at the intervention of magic plot ghosts. And it really feels like a lose-lose situation they've written themselves into. Because if you change too many things, you disappoint people who wanted to see the original story retold. And if you don't change too many things, then the idea of struggling against fate feels disappointing because the future refused to change. The idea of Destiny vs Agency is an interesting philosophical discussion, but it's difficult (not impossible) to tell a satisfying story with those elements, especially in gaming where the player is (to some degree) controlling the characters.

That said, I think they could still make it interesting. Because there's that bit where Sephiroth says "Join me and we can defy fate together." So they could introduce elements of "did we do the right thing or is that what Sephiroth wanted us to do?" and then the choice of "do we need to put fate back on course or find a new way?" There could even be a twist within the twist where we find out that the Whispers weren't showing them the consequence of failing in the penultimate fight, but warning them of the result if they succeed. If the upshot of it is that the characters become arbiters of their own fates, that could theoretically become interesting. Especially with Aerith, if her death is not just a thing that happens to her but a choice she makes with full agency, it could add some depth to her sacrifice. Do I trust Nomura, Nojima, Kitase, et al enough to handle these things well? I'm not entirely sure.

The idea of the planet having a will of its own fits well with this story, but the particular implementation of the Whispers is complicated at best. And in part because this is a remake. If this were the only version of this story, it wouldn't be quite as much of an affront to introduce ideas of Fate, but having a remake where the characters are aware that things are supposed to happen a certain way is less than satisfying. I'll withhold full judgment until I've seen the full story, but I'm apprehensive to say the least.

And it's pretty clear that they've done this stuff with the Whispers and Zack just as a way to try and surprise people who played the original, but I didn't want to be surprised. I think many of the original game's audience probably weren't looking for these kinds of surprises when they picked this up. I assumed some Compilation stuff would be acknowledged. I assumed things would be scaled up in certain ways. I assumed they'd do a bunch of extra stuff with Sephiroth because of course they would. I'm even okay with Biggs surviving. It's this stuff with Zack and the Whispers that really throws me for a loop.

I'm not strictly opposed to the idea of seeing a story with these characters that takes a fundamentally different course, but it's not really what I was looking for when I bought a game called "Final Fantasy VII Remake." Fleshing out the story, adding depth and world-building is much appreciated. Changing it? Not so much for my mileage. Like, if they had announced this as "Final Fantasy VII Reborn" or something and been very direct in communicating that they would be mixing up the familiar story, then I and others would've gone in with those expectations and this lingering feeling of disappointment in the back of my mind wouldn't be quite so strong. Even so, I'm intrigued at the moment. It could still be an interesting story that they tell here. It's just that I wanted the original story retold, more-or-less as it was, which this remake was doing very well for the most part. I'm worried about whether or not future installments will be as satisfying if they deviate too far from what the original was like.

I also worry about how long it will take for the installments to release and how they're going to make this all feel like one cohesive narrative. Given the scale of this, and assuming they still follow a similar road map to the original, the full story could easily scale up to seven episodes if they put their minds to it, give or take how much they make of the areas between towns and what-not. The PS5 is right around the corner and, even knowing that they've got the game engine and lots of assets, I don't think we could dare to hope for anything faster than annual releases, if that. So, I do worry about how much more tangled this story can become if it's compounded by a scattered release over a long period time on multiple consoles. My dream is that the future parts will be more like large DLC expansions rather than wholly separate games, but I'm not holding my breath for that hope.

All these things being said, there are a lot of possibilities here. As I've said, I'm intrigued. If Zack really did survive, then my first questions are where did he go, why didn't he get in touch with Aerith, and why does Cloud have the Buster Sword? I suppose Zack surviving could always turn out to be a fake out and he gets shot down right after what we were shown, but I guess that remains to be seen. My thinking is, if Zack survived, then likely the next thing that would happen is that Cissnei would find him. Is she helping him hide now? Are they planning something? Did they arrange for Tifa to find Cloud? Why does Cloud have the Buster Sword?

And then there are even wilder theories floating around. Like Sephiroth (and/or Aerith) somehow traveled back in time after Advent Children to change things. I've seen suggestions of a multiverse, particularly with the image of Stamp looking different in Zack's time. Although Barret did mention that Shinra redesigned Stamp for propaganda purposes, so maybe the Stamp seen there is just from before that redesign happened. I'm not sure how likely any of these theories are and whether or not I'd enjoy those stories.

Regardless of all these factors though, I do like the game and I plan to buy the future installments of the story. I enjoy these characters, this world. Even though what I really want is to see the original story retold with this depth and these graphics, I'm also down for giving an AU reimagined version a chance to impress me. The characterization has been strong, the gameplay is pretty solid, and it's just generally an engaging and fun game so far. I fear the unknown, but I'm still interested in seeing how the unknown journey unfolds.

[cloudyfenrir]

"If you listen to my heart, it might help you fall asleep." - Roche

Cloud hadn't been sleeping. At all. His head was killing him and the sunlamps of the slums burned his eyes. Yet despite how tired Cloud felt, sleep never seemed to come to him; maybe a couple of hours but mostly laying awake in his apartment, his mind too full to settle down, his legs felt restless. It felt like an itch that couldn't be satisfied, laying down to sleep was long and uncomfortable.

It was starting to effect his mercenary work. Cloud had gotten so desperate that he was considering looking for Binding materia just to cast sleep on himself. Tifa tried a number of remedies that she knew of, tried warm milk, herbal tea, even introducing a curfew so the bright lights and music doesn't keep his mind too stimulated but none of it was working.

Upon hearing about Cloud's sleeping troubles, Roche invited himself over with his own remedy for sleep. Hearing it made the exhausted blond blearily arch an eyebrow at him. Listen to his heart? He wasn't a newborn, he was a SOLDIER. How would listening to Roche's heart help?

...He was desperate for some sleep though. With a defeated roll of his eyes, Cloud agreed to it. Initially regretting that decision upon realizing that he'd need to be resting on Roche's chest to do so, why did he assume he'd bring a stethoscope? After a brief tussle to try and find a comfortable position on Cloud's small bed, the soldier was resting Roche's chest listening to his heartbeat.

"...Is this it then? I just... lay here?"

[cloudyfenrir]

@badassbarmaid​​ || [x]

It was unlike Cloud to not come visit the bar after his mission. Even Wedge was asking about him that night. Tifa didn’t have an answer, telling the others not to worry. Maybe his work took longer than planned? She wasn’t sure, but ever since he came back into her life, she felt more compelled to keep tabs on him.

In case he vanished again.

Returning to her room late that night after closing, she thought she could hear coughing next door. Is Cloud sick? She thought about it before falling asleep.

The next morning, she asked Marle for a spare key into his room, due to her concerns. The old woman treated her like family and didn’t bat an eye at the request – she simply said to kick his ass if he was worrying her for no good reason.

“Cloud? Can I come in? It’s Tifa…”

When there was no answer at the door, she opened it and stepped inside, gasping at the sight of his sickly form collapsed in bed. Cloud–!

Some time later, he started to wake up. “Hey…” she greeted, removing the cool cloth she had been dabbing his forehead with. “…be careful, Cloud. You have a pretty high fever right now. How are you feeling?”

He didn’t seem at all concerned that Tifa was in his room despite not wanting people seeing him like this, out of everyone he knew he’d rather it be Tifa. Very slowly sitting up, his muscles and joints sore from his fever, he tried to act as normally as he could despite how grotty he felt. Coughing into his fist, his chest feeling heavy, whatever he had caught it was something fierce.

His breaths were slightly harsher as if he were trying to catch his breath from merely sitting up, he couldn’t breathe very well through his nose either.

“Feel like shit...” Cloud spoke to which he cleared his throat afterwards, talking clearly hurting the SOLDIER. He looked up to the barmaid with an almost defeated look on his face.

“I guess no merc missions today then--” Another cough into his fist. “This sucks...”

[cloudyfenrir]

🤒

🤒 Sick Days 🤧 || ACCEPTING

It started off with a sneeze, Cloud shrugged it off as the dust from the dry dirt of the slums -- Not much rain reaches down here after all. By nightfall Cloud's throat was very sore and he had begun to cough, he would usually visit Tifa at the bar after a his merc missions but he felt a bit more drained than usual so he decided on an early night.

Not the greatest sleep he's had, he kept waking up from his stuffy nose and drifting in and out of freezing cold and uncomfortably hot. Cloud was usually up and about very early in the morning, but today he still sleeping until late morning. Upon feeling something touch his warm forehead, Cloud opens his eyes and sees Tifa stood at his bedside.

"Tifa...?"

[cloudyfenrir]

STARTER CALL

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[cloudyfenrir]

❓ //For both Clouds, what do you think of children?

❓ HONESTY HOUR ❓ || ACCEPTING

"What do I think of kids? I... don't get on with them. Like it's not the kid's fault, I just don't know how to respond to them when they talk to me and, hoo boy, can they go on forever. I get on better with teens than I do really little kids... Although Marlene is an exception to that rule, everyone loves Marlene."

––––––––

"For the longest time I didn't realize that humans started off so small. [Tifa] had to explain it to me. The children of [Sector 5] allowed me into their hideout where they taught me about [Mog the Moogle], [The Slide] and [Whack-a-Box]. Children seem to have a different perspective on life than their older counterparts which as offered an enriching learning experience. I am very thankful for that."

[cloudyfenrir]

@starlightbrawler​ ordered a starter

Night had fallen over Midgar, as sunlamps dim to signal the end of another day, Sector 7 comes to life in the form of music, dancing and, of course, Seventh Heaven. Workers from the plate and even other sectors came to visit the bar for a night of drinks, laughter and decompressing.

After a long day of merc jobs, Cloud decided to visit the bar as he hadn’t had a chance to see Tifa all day; he usually only visited during the day when it was closed and she was setting up, it was quiet and almost comforting, but now it was bustling and noisy. It was nice to see Tifa in her element, cooking food, serving drinks, even chatting to some patrons; it was amazing how the barmaid managed it all when the soldier could barely look people in the eyes sometimes. Cloud was perched at one of the stools, he didn’t distract her, he didn’t call out to order anything, he quietly sat and got out a blank book to pass the time until she wasn’t swamped.

Lately Cloud had taken up some drawing, he realized that he didn’t have a map of the sectors and decided to start making some to make merc work a bit easier. 50gil later and the journal and pencil were his to begin his maps -- Starting with home base, Sector 7. Digging into his memory about where everything was roughly, he began sketching. Pulled away out of his trance when a drink came into his line of sight, he looked up from his book to see the barmaid before him.

“...Busy night, huh?” Cloud speaks, “Don’t think I’ve visited when it’s been this busy before.”

[cloudyfenrir]

Sitting on the steps of Stargazer Heights, Cloud was quietly whittling. During a merc job, he managed to find some wood in the scrapyard, all blocks that were too small to be anything useful outside of a doorstop. With the amount of cats that pottered around the slums, he had plenty of reference for the little models he was making.

Cloud didn’t know what he was going to do with these models, he didn’t have any desire to keep them, it was just something to do; he liked the sound and the feeling of carving wood, making a model or even a spoon was just that little extra sense of accomplishment he could strive for. It was calming, with all the static in his head Cloud needed a soothing hobby to do when monster hunting ran dry.

What could he do with these models, he wondered.

[cloudyfenrir]

@leslienkyle || [x]

Leslie reached out to grasp Cloud’s forearm from the bottom so he could assess the damage. The laceration looked deep and unforgiving. Wrapping it with a cloth tightly, the man grasped hard to stem the bleeding while reaching for his first aid kit.

In this small backroom unconnected to the main house, Leslie had everything in his reach. The first aid kid, though, seemed very well used and stocked.

“What were you trying to do, jam your hand down its throat?” He asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Within moments, he had doused the wound in isopropyl alcohol with a well-soaked swab and cleaned the blood away, being sure to rid it of all traces of the sahagin and the sewers.

“Do you want stitches?”

Cloud watched as Leslie began to treat his wound, wrapping a cloth around his arm in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

“Yeah, it’s my special move.” He jests as Leslie got the isopropyl alcohol, no amount of bracing himself would keep him from hissing through his teeth at how much it stung. It hurt but Cloud managed to keep still and allowed Leslie to began cleaning it, without all that blood the soldier could see how bad the wound was... Maybe he did need stitches but he was no doctor, if it was him treating this alone he’d probably just wrap it up.

“If you think I need stitches, put them in.” Cloud replied, from the pain he was in the blond was really lacking the energy to argue or be stubborn. He’ll just take it as it comes by this point -- As long as he can get revenge on that bastard of the sewers.

[cloudyfenrir]

@badassbarmaid​ ordered a starter

Cloud was having a rough night, dealing with people and their jobs, while the pay was good and he didn’t mind dealing with monsters, Cloud was not equipped with talking to people. It was exhausting without Tifa. To unwind after a long, long night, he decided to have a couple of drinks; he wasn’t drunk but certainly a bit numbed to the frustrated exhaustion he was feeling.

Halfway down another glass, out of the corner of his eye he sees Tifa sit down. Finishing his swig, he looks to the barmaid.

“Thanks for a drinks.”

[cloudyfenrir]

@cinderella-gurei​ || [x]

It was like nothing he had experienced before. One second he felt perfectly fine, the other he could barely stand. Noise, unbearable noise filled his ears, or rather his whole being. Was it the shriek of a monster? Or maybe the crash of a building? No, though he could hear it loud and clear, the noise belonged to his insides, whatever they were. He wondered, desperately trying to fix it, but quickly succumbing to the noise. His hands went to his ears as he struggled to even crouch, in an attempt to get rid of it.

At that moment, he even forgot he had been offering some materia to his candidate a few seconds ago. Hands trembling, he lowered his guard once he heard a familiar voice and then, the touch of something warm. He wasn’t slow to hold on to Cloud as tightly as he could, head resting on his chest, just as the other had suggested.

“I...” he muttered shakily, trying to reply to the other if even for a second. Yet, there it was... The steady rhythm, as if it were calling out for him. As if it wanted to comfort him. Yes, that sound, familiar and constant, it diminished the loud noise, replacing it with arriving comfort.

“C-Cloud?” he asked, hands gripping tight to his back as he remained attached to the heartbeats. “Is it... gone? Is the noise... finally gone?”

Cloud wasn’t sure what happened, Chadley seemed just fine earlier; he was pleased with the battle intel submissions, he even had a new materia for the soldier, so to see the boy double over as hands flew up to his ears came as a shock to the blond. He knew exactly what was going on, he had experienced the same feeling many times -- It was panic. Cloud knew how awful it felt but he was an adult, he couldn’t imagine going through that feeling at Chadley’s age... However old he is.

While he wasn’t the best at comforting others, and he didn’t even know if this would work, Cloud simply held the boy and advised him to listen closely -- To listen to his heartbeat.

Cloud found comfort in whittling due to the repetitive action and the sound of carving wood, it allowed his brain to focus on that rather than the crippling fear; Chadley needed something like that and what else was more repetitive than the sound of his heartbeat -- The teen was rather focused on it in the past, so perhaps this was something that would help. His heart was beating a bit faster than normal due to the worry, hopefully that won’t up Chadley’s worry. As a scared voice asked him if the noise was gone, Cloud simply offered a soft but firm pat on the teen’s back.

“Don’t worry about the noise, just keep listening...” Cloud spoke, not about to let go just yet. “Describe what you’re hearing if you have to.”

[cloudyfenrir]

💓

The Heart of a SOLDIER || ACCEPTING

Cloud was no stranger to these odd headaches and visions as of late, they seemed to arrive without warning or with triggers he was yet to be aware of; the hallucinations vary from flashbacks, dark feathers and ghostly figures to seeing Sephiroth stood before him, a sight so convincing that he could feel the man’s hand on his shoulder.

Today Cloud was experiencing such visions but this time it was accompanied by a new reaction -- Fainting.

With how run down most of the buildings were in the slums, for some of them to simply give way to the dirt below was unsurprising but the sound of the wood snapping and the bricks tumbling down to even the smell of the dust hitting his nose seemed to trigger a particularly sore memory about Nibelheim.

And Tifa standing before him seemed to intensify the visions.

Cloud was following Tifa... All her friends abandoned her one by one as they got higher and higher. There was the bridge. Cloud heard something snap and the two fell, the sound of rocks sliding down the mountainside deafened him and the dust it kicked up filled his lungs...

Falling...

Falling...

Gone.

Cloud had slumped to the ground as his mind shut off as if to protect itself from the flashbacks. As adrenaline still flew through his veins, his heart was racing and stumbling within his ribs. Cloud awoke to an odd pressure on his chest which seemed to accentuate the frightened jitters of his heart, that was when he noticed Tifa pressing an ear to his sternum...

What happened?

[cloudyfenrir]

🤒

Sick Daze (B SIDE) || ACCEPTING

Chadley did not look well, he hasn't looked well for the last couple of days, Cloud wasn't entirely sure what to do as he felt as though it wasn't his place to get into the kid's business... That was until Chadley collapsed.

Making sure the boy was still breathing, Cloud scooped him up and took him back to his apartment, which he then asked Tifa for advice. With Tifa's help, Chadley had a dampened cloth on his forehead, the fridge was stocked with water bottles and a pot of soup sat on the stove ready to be reheated.

With Tifa now gone, Cloud was quietly whittling as he watched over Chadley. The only sound in the apartment being that of a knife scraping on wood and the boy's breathing.