#anyways time to get on the wheel with aerith | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

browniefox · 10 months ago

Text

Alright, more Crisis Core, let's go! This one ended up being REALLY long (we got through two chapters), so I'm putting a read more some ways down so it doesn't kill people's dashes.

The boy said the line!

Yay, Cloud is finally here! He still clearly has the basic infantry model other than the head, but it does mean he stands in the casual almost sassy way they all do haha. In general, it's so weird but cute to see him smiling and laughing. Aw, he's not traumatized yet!

I knew what was coming, but my friend I'm playing with didn't, so it was fun to see her reaction (tho i totally still got so excited anyway haha).

This is just here bc I love them so <3 And then Tseng is also here being a third wheel. The sneaking portion that is right after this I sucked ass at. I couldn't make it five feet without being seen and tossed out, and I just had to wait until the game took pity on me and took the guards away.

Genesis, please I'm begging you just kill Hollander. I do love seeing his hair, once so bright red, getting grayer and darker, how his nice leather jacket is getting all broken, giving a sense that he's not taking care of himself and his things as much as he should be.

My sister has tried to stay more-or-less blind to what happens in Crisis Core (she knows some stuff, I know a little more) but all fics tend to use the same Loveless lines (which makes sense, of course) but I did end up reciting this quote with him bc it's one of my favorites, much to the shock of my sister.

I can't believe Zack really thinks Genesis died tho. Like, the guy has a wing, he can fly, falling is not gonna kill him. I'm still not totally clear what Genesis is trying to achieve, but I've been watching some of ButterBuns CCR videos and she's kind of given me a better sense of Genesis. He's just flailing around, trying to get something, anything, to work. He's a dying man who is desperate and doesn't even know himself exactly what he wants.

HELL YEAH! If the creators weren't cowards they would have let your models touch. Our new thing while playing is being proud of Zack for having two boyfriends and one girlfriend. The boy can get it.

As per usual, my biggest problem with this game is the writing - especially with Angeal, tbh. I guess Angeal is just like Genesis in that he's desperately trying to figure out who he is, monster or man. But every time he talks about being a monster I kind of roll my eyes. He's like an emo teenager. Last chapter I felt like it was getting a better grip and liking for him, but I'm kind of back to just being like 'what's your deal man'.

That being said, I kind of dig his weird monster form! It's a mishmash but super cool, and I love how his arms are folded in front of him. My friend and sister I don't think liked it as much and mostly made fun of it which, fair.

Mostly unrelated, but i really got myself into a big of predicament in that I'm super overpowered, which means I get through battles so quick, which also means I don't get to show off all the limit breaks and summons and such when we're playing ;-; but then I turn it to hard mode and die instantly.

I'm always a sucker for sad sunsets. I might not get Angeal or his deal, but I do at least buy that Zack cares about Angeal. It's kind of like Angeal was too set in his ways of monster vs heroes, and that a monster needs to be killed by a hero. That Zack is the only hero left to kill a monster like him, or that by doing so Zack proves he's a hero. But really all it's done is given Zack trauma and made him more uncertain than ever who he is and what he stands for.

(It kind of reminds me of near the end of Homestuck, when Dave and Dirk are talking, and Dave admits it's possible that Bro was trying to train him, but all it did was make him scared.)

I wish we got to spend more time in the game with Aerith, but at least you get the sense that they do spend more time with each other, especially with Aerith being there for Zack after this.

MY BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL BOY! I wish your limit break looked cooler tho :P

Wait, so are Angeal and Genesis brothers then?? I knew they were connected through Gillian, but I guess how connected never hit me. I mean, Angeal defo has her hair while Genesis has her face, but also I've been imagining and seeing them as boyfriends this whole time???

So many mixed feelings about Zack right now. The first thing is yay, new hair cut! My sister absolutely hated his bangs, so big win for her. I do like that you get to see that, as one of the last remaining Firsts, Zack has started to take on more of a leadership and mentor role for the other SOLDIERs. However, him telling them to protect their SOLDIER honor is weird when Zack doesn't know what that is either. I've felt it, but I am glad Zack himself has acknowledged that he doesn't know what that honor is or what it means. I hope we get to see Zack figure it out. I also like that Zack is kind of unmoored and uncertain now. Puts him in an interesting place for whatever's next.

Beach episode! It is FUCKING INSANE to me that Cissnei just... tells Zack that Aerith is an Ancient. Why? What was the point of that? Cissnei, you can't just say that! I guess it could be seen as her trusting Zack and demonstrating she wants to help him, but it's still so weird. It's nice Zack has been said to be hanging with the turks more, but I wish we could have gotten more of that in game. I don't think he even knows Reno and Rude's names.

BOOO TSENG SHOULD BE IN A SWIMSUIT TOO BOO!

So I know Genesis is still alive, but interesting that this is beign considered since it's Sephiroth's whole deal. Tbh, tho, I'm not sure how I feel about Tseng openly acknowledging that Mako is life. How much is that recognized in general, actually? I mean, people do fade into mako when they die... hm, much to think about.

The chase through the city was so dumb, I've had it with Hollander, how hard can it be to catch and/or kill one guy for real. That being said, I do like how cool the buster sword is, and at the end is Sephiroth :D I'm glad that Zack seems a little bitter towards Sephiroth; they're both mourning in different ways, and it's driven a rift between both of them. But at the same time, they're the closest thing they both have to someone who can understand what they're going through.

Shoutout to Zack's little fidgets :D He's still a restless little puppy, despite it all. Sephiroth and Zack's relationship is just so good and interesting, I need them to hang out more so I can see more of it.

God Genesis is so pretty. Both him and Angeal have fucked up looking wings - which adds to what they're going through - but I actually love it for Genesis. Again, what is this dude's goal? He'll probably tell you once he figured it out himself. I love the reveal that he was also at Junon this whole time. Interesting parallel to how the Firsts fought 'at Junon' altogether and now they can't be further apart.

I need to pet that dog! Is Angeal still alive?? I totally thought he died, he has to be dead, right? Just living on in his copies? Anyway, the dog should be a character who manages to live forever because I love him. Also, laughed so hard when the little Shinra robots came into the church oh my god, it's not supposed to be funny I think but it's hilarious how non-threatening they look.

Wow Kunsel, jealous much?? Also, a little creepy? Is my boyfriend stalking me? If I trusted Kunsel, at this point I'd think he was going to betray me at some point, but I trust him too much for that. It seems more like Kunsel just doesn't know how to say 'I'm worried about you and you should talk to me about what you're going through'. I love Kunsel <3

As usual, this game feels like it goes too fucking fast. It's always one thing after another, nobody's talking or explaining things. Maybe it's because you're expected to do side missions every so often? That would probably break things up a bit more. God, there's such an interesting story here! I just wish it was told better.

Also I've been playing so much of this game and only just learned you can sprint :P

#browniefox speaks #ffvii #ff7 #crisis core #ffviicc #brownie plays ccr

10 notes · View notes

xdevilrushx · 18 days ago

Text

Context: Excerpt pulled from an AerS*ph fic. If you've ever wondered why I dunk on this "pairing" every chance I get, wonder no longer.

Imagine thinking you're cooking while forcing Aerith to say something this stupid, fucked-up, and vile to one of her closest friends. Just how bad of a writer do you have to be to think that this is in any way meaningful character development?

Further context: Against my better judgment, I decided to check out this story to see if I could at least tolerate AerS*ph. I've long avoided this largely unremarkable pairing, given how utterly disrespectful its devotees tend to be towards the rest of the cast, so much so at times that it borders on being self-parodic. I've been more than happy to give it a wide berth ever since my early encounters with it. But for some reason, I was feeling charitable today. So I'm thinking that maybe it's just a few bad apples giving me the wrong impression. Maybe we can all get along and ship together in peace.

But no. This story is emblematic of why this venereal disease of a so-called pairing deserves nothing but scorn.

The closing scene, in particular, is a vile, ugly mess, both figuratively and literally. The writer in question actually has the temerity to force Aerith to tell Cloud that he didn't do a good enough job as a bodyguard, and that he "sucked at it, and I died anyway", all while she is shacking up with the man who not only murdered her, but also Cloud and Tifa's parents, and altogether did his best to make their lives a living hell. There are no words for the sheer mental disconnect involved in such a disgusting display. It is so painfully obvious when a writer is clumsily forcing their own views and words upon an unwilling character, and whoever this literary meat puppet is meant to be, she bears absolutely no resemblance to the real Aerith. (In fact, she tells Cloud the exact opposite in Advent Children. You should all know this by now.)

Let's not forget that Sephy didn't just kill Aerith to stop her from getting in the way of his plans. He did it to harm her friends and cause them emotional anguish, as well. Just because she's come back to life doesn't mean that the damage has been undone, and to think that she would choose to inflict further harm and humiliation upon her friends in this way tells me that whoever wrote this either does not understand her as a character, or simply chooses to ignore how she would actually behave in favor of how they would like her to behave. (And is merely projecting their own simping tendencies upon a fictional character. One wonders what poor Aerith ever did to deserve this kind of treatment.)

Furthermore, if they wanted to do an AerS**h short, they could have simply left Cloud and co. out of the story altogether, but they just couldn't help themselves, it would seem. So instead, they wheel them out like this in order to manufacture cheap, contrived drama.

Garbage like this is why people rightly hate on the idea of AerS*ph (And S*fikura etc.) So here's to more hatred and scorn being heaped in its direction. The morons who prop up this blight of a so-called ship deserve every bit of derision they receive.

#ff7 #anti-aerseph #this fandom is a joke

1 note · View note

meltykarasu · 11 months ago

Text

Final Fantasy VII Remake Advent Calendar — Dec. 24

Cloud and company ascend into the executive suites pursuing the trail of alien blood and eventually he wanders into President Shinra's office, where the man himself has been thrown out the window. He's offering anything. Money. Power. Anything you want.

"I want my father back, you son of a bitch," Barret says.

Nah, just kidding. Barret does tell him to clear AVALANCHE's name and then the President pulls a hidden gun on him—

And then is immediately killed by Sephiroth, who also stabs Barret.

Sephiroth mutates into Alien Freakazoid JENOVA Dreamweaver with one of my favorite battle tracks in the entire game. See, it's an arrangement of the original JENOVA theme but it doesn't hit you with it at once, subtly working in the layers as the fight progresses until you hit the last phase and the iconic synths start in and you're like "Now! That's What I Call Boss Music!"

Anyway, you gotta cripple its tentacles or somethin' like that. I just really dig the music.

Anyway then the illusory battlefield it's pulled Cloud's party into fades. Barret's life is saved by one of the Whispers and Cloud chases after what appears to be Sephiroth, hauling the black-cloaked corpse of what had been Jenova until it was beaten and reverted to seemingly being human. The Sephiroth he's pursuing is ALSO a man in a black cloak, who leaps from the building to parts unknown.

AVALANCHE's helicopter descends to the heliport but is promptly blown up by an arriving Shinra helicopter. It's Rufus Shinra, everybody! [APPLAUSE]

Cloud says he'll delay Rufus if Barret gets Aerith out and then comes one of my favorite boss fights in the entire game — a solo fight between Rufus and Cloud, guest starring Darkstar, Rufus's pet guard hound. Rufus is just a really dynamic fighter and the entire fight is really fun. I don't know how else to describe it.

After the fight Rufus escapes via helicopter and attempts to blow Cloud off the side of the heliport. He's saved by Tifa at the last second.

Barret, Aerith, and Red XIII descend down the elevator but are waylaid by The Arsenal, another Shinra mech. This is not one of my favorite boss fights, mostly because I like playing as Cloud and Tifa a lot more than Barret and Aerith. I blew a lot of Aerith's MP early and it was a lengthy fight because he would not do the thing that let me stagger him.

Meanwhile, Whispers throw Wedge out a window.

Barret's group heads down to the lobby where they are met with Shinra infantry and Heidegger, but then Cloud appears on a motorbike at the last second and does some sick moves to defeat the troops while Tifa pulls up in a dinky pickup truck to grab the rest of the gang. They leap out a window and head down the incomplete expressway.

Whispers swarm the Shinra Building, covering it completely.

Shinra pursues the escapees, throwing a bunch of soldiers and mecha at them including the Motor Ball, an interesting boss which is now fought entirely on the bike, involving repeatedly staggering it by crippling the wheels, and then racking up over 500% damage by doing this several times over. It's interesting.

The gang pulls to a stop because Cloud saw Sephiroth and the Whispers, which is an awful band name. They confront him and he vanishes into a portal and Aerith makes her own portal. Inside, they are confronted by the massive Whisper Harbinger and its gang of Whispers, and basically you have to fight a bunch of the little guys to destroy the big guy. It's an okay boss fight but it's barely about the big guy except for thirty seconds at the end.

Then Sephiroth shows up!

This is a GREAT final boss fight. Sephiroth is in top form here — fast, agile, lethal, he swaps between different elemental weaknesses and affinities at points. He puts a lot of pressure on the currently controlled character, which makes switching pretty necessary. That said, I kept whacking him with Cloud's counterstrike, which is basically how I cheesed most of the bosses tonight. All those Whispers? Counter. Jenny? Counter. Rufus? Counter, and his dog too.

It starts as a solo fight but then you get Aerith and man, when I said he pressures the fuck out of your controlled character, he could NOT stop stabbing Aerith! Eventually Tifa also shows up and throws down and thank god because she has the Cure-All setup going.

I wound up beating Sephiroth with about 30 seconds to spare before midnight.

Anyway, Cloud pursues Sephiroth into the edge of creation and Sephiroth implores him to join him. They duel but Cloud is outclassed. Meanwhile Rufus takes control of Shinra and the people of Sector 7 begin to rebuild.

I did not edit this screenshot to make it look like it was snowing.

Cloud and company stand outside Midgar. Cloud knows that Sephiroth is still out there and wants to pursue him and the rest join in for the sake of the Planet's ongoing health. It begins to rain.

And I, personally, thank you for reading. See you next year!

#ffvii advent calendar #final fantasy vii

1 note · View note

amoirsetpacis · 1 year ago

Text

★ --;; Vash can't help but huff a small laugh at her optimism. "He-- Knives-- well. He's still learning to get along with people. Not a very big fan of 'em, y'see." Though, maybe someone like Aerith might be able to weasel her way a bit closer, if her demeanor was anything to go by.

A hand reaches out for a high five over a sucessful mission, ut getting called out for the unmaskable mush in his voice gets him bashful again in an instant. "S'it really that obvious ...?" A hand comes up to the back of his neck out of habit; for as much as his name matched his bombast at times, he's honestly a bit shy. In that regard getting the subject turned away from his is a welcome relief, honestly, and he grabs hold of it as soon as the out is offered.

"Oh! I know Eiden," Vash pipes up. "He-- uh-- tired to help me learn how to skate." Are they from the same world, then? It hadn't really come up exactly where the other was from. "Didn't exactly go all that well though, haha." Despite how agile he could be, there were more than several occasions where any form of grace at all left his body completely. Ice ( or wheels, apparently ) beneath a desert dweller's feet just happened to be one of them.

It's not a surprise that she's able to list folks off as she does; even for someone who tends to get on with most folks like a house on fire, Aerith feels easy to talk to. If it weren't for her earlier comment about watching others come and go, he'd honestly and be more surprised that the list wasn't a mile long.

And then she mentions the dead ex.

Fingers begin toying with one another out of habit, out of want for something to do and in an attempt to keep from picking at his already abused cuticles. It's not her fault he's like this-- she shouldn't have to listen to his sob story anyway, especially with her own approach to the topic. Even with having the chance to speak with someone in a similar situation to him and Wolfwood, actually talking about it makes that horrible sick feeling roil in his gut. It's something he'd rather not broach on. There are a great many things that sit behind that barrier, really.

"Ah, sorry," Vash gets out, visibly wilting a bit, though the look on his face hardly matches. "Didn't mean to bring somethin' up that was gonna hurt. Awful first meeting manners, and all that. Let me make it up to you?"

"No kidding?" A twin, that's interesting. It was one thing to have a sibling, but a whole other person that existed with your face and an entirely different personality of their own was another. That's amazing, she thinks. It must be quite the experience. "Vash and Knives…" she mumbles, eyes scanning the flowerbed for whatever weeds were left. Hardly any, as she and Vash had made quick work of them already though her hands moved to clip the remaining few that she could see and that were pointed out to her. "Oh, I can handle grumpy. Besides, he's technically the other half of you, he'll probably like me too!" a cheeky grin eases its way, followed by laughter soon after.

Aerith carefully steps over the flowers to get those last bunch of weeds that Vash points out to her, and once they're cut she balls up her fist into a triumphant fist pump. "Oh yeah? Sounds like a good guy! Reminds me of a friend of my own." Livio, that is. Carefully, she makes her way back to Vash and her basket on the ground before heaving a sigh of relief. The weeding was done for the season, and now she could focus more on their conversation! "Well, I figure that's how most relationships work, don't they? Your partner's supposed to be your best friend first."

Finally, she starts packing away the weeds along with her garden shears and settles into crouching down again into her comfortable position. "Jeez…just the way you talk about him, you're like a lovesick puppy. It's cute!" Chin in hand, Aerith looks thoroughly amused at Vash's goofy expression. It's funny how sometimes the less you say about a person could also paint the clearest picture.

And finally, it comes time to talk about herself, to which she takes a deep breath, puffs out her cheeks, and slowly blows out air like she's some sort of deflated balloon. Where did she even begin with that? "I've got a couple of friends!" She straightens up and counts them off one by one on each finger, "There's Yor, really sweet but a bit heavy-handed. NJ, who I used to live with but then I moved out, she's kinda on the wild side. Aaaaand Eiden! Who I just met not too long ago. Really sweet guy who has a pet rooster which I think is super cool. Really fun to talk to, too."

As for her love life, well, that's a little bit more difficult to talk about and there's definitely some hesitation before she continues on. "My ex shows up sometimes," she shrugs. "It's complicated. He kinda…died and he's very much not dead when I see him here." Talking about Zack was still kind of awkward for her, but not really. She just didn't like people feeling like they had to feel bad for her. "Had a guy I kinda liked a while back. Real princely type, fluffy hair, and soft eyes…but he left! So, that's that. I'm not really seeing anyone right now. I'm just kinda cruising along and seeing what happens, y'know?" She laughs it off as best as she can. "It's a little hard these days to meet people, but when I meet someone good then I try to hold on."

#[ ic. ]#gaiaspoken

26 notes · View notes

gluecookie · 3 years ago

Text

Got tagged by @screamingbuttgoblin, ta to you!

crules: tag nine people you want to get to know better/catch up with, then answer these Q’s

three ships: i reread the entirety of the fullmetal alchemist manga in 5 days while having covid. thanks to that sudden urge, i’m currently really into Greed/Ling. i remember when i was 16 that i didn’t like that Ling was taken over by Greed. despite the fact that Ling survives so they end up with roommates sharing one body situation, and getting surprisingly along and care a lot about each other. but now as an adult my brain went ‘YES’ so now i’ve written 5000 words into a slowburn au fanfic. the things that happen when you reread the things you loved as a teen and have completely different take aways from the story and completely different interest in ships.

i’ve been playing through all the final fantasy games with a friend, and my brain latched onto tifa/aerith. i love that on the surface, you’d think tifa would be the tough girl and aerith would be the femme petite girl. but their personalities are exactly opposite that- tifa is the femme petite butch girl and aerith is a cute unhinged cryptid. and i love that they care for each other so much!!! sigh. my heart. i love to imagine them in various AUs so i can ignore that aerith dies. i’ve been meaning to write fanfic for them, but i’ve been having trouble coming up with plots to get my brain going.

then there’s xena/gabrielle ofc. a friend and i have xena evenings once a week or so, now we’ve reached season 5 and dear god that show is off the rails. it is so obvious how much the production team wanted xena/gabrielle to happen. but since the company was owned by a homophobic american tv studio they couldn’t do it, so every time xena and gabrielle kiss or declare their love for each other on screen, one of them is always bodyswapped into a man or they will shove in a third wheel man between them to make it het. i am screaming. anyway, i’m currently read a lot of xena au fics because the canon is a goddamn screaming mess.

last song: probably a Marco Beasley recording.

last movie: i’m watching the master and margarita tv show with my parents.

currently craving: spring!!! i’ve never before in my life been so invested in spring. i’m craving when i can start working outside again. i want to dig my fingers into soil, come home dirty with mud from top to toe

currently reading: karel Čapek’s the gardener’s year. very cute little book about his gardening. can relate.

no-pressure tagging names in no particular order in case people want to do this under the cut

@degenezijde @almostliving84 @pasiphile @lionowlonao3 @the-book-life-chose-me @the-book-life-chose-me @nightmigrations @cottoncandyepet @keraaminenkettu @cocktailpolitics

#///////////////////#//////////////////////////////#///////////#//////////////////////////////////////////

3 notes · View notes

hyperionswrath--archived · 3 years ago

Note

The only warning he among a couple other pedestrians had was an unholy scream before the disaster unfolded. Aerith had been riding her faithful old bicycle downhill and made to initiate a smooth turn into one of the smaller streets of the crown city when the chain snapped. She jerked the handlebars with an initial reaction of surprise, not entirely knowing what had happened but hearing something that didn't bode well. With the pedal brake rendered useless she was the equivalent of a high-speed projectile now... and not a rational one, had she been thinking she would have gained back control and continued into the side street faster than she had prepared for.

In that moment of panic she lost control with the one warning scream they all had to clue them into something being very wrong. The wayward young woman fell onto the gravel in such an awkward way that she skinned up the back of one leg and the side of the other along with her hands. But worse, the bicycle traveled on, hitting the gutter and sending it into a dangerous flip with the potential to hit him along with other innocent bystanders in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Afternoons in the Crown City meant two things for Seifer Almasy: The end of his shift and his obligatory afternoon beer. Of course just to celebrate surviving another day dealing with the dipshits of the Kingsglaive that were not Luche or Tredd. Honestly, who could stay sober with those untalented fucks all around getting themselves either killed off or being too busy crawling up their so-called Heroes ass? Scoffing, Seifer smashed a yen bill onto the counter and grabbed the provided cool can, opening it with a pleasing fizzling sound. Life was good right now. The sun was about to set, the entire night just before him to booze up and get his mind off things that shouldn’t be occupying space there anyway, and - Just when he had lifted the can to his mouth he heard the ruckus break out somewhere behind him. Frowning, he had just enough time to make an instinctual jump to his right, crashing into a young man who was just ordering his own things from the small and overstuffed sales booth, sending him toppling down to the pavement by his sheer tall, muscular form alone (and well, maybe because of his elbow landing uncomfortably close to the poor guy’s ribcage). What the fuck?! Not bothering with the cursing figure to his feet or the flabbergasted looks of everyone around, Seifer turned just in time to see what positively looked like a bike crash into the booth, sending items flying left and right as the front wheel got stuck in the small space where the vendor’s head had been seconds ago. The tall blond blinked. Once, twice, then leaned forward to see if said vendor had been smashed in the face. Apparently that wasn’t the case since he immediately re-appeared, cursing in what seemed to be three languages at least while he yanked at the wheel, trying to pry it from his precious booth and at the same time busy with inspecting the damage it had done to his wares. Not being able to help himself, Seifer chuckled, the chaos of it all being just to his liking. Not so much however did he appreciate the fact that his maneuver had sent his beer flying, landing somewhere on the ground behind him and spilling it’s desirable contents while part of the same trickled down his Kingsglaive uniform. Good thing it was made of leather. Shaking his hand to rid it from the worst of the wet, foamy drink that had spilled there, Seifer glanced around to find the root of the bicycle attack, spotting it in form of a small and rather worse for wear looking girl on the floor. Ah. Excellent. Mind set to what he’d do next, the tall blond turned towards the booth again and grabbed the bike, rather unceremoniously yanking it free from it’s imprisonment and hoisting it up over his shoulder, before he wandered over to the brunet on the floor, coming to stand before her, looming. “I hope ya plan to buy me a new beer?” He cocked his head to the side, smirking, bike still safe in his grip as he quirked a brow in anticipation of an answer.

#.starters answered #.listen here madam HOW DARE YOU HAVE AN ACCIDENT #.the good beer - wasted!#.he's such a show off too...#.thanks for sending this in!

7 notes · View notes

sephyathredon-writing · 4 years ago

Text

In the Hands of Hojo (FFVII Remake)

((I have been wanting to write this one for a while! This is a very dark fic and contains mentions of needles and injections. I may continue this if people want me to, but I’m not sure where I would go from here.))

Barret was the first to wake. Getting to his feet quickly, he brandished his gun arm, ready to shoot. He looked around, quickly spotting the bulletproof barrier that stretched out in front of him, the same kind he had shot at earlier, when he had tried to put an end to Hojo.

He took a moment to look beyond the glass and let out a gasp at what he saw.

Cloud was there, on the other side of the barrier, restrained to one of the chairs they had seen when they fought the brainpots. He hadn’t woken up yet. Professor Hojo stood next to him, grinning.

“Cloud!” Barret shouted, shooting at the barrier, directly at Hojo. It was no use, it didn’t even scratch it. Just as Barret stopped, he became aware of other people waking up behind him. Aerith and Tifa stood up, looking around in confusion. They both seemed to see Cloud and Hojo at the same time, as they gasped almost in unison.

“Cloud!” They both called out his name and Tifa immediately began punching the glass in front of her. Barret took a moment to look at the layout of the room some more, noticing that it was a small one, divided only by the barrier with no visible exits on their side.

“Ah, so you’re finally awake, and here I thought you were going to waste my precious time.” Hojo finally spoke, his tone smug and self-assured.

“Just what are you gonna do to Cloud!?” Barret asked, using his gun arm to punch the barrier, his teeth gritted together and his expression one of hatred.

“Why don’t you be patient and see?” Hojo moved to the monitor that stood to the side of the chair and flipped it on, staring at each of the arms that surrounded the chair for a moment. Near the monitor there was a table, on wheels so it could easily be moved, that was full of different things, none of which Barret could really identify. He just knew that several of them were bottles, likely for injections.

Hojo looked them over for a moment before he finally chose one. He moved to block their view of Cloud, so that he was the only person the other party members were looking at. He presented the bottle, It was brown with a white label and not much else. “Does anyone know what this is, perhaps?”

“We’re not going to play any of your games anymore!” Tifa shouted, continuing to punch at the wall.

“No? Well then, what about you, miss Ancient?” He gave a wicked smile, showing the bottle to Aerith. This was the perfect way to break her, mentally.

“I… I don’t know. Just, don’t hurt Cloud. I’ll… be your test subject forever if I have to… just leave him alone.”

At that, Hojo cackled, “I already have all of you in my custody, why would I ever agree to those terms? You mistake me for a fool.” Then he laid his eyes on Barret, “What about you? Any idea what this is?”

“No, but knowin’ you, It’s some kinda poison.” Barret’s voice was seething with hatred as he spoke.

“Correct! I didn’t expect you of all people to get it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” Barret shouted, banging his arm against the barrier once more.

Hojo didn’t answer, instead he addressed the room again, “This is a very rare poison with a name I won’t even attempt to pronounce because the significance of it would probably be lost on the three of you. Anyway, I’ve tested this many times on various subjects, some of which were mere shinra grunts, some were monsters.”

“The humans I tested it on felt immense pain, they told me it felt like they were being torn apart atom by atom, within ten minutes of the injection, they died. The monsters were largely resistant to it, though they did feel some pain. However, I’ve never tested it on a SOLDIER before. It’s more noticeable when they go missing.”

Realization slowly donned on the group.

“Hell no! You ain’t putting that stuff in Cloud!” Barret backed up, firing bullets into the barrier again. It had to have a weak point, sooner or later, it had to give way. Barret prayed it was sooner than later.

Tifa followed Barret’s lead, continuing to punch. Aerith watched Hojo, horrified at the implication. She looked back at Cloud, and was startled by the fact that his eyes were open and he was looking back at her.

He was awake, and he had likely just heard everything that Hojo said.

As Hojo approached, Cloud looked up at him, defiance clear on his face, “You won’t get away with this.” He used his SOLDIER strength to try and wrench himself free from the chair, twisting his arms and legs at odd angles to see if there was a way he could possibly slip through, he did this as Hojo moved to the arm with the needle attached to it. He seemed busy for the moment.

“Just keep it up, Tifa” Said Barret from the other side of the room, “This wall’s going to break, soon. I can feel it. We’re gonna get Cloud out of there.”

Despite saying this, Barret could only watch helplessly as the arm moved, getting closer and closer to Cloud’s arm which was restrained at both the wrist and upper arm, likely to prevent him from moving around too much during the injection.

Cloud closed his eyes as he felt the cold needle press into warm flesh on his arm. His struggling picked up to a feverish pace, as did his teammates' attempts to break free. Aerith joined in, hitting the barrier with her staff, a panicked look on her face.

Tifa stopped once the needle came back out, empty, pressing her hands and face to the glass and calling Cloud’s name, tears falling down her cheeks.

Barret kept going, seeing nothing but red as he alternated between shooting the glass and pounding on it with his arm or his human fist.

Hojo stepped back over to the monitor, likely to record any observations made during the experiment.

Cloud had gone still as soon as the needle was pulled out, ceasing his struggling. His head was tilted up and his breaths were shallow.

Hojo grinned once more, “Lets see once and for all what SOLDIER really is. Man or Monster?” Of course Hojo was the only one who knew the truth about Cloud, but it was too easy to mess with him.

“You asshole!” Tifa yelled at him, resuming her punches, “Why couldn’t you just leave him alone!?”

Hojo ignored her, his eyes glued to his specimen. He certainly didn’t miss it when Cloud’s arm muscles began to twitch, or when his feet tried to kick out, despite being restrained. This wasn’t the same type of struggling as before.

“Heh, very interesting. Seems you are a human after all, or maybe somewhere in between?” Hojo spoke.

“Aaah!” As if on cue, Cloud let out an airy scream, his eyes opening wide. He could feel it, a warmth spreading through his body that was threatening to devour him, like fire.

The scream stopped the members of his group in their tracks, like clockwork. They watched on in horror as Cloud arched his back up out of the seat and screamed, louder this time. Once he was done, he slumped back down, exhausted already.

Barret focused his gaze from Cloud to the barrier he had been hitting, noticing that light cracks had appeared, “Tifa, Aerith, we’re almost there!” He continued trying to break it once more.

Hojo hadn’t heard them at all, effectively blocking out anything that didn’t have to do with his experiment. It no longer mattered the Cloud’s teammates were there. He continued to observe as Cloud’s symptoms got worse. The SOLDIER’s mouth was open, but no scream came this time, only small noises of pain. Cloud mumbled things to himself incoherently.

Hojo barely caught the sound of breaking glass, and it was enough to break him out of the trance he was in. He glanced over at the barrier only to find it gone. Barret’s gun was now pointed at his face. Hojo smiled, even despite the position he was in, and pressed a button on the monitor. Seemingly out of nowhere, a few of Hojo’s specimens attacked the party, allowing Hojo to get away.

“Good luck trying to cure him.” He taunted from the elevator he had escaped to, “I doubt you’re smart enough to figure out which is the antidote.”

“Dammit!” Barret shouted, shooting at Hojo and barely missing. Instead, he turned his attention to the four specimens that were around him.

“Tifa and I have got this! Aerith, See if you can help Cloud!” Barret didn’t wait for an answer. He punched the nearest one with his gun, and then started shooting at it.

Aerith didn’t give an answer, she just started looking for something that might have seemed like an antidote among the bottles that Hojo had brought down. She had no clue where to even start. If she put the wrong thing in Cloud’s body, then he could feel even worse pain, It could cause him to die quicker, so she really didn’t want to just go with a guess.

And then there were the noises Cloud made. His back arched once more off of the chair and screams were dragged from his throat. His arms and legs shook and tears were forced from his eyes, dribbling down his cheeks.

Somewhere in the back of Cloud’s mind, he feels like he’s had to deal with pain like this before. The pain of a substance burning through his body. Perhaps he’d been caught in the flames when Sephiroth burned down his hometown? He didn’t know and his brain was too fuzzy to really work. He could barely make out the form of Aerith through his blurred vision.

“Ah… Aerith! It burns… It burns so much…” His voice was thick with pain, “f-feels like I’m being t-torn ap-art…” He tried to stop another scream from being ripped from him, but he failed. Aerith looked up at him with sad eyes.

“It’ll stop soon Cloud, we’ll get you out of there, we’ll find the antidote, I promise.” she went back to reading the labels of each bottle. They hadn’t gotten a name, but they had gotten the clue that it was very hard to pronounce. she went over to the arm that Hojo had put the poison bottle into and fished it out, reading the name on the label, then she went back over to the others, comparing bottles. She was looking for something with the name of the poison and then the word ‘antidote’. That was the best way she could think of to go about the situation.

Cloud’s cries of pain spurred her on, but she knew she had to keep herself from making hasty decisions. She forced herself to slow down so she could read the labels despite her shaking hands and teary eyes.

Once Barret and Tifa were done fighting, Aerith had narrowed it down to three bottles that included the same words that were on the poison one.

“We gotta get Cloud outta here. Hojo’s likely going to send more trouble our way.” Barret spoke up. “Did you find the antidote yet?”

“I’m trying.” Aerith’s voice was shaky and full of emotion.

Barret’s expression turned soft, It was obvious that she was scared of losing Cloud, as much as the rest of them were. “Lemme see.” He picked up the bottles Aerith had narrowed down and examined each of the labels, comparing them to the one for the poison.

Tifa, meanwhile, was by Cloud’s side, brushing her hands gently through her hair and trying not to cry as she caught sight of him struggling to get out of the chair, as she heard his cries of pain. She reached down and placed one hand over Cloud’s.

“I’m here Cloud. The pain will stop soon, I promise.” She spoke softly, letting some of her concern slip through. She was surprised when Cloud opened his eyes and looked up at her.

“T-Tiiifffa…” The SOLDIER eyes that met her red ones were glazed over with pain, but it seemed like he could still speak, though his voice was weak, “T-Tifa… remember the -ah!- the night we spent un… ngh.. under the stars in n-nib-n-”

“Save your strength Cloud. You can tell me when you get through this. You will get through this.” Tifa’s hand squeezed Cloud’s a little tighter. The only thing the man replied with was a small nod.

A growl from Barret interrupted them, he was clearly getting frustrated, “We’re wasting time by doing this, Cloud could die at any moment. I’m goin’ with this one.” He snatched up one of the bottles and a syringe, approaching Cloud.

“Barret! You can’t just guess!” Aerith replied in an alarmed tone of voice.

“Tryin’ to figure it out aint gettin’ us nowhere. We have a one in three chance and my gut is telling me that this here is the right one.” He set the bottle down on the smaller tray next to the table and grabbed the syringe, filling it up to the recommended amount.

Just as Barret was about to give Cloud the injection, The SOLDIER’s body erupted into spasms that shook him and caused him to loudly cry out.

“Dammit! Tifa! Hold him still! I don’t want to mess this up!”

She nodded and took her hands away from Cloud’s hair and hand to place them on his shoulders. She made eye contact with him as she did.

Aerith stood a few feet away from the chair, letting them to their work, but her eyes were glued to Cloud.

The blonde let out an involuntary whimper as cold metal pierced his skin once more. A wave of silence swept over the room as the substance was injected into his veins as Cloud’s spasms died down. Barret, Tifa, and Aerith were all holding their breath.

For a while, Cloud was still. His eyes were closed and his breathing still shallow. Slowly, it began to even out. They waited for Cloud to open his eyes, only to realize that he had passed out. They all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“See, what did I tell you? Don’t underestimate the power of a gut reaction.” Barret replied with a smile, clearly trying to lighten the mood. He quickly got to work breaking Cloud out of his restraints, until Tifa approached with the keys that Hojo had left behind in his haste. With a nervous chuckle, he took the keys and unlocked the cuffs on his side before giving them to Tifa so she could do the same.

Gently, Barret picked Cloud up. It was awkward since he only had one hand, but he was able to do it. Cloud’s head rested on his human arm while his legs went over the gun one.

“Awright, let’s get to the roof. There’s a helicopter waiting to take us home.”

Aerith and Tifa both nodded

“Wait…” Aerith looked around for a few moments, “We have to get Red back.”

Barret looked around as well, letting out a curse, “There’s nothing we can do for him if he was taken back down, we gotta look after our own skins. The rescue mission was supposed to be for you, remember?”

Aerith nodded, “Hopefully he evaded Hojo and is somewhere on this level.” She started heading out the door.

“Who knows, I don’t even know if that bastard, Hojo would even let us go up. He could keep us here for all eternity.” Barret said.

Tifa didn’t reply, just stuck close to Barret and Cloud.

“Oh, right. One more thing.” Barret replied, turning on his heel, “Sorry Cloud, I gotta do this.” He adjusted Cloud so the man was over his shoulder and held out his gun arm, shooting up all the bottles that Hojo had lined up on the cart. He didn’t stop until every bottle had been shot through

“There, that should put a dent in Hojo’s research.” Barret kept Cloud over his shoulder as he left, after all, he would need his gun arm free for fighting off the other experiments that dwelled in the drum.

#whumptober2020 #no. 11 #struggling #Final Fantasy VII Remake #fic #needles #restraint #poison #injections #Cloud hurt #hurt w/o comfort #Hojo being evil

17 notes · View notes

nimbostrxtus · 4 years ago

Text

Happy Mother’s Day

A four-wheeled motorcycle pulled up beside an old abandoned church in the remains of Midgar. Two kids jumped down off the back of the black motorcycle and ran up the steps to the church, while the rider took his time removing his goggles and dismounting his precious Fenrir. Standing before the crumbling white building no longer resonated the same sadness and regret that used to fester inside the man like it once did, but he still felt a bubble of emotion caught in the back of his throat no matter how many times he dropped by Aerith's church for a visit.

Denzel pushed the old wooden doors open and the three stepped inside, immediately blinded by the light pouring in from the caved-in roof and reflecting off the pond water in the middle of the nave. Surrounding the rim of the makeshift pond was a field of yellow reunion flowers, their soft mild fragrance wafting their nostrils.

"Which ones should we pick?" asked the girl with a long braid down her back

"The prettiest ones," answered the boy as he went about inspecting each individual flower.

Cloud crossed his arms and watched from a distance as the two compared flowers and argued over whether it was better to pick the ones already blossomed or the ones with their buds still closed. Seeing as the two were fully distracted, Cloud walked around the pond, scrutinized each flower like they were soldiers waiting in line to be inspected, before plucking a single yellow flower for himself.

“Are you getting flowers for Tifa too?” asked Marlene, her hands full with the blossoms as Denzel kept piling more and more into her outstetched arms.

“Not exactly,” said Cloud as he ran his thumb over the sandy petals, the shade of yellow reminding him of her hair. Strapping it to his front, Cloud stopped Denzel before he harvested the entire field and helped tied them into neat bunches.

They then carefully placed two bouquets into one of the compartments of Cloud's bike. He lifted Denzel up and gently placed him on the back but when he turned around to do the same for Marlene she was nowhere in sight. No sooner had he called out to her, the small girl came rushing back out with another armful of flowers.

"Why do you need three?" asked Cloud.

"For Mrs Gainsborough, silly. She should get flowers today as well," Marlene said matter-of-factly.

Cloud tensed at that name but sighed and dropped his shoulders. Visiting Aerith's mother was not exactly unpleasant, but Cloud always found it hard to look her in the eye whenever they met. Even if she never blamed Cloud for her daughter's death, Cloud still didn't like the idea of intruding on the older woman.

"Alright, we'll drop them off first," he said and stiffly and took the bouquet from Marlene, placing them in the compartment with the rest.

Once all three were on the bike and holding tightly, Cloud kicked the stand up and sped off in the opposite direction towards Aerith's old house. Surprisingly, it was still intact, all things considered, although the once flourishing garden and waterfall were not untouched by the falling debris either. The old woman looked surprised to see them when she stepped onto her porch, no doubt hearing Cloud's engine approaching in the distance.

"I didn't order any flowers today," said Mrs Gainsborough as Marlene rushed up to meet her. She often used Cloud's delivery service to drop off flowers at Aerith's grave, but Cloud never once accepted any payment for the errand.

"They're for you!" Marlene said, holding out the bouquet. "From us and Aerith."

Mrs Gainsborough froze and stared down at the yellow flowers with disbelief, then her face softened and she accepted the small gift.

"Thank you," she said through watery eyes, and then smiled at Cloud. "They're beautiful."

"No problem," Cloud said, averting his gaze and awkwardly running his hand through his hair, an old habit he inherited from Zack's that he still had yet to rid himself of.

They stayed long enough for a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits before heading back to the bar. The kids ran up the stairs with the rest of the flowers in tow, as Cloud parked the bike in its regular spot behind the building under a shelter. Tifa would be back soon so Cloud made himself busy by making dinner. He had all the ingredients he needed in the fridge to make a stew and even dug around for some leftover flour to make bread dumplings with. It took quick work to cut up the vegetables and meat, fry them and put them in a pot of stock to simmer.

Laddling up a small bowl, Cloud took it into the front room and placed it down on a low table covered in photographs. There was a group shot of the original Avalanche members, their party after successfully returning home on the Broncho, Denzel and Marlene standing in front of the newly construction 7th Heaven with Tifa, and all their friends and allies from their many adventures together. Carefully reaching over the array of framed glass photographs, Cloud plucked a single frame from the very back and gently set it down at the very front, where he then knelt down and carefully placed the bowl of stew and the single yellow flower down on either side.

“Hey ma,” he murmured at a smiling woman in the faded portrait with pale blonde hair and sky blue eyes. “I could never make it the same way you did but I hope you like it anyway."

"Is that your mum?" asked Denzel, hovering beside Cloud and staring down at the women, a decorative vase filled with flowers in his hands. "She's pretty."

"Yeah," Cloud choked, jaw clenched and hands fisting his pants. "She was an amazing woman. I wish you two could have met. She would have loved you."

Denzel stared down at the photograph of the beautiful woman, then up at Cloud's face, then back at the photograph. Plucking a flower from the vase, Denzel laid it down on top of Cloud's.

“Happy Mother’s Day, Grandma!” Denzel said, much to Cloud's shock. "Cloud and Tifa took me in after the plate dropped and have been looking after me ever since. Thank you for raising Cloud to be such a wonderful person."

Cloud's face softened and as he stared at the young boy chatter away to a piece of paper about what life was like at 7th Heaven and all the wonderful things Cloud had done them.

"Tifa's home!" Marlene announced from the doorway and Denzel quickly said one last goodbye to Cloud's mother before running after Marlene.

“Happy Mother’s Day, Tifa!” Both kids greeted in union as Tifa stepped through the salon door, arms full of groceries.

"What's this about?" she laughed softly at the gesture as set the groceries down on the bar counter.

"It's a thank you for being an amazing mum," Marlene stated as they both held up a bouquet each.

Tifa's face lit up as she took the familiar flowers into her hands. Leaning down she pulled both kids into a tight hug and effortlessly picked up them.

"I'm the one who should be thanking you two," she said and kissed both of them on the cheek.

Marlene and Denzel then gave her handmade cards and helped her put the groceries away. Tifa planned on making dinner herself, but it seemed like Cloud already beat her to the punchline when she smelt a familiar scent from the kitchen that reminded her of cold winter nights huddled by the fire.

It smelled like home

She went looking for Cloud and found him in the living room, kneeling on a cushion by the low table of photographs. Cloud did not turn to acknowledge her, only making room on the cushion for her to sit down beside him, their shoulders brushing. She stared at the dark-haired woman standing next to Claudia in the photo and smiled sadly. Reaching into the table draw, Tifa pulled out some Wutai incense and lit one.

"Hey, mum," she whispered, barely even making a sound. "Happy Mother's Day."

The two sat in silence after that, united by the fact both orphans still missed their mother's dearly. It had been a miracle they manage to find a photo of the two in their old childhood homes. Tifa linked her arm with Cloud’s and gently rested her head on his shoulder.

"What were you talking about before I came in?" she asked, never once taking her eyes off her mother.

“That I didn’t settle down and marry an older woman like she originally hoped I would, but that I still found a family. Not a traditional one, but I think she would have been happy just knowing I'm not alone.”

"I'm sure she's very proud of you right now," Tifa squeezed his bicep reassuringly. "I don't know if you remember, mum, but Cloud was the one who came to rescue me when I tried to find you across the bridge that day. Dad got really angry about it, but I'm sure you saw how Cloud was only trying to help. He kept the promise on the water tower. I bet you and Claudia must be pleased as rain to know we're still friends. My business is finally up and running, and I finally started a family. The kids even gave me flowers."

Tears of joy were now falling down her face and Cloud pretended not to notice as he slipped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close so she could hide her face in his neck.

"She raised an amazing woman," he whispered into Tifa's hair.

"And she raised a wonderful man," Tifa laughed.

#it's mother's day in the uk #so all the mums get some love #Claudia gets some love #Tifa's mum gets some love #Aerith's mum gets some love

3 notes · View notes

100wendybirds · 4 years ago

Text

FF7R ~ Translation Matters (12)　ーHOHEEEEEEEEE

I decided to start cross posting my translation blogs onto Hatena so I can get some feedback from Japanese fans (just can’t warm up to Twitter). I’ll do it weekly since it’ll take time to convert all my old blog posts into Japanese. If there are any fun comments, I’ll…translate the Japanese comments on my Japanese translated translation blog and post them on my English language translation blog, yeah?

Anyway.

Japanese Don Corneo is always making this ridiculous “HO HEEE” sound. It means nothing, though it kind of sounds like the Japanese sound for neigh (like HEE HEEN). The HO HEE’s are officially part of the Japanese subtitles too so it seems to be a character quirk. But this is gone in English, translated differently every time with various filler conversation. I didn’t think much about it until they fought the monster in the sewers. When Cloud says it was Don Corneo’s pet, Japanese Aerith lets out her own HO HEE. The English version? Aerith makes a horse sound, which is so completely unexpected and unrelated to everything that it is even funnier, imo. Video comparison:

Let me see if this embedding works...EDIT: NOPE. BRB

In another scene, Heidegger mocks my boyfriend, Video-Game-Ben Barnes, saying

Jpn: 「また分別くさい顔で　青くさいことを」 Official Eng: “The stench of the director’s cowardice fills the room yet again.” Comment: I love that they incorporated the “stench” of being both 分別くさい (stank-face acting all wise/discerning) and 青くさい (stink of naivety; stench of inexperience). Is it cowardice though?

The president poohpooh’s Reeve and says Jpn:「これも発展の潤滑油だ」 English trans: ”Progress requires sacrifice.” My trans: “This too is grease for the wheel of progress.” Comment: 潤滑油 is literally a lubricant/grease and like you’d see it in industrial labels etc. These lines are generally the same but keeping the language of “grease” better fits with the whole industrial wasteland vibe of Shinra.

Jpn: 「腹をくくりたまえ」 English trans: “Learn to live with it.” Comment: I remember studying long lists of Japanese phrases that used the word 腹 or gut. 腹 is basically “belly” (mostly used by men) but culturally it was linked to one’s personality, mental condition, emotions, etc. A great equivalent in English is “gut” - like, “you’ve got guts! or “gut feeling.” The “gut” thing is more extensive in Japanese though. Examples:

腹が立つ -> your gut is standing up -> angry 腹を決める -> you’ve decided on the gut —> you made up your mind を割る -> split open the gut -> be frank, drop pretense 太っ腹な -> yo fat gut -> to be big hearted and generous

My trans: 腹を括る -> lit. bind up your gut -> “Steel yourself.” “Set your teeth.” “Harden your heart.” Those feel more on the nose than the “learn to live with it.”

#HO HEE

18 notes · View notes

marcussour · 5 years ago

Text

As promised some time ago, here are some random (non spoilery regarding the new story stuff) thoughts about FF7 Remake:

Jessie is love, Jessie is life. Also, can’t remember if her surname existed before or not, but it’s kinda adorable that it’s Rasberry.

Also, she’s SO THIRSTY.

Bigg’s cool. Wedge’s also cool, but I still can’t get over the fact that he’s voiced by Breaking Bad’s Badger.

Since Square was willing to mix up some things regarding the story and narrative of the game, it would’ve been nice that they would have let you play as Jessie, Biggs or Wedge at some part (Jessie rides the bike with you at one point and it’s the closer we get to that -while also adding more wood to the thirsty fire, like, that scene while she rides the bike is not subtle at all-).

Everyone in this game -EVERYONE- has the hots for Cloud (at least until that part when Aerith meet Tifa, and from then onwards, Cloud’s pretty much just a third wheel).

Johnny is annoying, but it kinda grows on you. What I like the most about it is that they updated a random NPC model from the original and made it a character that’s clearly going to be a thing in the future.

The combat system in this game is fucking amazing.

The soundtrack is just in another level, I really like both the new dynamic orchestration of the original songs, and the remixes that are offered as in-game records (especially when it’s songs that doesn’t appear in the Midgar section of the story, like Wutai or Costa del Sol’s music).

Said it in an earlier post, but Aerith really grew on me in this game. The same thing with Barret, who I had some fears based on his previous characterization and the voice acting, but he’s amazing, and it’s great that (SEMI SPOILER) there’s an in game explanation for how he’s basically faking this almost 80′s action movie star facade, while hiding his insecurities and fears.

Red XIII is perfect.

Let Aerith curse more often.

The way they modernized the Wall Market is a triumph in and on itself. Not only how they managed it, but in how they got rid of the worst and most problematics part of the original, while expanding the setting, giving it new personality, and adding new characters that are some of the most memorable ones in the game.

For the most part, the games looks and runs amazing. But it’s still kinda weird that in some parts there are some textures that looks like they came from the PS1 or PS2 era, while other parts have these weird graphic hiccups where not everything loads at the same speed. Dunno if the people with PS4 Pro had those issues or not. Anyway, it’s nothing that ruins the experience, but it’s distracting at times. I’m guessing this was a result of the weird change of developing teams that happened a few years ago.

Almost all the new and expanded sections work great. But there are some places where the padding it’s visible (going through almost the same corridors over and over, those weird instances where you have to go through a mini cutscene in order to go under a collapsed building or something like that).

I love how some of the old (and weirder) enemies now got a revamp -and glow up- as bosses, specially the Hell House.

The weapons upgrade system is really good and, also, really squareenix-sy.

One of the things I liked the most about the original (and was more fearful before playing) was if Square was going to keep the political side of the original story or don’t. And, without spoiling the new stuff, I’m more than happy to report that they actually expanded upon it. Yeah, the game has never been subtle (the villains are literally a corporation that milks the planet of it’s essence while ruling a city state -and basically almost the whole world- where the upper clases live in a plate above the ground, while the poor people live in slums among the garbage and destruction caused by the upper classes), but I always felt that it didn’t need to be subtle in it’s message. Yeah, it’s fucked up that the cautionary tale about this weird dystopia, ended up being more and more relevant as the years went on, but it’s amazing that Square decided to double up upon it, while also adding some new modern layers (like how Shin-Ra now uses fake news to control the narrative in Midgar).

A nice detail is how in the places where the original had save points (or where you’ve expected them to be if those were still a thing in this game), now got these vending machines that sell various items, and some benches (in some places with a logo that’s the old save point) where you can rest and heal up, basically replacing the need for tents.

That’s it for now, might come back later with some more random thoughts, maybe regarding the spoilery stuff.

#ff7 #ff7r #final fantasy 7 remake

7 notes · View notes

reflectingchaos · 5 years ago

Text

okay, idk if it’ll work because duplicate anxiety, but let me entertain myself anyway, cuz I do really love him. and I mean, who even is this guy? he learns so much, and he’s just a 2nd Class. and he goes to visit Aerith after Zack is declared dead, and I think it talks about how she refused to let him fix the wheel on her cart? WHICH MEANS THAT KUNSEL WENT AND TRIED TO FIX AERITH’S WAGON!! he’s such a good boy. and he’s so loyal to his friend that when he learns subjects escaped from Hojo he legit messages Zack like “bro, it’s about time. get your ass back here!” he’s so sure that Zack isn’t dead, and then the Remake implies that he knows Cloud. he is just kind of everyone’s pal and it’s so sweet. he just seems like a sweet, good person.

#≪ OOC ; mun speaks. )#|#( idk idk #but here goes nothing anyway )

3 notes · View notes

raptortext · 5 years ago

Text

@knightadora asked: 3. Drunk/sloppy kiss - Zack/Aerith :: FFVII

(ao3 link)

1,704 words, side Cloud/Tifa (also leaning towards CC!Cloud)

It was supposed to be a normal night, a normal date Cloud found himself third-wheeling on. They were supposed to have a few drinks and go home. They weren’t supposed to get drunk and Zack was not supposed to end up yelling about Aerith while Aerith enabled him.

“I LOVE THIS GIRL,” Zack shouts, wildly gesturing to Aerith. Aerith’s usual series of demure giggles have turned into loud bouts of laughter that aren’t even cutely muffled by her hand. “WE’RE GONNA GET MARRIED!”

Cloud gawks at Zack and starts to tug him harder. “C’mon, Zack, everyone’s looking—”

“Good!”

Aerith has a big smile smeared on her face and she waves her hand at Zack. “Um! Excuse me! Where’s my ring, then?” she demands and holds her arm out long enough for Zack to take her hand. He makes a show of examining it and then clasps her hand in both of his.

“Tomorrow,” he promises with intense seriousness, “I’ll put a ring on your finger tomorrow.”

Cloud wishes he had Tifa here to back him up but he doesn’t so he’s left to watch his best friend sort of propose to a girl he only started dating last week. At least they’re both drunk and probably won’t remember this at all later. Ideally.

Sensing a moment of calm, Cloud steps between them and tries to get their attention away from gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes. “Hey let’s—c’mon let’s go and we can, uh...talk wedding plans?”

His ruse seems to work as they both swing their heads toward him. Zack removes one hand from Aerith’s and claps it hard on Cloud’s shoulder.

“You’ll be my best man, then!” Zack announces. “I always knew you would be!”

Cloud has no time to be touched by this but he is anyway. His resolve softens, especially as Aerith beams at him. This is almost a nightmare. He’s very worried he’ll never get them out of this bar. He goes back to his initial tactic of trying to physically pull them away but Zack is heavier and stronger than Cloud thinks he’ll ever be and while he could easily pick up dainty Aerith he doesn’t think Zack would appreciate that. Maybe luring Zack out using Aerith might work...if Cloud could bring himself to do that.

He takes out his phone and starts texting Tifa. If anyone could drag two harmless drunks out of a bar it’s his bar-owner best friend. Thankfully Tifa tells him she can head right over.

“Okay you two, Tifa’s on her way to—“ Cloud starts and stops when he’s forced to witness Zack and Aerith making out—heavily. He groans and starts trying to apologize to everyone around them, especially the ones who are visibly uncomfortable.

He decides to not bother trying to get them to stop making out because it’s at least keeping them busy until Tifa arrives. It’s not the most fun thing to hear or be right next to.

That’s a polite understatement. This sucks.

Cloud hears his name being called and if he thought Tifa was beautiful and amazing before he needs to find new words to describe her. Tifa grimaces as she emerges from the crowd into the open space the patrons have left around Zack and Aerith.

“Cloud...what happened?”

“They drank. A lot. Or—Zack drank a lot and Aerith can’t handle half a beer.”

Tifa puts her face in her hands and groans. “Okay...okay let’s get these two back to my place. I doubt either of them know where their keys are.”

Cloud nods and waits for Tifa to give further instruction. Tifa assesses the situation and how to de-escalate what is essentially harmless but very annoying. She turns to Cloud and ushers him over.

After some coaxing and Tifa’s mysterious way with people they get Zack and Aerith separated long enough for Tifa to haul Zack off his stool and Cloud to gently guide Aerith off hers. It’s much farther than Cloud would’ve gotten on his own and once they’re outside he tells Tifa as much.

Tifa sighs and readjusts Zack who keeps trying to remember her name. “I’m glad you got a hold of me,” she says with a strained smile. “Now we just have to get them home.”

Cloud nods and realizes that Tifa probably ran here; she doesn’t live too far away but he’s not sure how well they can drag around two dead weights whose movement is limited to drunken stumbling and poor balance. Tifa either senses what Cloud is worrying about or she’s just explaining her plan.

“Let’s go ahead and get as far as we can,” she says, “if we can avoid paying for a cab I think that’d be best.”

“Okay,” Cloud replies. He wasn’t that up to carrying their friends but Tifa’s confidence that they can pull it off inspires him to give it his all. After all, he’s sure that if Aerith wasn’t around Zack would have suggested the same thing.

It’s a long struggle but they make it to Tifa’s, mostly asleep pair of friends in tow. Tifa gets the pull-out set up and with Cloud’s help they get Zack and Aerith flopped on it.

“Do you want to stay the night?” Tifa asks while unbuckling Aerith’s heels. “You...you don’t have to, but it’s so late and we have the extra bed...”

Cloud convinces himself that Tifa’s shy tone is all in his head, just as he tries to convince himself that his own bashfulness is nothing. “I should get home. If I can get started early on deliveries then I can come over and see you...if you want,” he mumbles and then struggles to get Zack’s boots off. “And pick Zack up. Probably.”

Tifa smiles. “You know you’re always welcome here, Cloud.”

Cloud finds it hard to return her smile but he manages. It was so easy for Zack and Aerith to get together and, to Cloud at least, it’s been years of dancing around it with Tifa. It’s partially him not feeling worth her time, but maybe if he just...said anything...

Zack lets out one large, loud snore and it breaks the soft tension between Cloud and Tifa. Cloud puts his face in his hand and Tifa snorts.

“Is he always that loud?”

Cloud nods. “I’m...so sorry.”

Tifa chuckles. “No worries. Why don’t you head home, you should get some sleep. Is your bike at the bar?”

She follows Cloud to her front door and hovers near him. Cloud sighs a little. “Yeah it is. It’s alright, it’s not a bad walk.”

“Especially after these two, right?”

Cloud cracks a smile. “Yeah. Goodnight, Tifa.”

Tifa smiles. “Goodnight, Cloud.”

---

Zack and Aerith wake up in a pile of blankets and pillows on a pull-out couch in a living room neither of them are familiar with. Zack’s head hurts and Aerith feels like she could keep sleeping for a few more hours. They both groan and make little effort to untangle themselves from each other.

“Where are we?” Aerith asks. Zack shakes his head and immediately regrets it with a strangled moan.

“I dunno...maybe Cloud’s...?” Zack pauses. “Wait. I live with him. I should know where I live.”

Aerith sits up. She starts to offer suggestions until Tifa appears in the room with two bottles of water. Aerith hasn’t met her before but she feels instantly that she can trust her; her intuition about people has never led her astray. She smiles and gratefully takes the bottle handed to her. “Thank you. Who are you?”

Tifa wedges the other bottle between Zack’s arm and his face that he’s dug into the pillow. “I’m Tifa. Cloud called me to come get you two from the bar last night,” she explains. Aerith tilts her head and furrows her brow.

“Why would he do that?”

Tifa scratches her head. “Well...you two were being...disruptive. Let’s say that.”

“Hm...that’s...embarrassing,” Aerith admits and takes a drink to distract her from it. She’s never been one to act out, or at least not in a way that would be called disruptive and require interference.

Tifa figures that giving out the details wouldn’t help any so she shrugs and grins at Aerith. “I’ve seen worse at my own bar, you’re fine.”

Zack stirs and struggles with rolling onto his back. He weakly waves at Tifa. “Hey again,” he greets. “Didn’t think we’d meet again so soon.”

“Do you usually drink that much? I wouldn’t have guessed,” Tifa responds. She picks his water back up and taps it on his chest. “Have some water, you must be dehydrated.”

Zack grabs the bottle and sits up, groaning the entire way. “Thanks a ton, Tifa,” he says and follows up with a gesture towards Aerith. “This is Aerith by the way, she’s my girlfriend.”

Aerith beams at Tifa. “It’s nice to meet you, Tifa! Thank you again for the water.”

“Nice to meet you too, Aerith,” Tifa replies. “Once you two drink up a bit why do you come eat? I made breakfast, thought you would be hungry.”

She leaves them to themselves and Zack turns to Aerith. “Hey, uh...sorry for the weird second date.”

Aerith shrugs. “It wasn’t what I expected...but I’m still having fun,” she says, flashing Zack a smile. “After all, I got to meet two of your friends and spend more time with you. That’s all I want.”

Zack kisses her cheek and Aerith giggles. “I promise we’ll spend all the time in the world together if that’s what you want.”

“Oh, is that the only reason?”

Aerith laughs while Zack sputters. “N-no, I meant—I want to spend time with you too! I was just—y’know, confirming!”

Tifa’s voice breaks through whatever Aerith was going to say next: “Hey, you two! Breakfast will get cold if you dawdle!”

Zack and Aerith shimmy off the bed, and as they head toward the kitchen Zack scratches his head and shakes the remaining water in his bottle around.

“I feel like...I promised you something else last night.”

Aerith tilts her head. “Hm...I don’t remember anything about you promising anything.”

“I bet Cloud knows, I’ll ask him later.”

#knightadora #zerith #cloti #ffvii #kiss fic prompts

14 notes · View notes

wordingg · 2 years ago

Text

Yule

// Summary: Cloud realizes the day before Yule that he hasn't bought a present for Zack and has to scramble to find one. Luckily, Aerith and Tifa are there to help.

This fic exists in the nebulous space after a longfic I've been thinking about, but haven't written yet. For the purpose of this setting, Cloud and Zack met under different circumstances which led to Midgard not being destroyed and Aerith not biting the big one. Cloud and Zack have been in an established relationship for a while when this fic starts.

Also, I think Christmas might exist in the original game, I couldn't remember, but decided to use Yule as a stand in for Christmas because I thought it was the closest analogue to what might actually exist after Shinra goes away.

This was written for the Slice of Clack challenge. The theme was celebration and the specific prompt was holidays. //

“So, what are you getting Zack for Yule?” Tifa asked from across the bar.

Cloud’s head jerked up from where he had been staring deeply into the bottom of his whiskey glass, thinking about a whole lot of nothing.

“Yule?” Cloud asked, frowning. “It’ll be awhile before then, right?” he asked, hoping he was right. The frown that settled on Tifa’s face quickly told him he was wrong.

“Cloud, Yule is in two days. Did you seriously not notice?” she asked, straightening up from where she had been leaned against the bar to balance her hands on her hips and give him a proper look of disapproval.

Cloud grimaced and looked back down at his drink. “I saw people putting up decorations and stuff, but I didn’t really think about it.”

Cloud didn’t have to look at Tifa to know that her look had gone from angry to disappointed. The way her feet shifted and her hands dropped from her hips told him all of that.

This would be the first Yule that Cloud would spend with someone else since he left home. At least, it would be the first time he would spend Yule with someone else while there was no crisis going on.

Back in Nibelheim, Yule was a big event. They still didn’t have big celebrations like a more prosperous town might, but it was something people prepared for months in advance. Most people in the tiny village didn’t have enough money to really throw a big party or give any big gifts, but people would put up pine boughs above their doors and kids would get candies or fruits and the moms would cook a big breakfast, the biggest one they could manage anyway.

Cloud had noted when he came to Midgar that it seemed like Yule and most of the other holidays he grew up with weren’t really observed. Shinra had their own company holidays and those seemed to be the only ones that anyone cared about or celebrated with any real fanfare. The wheel of the year holidays were there, mostly under the plate, but if you celebrated them in view of Shinra you were treated like a country bumpkin. Cloud supposed it was just another way of trying to twist culture to forget about the old ways of honoring the planet. At least, that’s probably what Barrett would have said. Cloud had never given it much thought.

After Shinra had shut down and then rebranded, the old holidays had started to come back with a vengeance. Lammas had been a big deal that summer and Cloud and Zack had both enjoyed the festivals and all the food stands. Zack especially had loved all the people and all that happy joyful energy.

There was no point in hoping that Zack wasn’t thinking about Yule. This was the kind of thing he would be all about.

Groaning, Cloud rested his elbows on the bar and put his head in his hands.

Sighing, Tifa pat Cloud on the head. “You’ve still got time,” she reassured him, scratching her short fingernails through his unruly hair. “So long as you get something, he won’t have to know you forgot. Just get him something nice, you know?”

“Fuck, Tifa,” Cloud groaned, letting his head fall forward onto the hard waxy surface of the bar. He tapped his forehead against it, taking the tacky stick of the bar against his skin as his rightful punishment. “I’m so bad at this. I don’t know what to get him.”

“It’s not that hard,” Tifa said sternly, now grabbing at the root of his hair and giving him a little shake, only letting go when Cloud let out a lackluster ‘ow’. “You probably know Zack better than anyone. The two of you certainly spend enough time together. There’s a bazaar in Sector 5. Why don’t you go there and look around a little. I’m sure you’ll find something.”

“Ugh,” Cloud responded elegantly.

“Why don’t I call Aerith?” Tifa suggested. “She can go along and help you pick out something.

“Hell no,” Cloud grunted, turning his face to the side so he could get that out clearly. “She’s chaotic enough as it is. I’m sure she’s twice as bad during Yule.”

“Yeah,” Tifa said slowly, her mouth twisting into a small smile despite herself. “But, she and Zack have similar personalities. If you can keep her focused long enough, she should be able to help you find something.”

“I hate this,” Cloud muttered into the wood.

“You’ll live,” Tifa said flatly.

Cloud met up with Aerith at the sector 5 train platform after he got off of work the next day. Zack had been almost impossible to deflect when he found out Cloud was going somewhere that he wasn’t allowed to tag along, nor could he know where he was going, but Cloud was eventually able to pry him off and foist him on Ms. Folia. Her flat stare and enviable ability to withstand basically any annoyance meant Zack was stuck, the only person Cloud knew that Zack couldn't charm his way around at least some of the time.

By the time Cloud was getting off the train, he sort of wished that he had failed to shake off Zack. Aerith and Zack got along so well it was like they were two halves of the same brain. There was a good chance if he brought Zack along, he could have waited until Zack and Aerith were wrapped up in something or other and then snuck off to shop by himself. The downside of that plan was that he would eventually have to try and find them later, which could be a pain. When they got together, they tended to lose track of time and their phones and where they were to the point that they could be almost anywhere in Midgar by the time a few hours had gone by.

No, it was probably better to stick to the plan and have Aerith help him with buying a gift.

"Cloud! Hey, over here!" Aerith's voice called to him as he stepped off the train. Looking around, Cloud spotted her over near a food stand, waving her hand at him and nearly beaning some guy in the face when he walked too close.

Cloud raised his own hand in a much smaller wave and jogged over to her. The smell coming off the foodstand she was standing beside was heavenly and once he got closer he saw why. Aerith was holding a paper plate with a crunchy lattice of fried dough topped with powdered sugar. Judging by the bits that had been ripped off already and the powdered sugar on her fingers and around her mouth, Aerith had been occupied while she had been waiting.

"How was your ride? Everything went okay?" Aerith asked, drawing his attention away from her snack.

"It was fine," Cloud answered shortly. "Have you been waiting long?" he frowned, worried that she had been waiting around for him for a while, even if she had got a snack while she was waiting.

"No, not at all!" she said happily. "Besides, I got a funnel cake. Do you want some?" she asked, holding out the paper plate.

Cloud frowned at it for a moment. It was literally just fried dough and sugar. If Tifa saw him eating something like that, he would surely catch hell for it. Ever since Midgar started recovering, all kinds of good food was showing up and it was hard to resist it all. Cloud glanced at Aerith, who was smiling at him mischievously like she knew what he was thinking.

"Just a little," Cloud agreed before ripping off a piece of sugared dough and popping it in his mouth.

They started walking and talking, Cloud eating much more of the funnel cake than he intended. Aerith was boisterous and excited about helping to find a present and told Cloud that she had been through the Yule bazaar three times already and that it was just great and she was absolutely sure they would find something for Zack there. The area the bazaar was in used to be the scrap graveyard but had since been cleaned up and was now used as a sort of impromptu event grounds until the city decided what they wanted to do with it. As they got closer the crowds grew thicker, people moving in groups of two and three, everyone happy and chattering, not unlike himself and Aerith.

"What was Yule like when you were young?" Aerith asked as they got closer to the bazaar, the smell of good food and winter spice getting stronger the closer they got. "You grew up in the north right?"

Cloud nodded and popped the last piece of the funnel cake in his mouth when Aerith offered it to him. "We celebrated, more so than Midgar did five years ago. But, it was nothing like this," Cloud trailed off as they walked under the entrance way, built of latticed recycled tin that had been painted white and threaded with sweet smelling pine boughs and then threaded again with bright white lights that twinkled and cast a gentle light over the heads of the people who passed beneath it.

Once they were through the entrance, an array of stands were laid out in orderly rows before them. Some of the stands had colorful cloth coverings, others were like small stores with shelves and tables set up with just enough room to scoot around them and still more were little more than a table with wares spread out on top and a chair for the owner to sit in.

"Come on! This way!" Aerith exclaimed, grabbing Cloud by his wrist and hauling him through the crowds and to the eastern edge of the bazaar. She obviously knew exactly where she was going so Cloud didn't protest, instead struggling to keep up without knocking anyone over. Aerith led him to a much more narrow aisle of stalls, away from the food and the bigger stands, most of them small with only a few tables and maybe a sign hung up to let you know what they were selling.

"The town pooled their money to buy this aisle, so this is all from sector 5 locals!" Aerith declared with a saucy wink while gesturing down the aisle.

Cloud kept his face impassive even as a stone settled somewhere in his stomach. Even though the lifestyles of the people who lived under the plate were improving, they still had it hard. This Yule bazaar was in the sector 5 underplate, but only this small aisle and these small stalls were from people who actually lived there. It worried Cloud to think that all those other stands had given him the impression that the slums were doing much better than they were. And, obviously, Aerith would want to support the other people from her sector and drum up business for them. Sometimes it hurt to think how much of a good person she was.

"Let's get something here," Cloud said, somewhat at a loss for what else he could say.

It seemed he said the right thing anyway, because his response had Aerith lighting up even more. With a squeal of excitement, she dragged him over to the stall that was closest to them and they started looking.

What Cloud had hoped would only be a short activity before he could head home turned out to take the rest of his day. It was incredibly hard to pick a gift that seemed worthy of Zack and all Cloud felt he deserved. Aerith liked almost everything they came across, from bedazzled Yule themed knick knacks to recycled colored glass jewelry to weird specialized items like jelly moulds and knitting bowls. She would argue for each item, coming up with some reason or another why Zack would be overcome to receive that item as a gift. Cloud picked out thick hand knitted socks that he thought would be practical considering how long Zack had to spend on his feet and how he always complained that his feet were cold, but Aerith was quick to veto that idea. 'Who wants to get socks for Yule?' she had cried, looking despondent that Cloud had even suggested such a gift.

Eventually, they had gone through all the stands in the sector 5 aisle and stopped at the end to get styrofoam cups of mulled wine and hot steaming potato and leek soup with crusty bread. It was filling and warmed them up after a long few hours spent standing outside. It didn't get nearly as cold in Midgar as it had in Nibelheim, but Cloud knew that lifelong Midgar citizens found the winter there to be plenty cold.

After their late dinner sitting on some upturned buckets beside the soup stand, Cloud and Aerith started to peruse the rest of the bazaar hoping for a good gift. They were moving faster by then, taking less time to look over every item closely and instead walking up and down aisles hoping something would grab their attention. Aerith was still hard to pin down, but it seemed like she was more focused by then, only really pointing out things that looked more useful like leather wax or nice bulky sweaters or cute mittens. Cloud found a small chocobo ornament made from chocobo feathers glued carefully to a ball of styrofoam, but that was struck down too. “That's a gift for you, not for Zack,” Aerith had said. She wasn't wrong.

It was getting late when they finally made it all the way to the other end of the bazaar and some of the stands were starting to pack up, the crowds much thinner.

"This is hopeless," Cloud muttered as they kept walking. "We're going to miss the last train if we keep looking much longer."

"Don't give up!" Aerith chided him. "If you don't get something today, you're in big trouble you know!"

"Ugh," Cloud responded. Then, tipping his head back he gave a much more enthusiastic "Uuuuugh!"

Aerith snorted and shoved him. They walked a few more steps quietly, both of them despairing when Aerith gasped and grabbed Cloud hard at the elbow.

"Ouch. What?" Cloud grumbled, pulling his smarting arm out of her tight grip.

"Cloud, look!" Aerith exclaimed, pointing at a small booth with a white sign taped up above it before taking off for it without glancing back to make sure Cloud was following. The sign said 'South Coast Imports' and even from a distance Cloud could tell that all the items they had were beach themed with tiki wood and colorful statues and woven grass baskets. Frowning, Cloud followed Aerith at a much more sedate pace.

Once he reached her, she was bouncing in place in front of a middle aged man with deep tan skin who was struggling to keep a smile on his face.

"This is it, Cloud!" she exclaimed. "They have to have something here for Zack."

"You think so?" Cloud said doubtfully. He glanced around at the stuff in the small stand. There was a lot of stuff, things on tables, under tables, hung on cork board and hanging from the canopy. But, it all looked super kitschy to Cloud. He knew Zack was from the South Coast, but he had never seen him rock a shark tooth necklace so he wasn't sure what he was supposed to get there.

"Sure I do!" Aerith responded confidently. "Sir, do you have anything from Gongaga?" she asked, turning back to the owner of the stand.

"Gongaga," the man repeated, his eyebrows climbing up his forehead. "That's a pretty small place, but I think I have a few things here somewhere."

Aerith turned to Cloud triumphantly while the older man turned around to sort through some boxes of items he had shoved under a table. After just a few moments he returned with a handful of items which he put on the table in front of them after pushing a few other things out of the way. When Cloud stepped forward, he saw that he had laid out a white cloth headband with careful dark blue stitching along the edge, a small grass pouch, woven with dyed strands to form an appealing design on the front, and a clay bird with a hole on its tail, back and in its beak.

"What are they?" Cloud asked slowly. He knew what the headband was, but the other two just seemed like odd things to him.

"This is a headband popular in Gongaga, especially among the fishermen," the man said, holding it up for a moment. "This here," he said indicating the woven pouch, "is a talisman containing dried herbs and sand which the locals say bring good luck and keep away evil spirits." The owner infused his voice with as much gravitas as he could while explaining that. "And, this bird is a popular toy for children in Gongaga. It's a whistle," he explained before bringing it to his lips and letting out such a powerful screech that had not only Cloud and Aerith flinching back but most of the people at the surrounding stands as well.

"Uh," Cloud hesitated before glancing at Aerith for confirmation. He knew that Zack would probably be ecstatic to get a gift from his hometown, but they were such weird things. He wasn't sure if they would be unacceptable gifts.

But, he needn't even voice his concerns. Aerith's expression was shining with happiness and excitement, her bright green eyes sparkling with it.

"I'll take the headband and the talisman," Cloud said shortly. The man enthusiastically agreed, gathering up the items and putting them in a small brown paper bag while Cloud dug around in his pockets for some Gil.

"Aw! Not the bird?" Aerith pouted, reaching out with one long pretty finger to tap it a few times until it toppled over on its side.

"Zack doesn't need to be any louder than he already is," Cloud grumbled, earning a delighted giggle from Aerith.

"Excuse me, sir!" Aerith said as the man came back to exchange change with Cloud. "Could I buy that bird whistle?"

"Sure thing, Miss," he agreed quickly.

Cloud suppressed a cringe. He was sure he would be hearing the whistle again soon.

The day of Yule started pretty uneventfully. When Cloud was a teenager in Nibelheim, he would have started before dawn out looking for a huge yule log to put on the fire, one that would be able to burn all day long. When he got home, his mom would have made a big breakfast with lots of sausages and breads and jams. They would spend the day inside with each other drinking mulled wine or eggnog. Traditionally, for dinner you would go into the square and enjoy a huge feast with the entire village. Cloud and his mother had attended when he was very young, but they had stopped by the time he was eight or nine. Instead, they would share a big meal together by the last dying crackles of the yule log.

Cloud and Zack lived in a claustrophobically small apartment in sector 7. There was no fireplace to burn a yule log, let alone trees to cut down to get one. Zack still insisted on a big breakfast, though the food was more like what he would have had in Gongaga than the sausages and potatoes that were available during winter in Nibelheim.

Fresh fruit was still pretty expensive in Midgard, but Zack had rustled up apples and oranges from somewhere and sliced them up with nuts and drizzled honey along with creamy yogurt and fluffy crepes.

"When did you have time to get all this?" Cloud had asked in surprise, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he sat down at the table.

"I was able to sneak away yesterday during lunch and grab some stuff from the market," Zack grinned, taking a seat himself and loading his crepe up with fruit and whipped cream.

Cloud suppressed a wince at realizing that he and Zack had visited the bazaar mere hours apart from one another. Instead, he stabbed a slice of pear smothered in honey with a fork and shoved it in his mouth.

"Mmf!" he groaned around the mouthful. "Fuck, that's good," he groaned after swallowing.

"Right!?" Zack exclaimed. His first crepe was already almost gone, but luckily he had a lot more stacked on a plate between them. "I can't wait until we start getting pineapples and star fruit and shit in something other than a can. You'll love it, it's so good!"

Cloud kept eating and let Zack go on about the different fruits that were common in his home village. Eventually, Zack took a pause to eat the rest of his crepes and Cloud picked up with his own examples of foods he missed from home. Elderberries picked in early winter, sweet potatoes dug up from nearly frozen ground in late fall. Sweet wines in the spring made from berries and apples and pears.

"Maybe we should visit Gongaga next year," Cloud suggested as they cleaned up the last few crepes, using them mostly with just honey as everything else was gone between the two of them.

Zack hummed noncommittally and shoved a whole crepe in his mouth. Zack still had his parents in his home village and had visited by himself a few years ago. Cloud got the feeling that he was the reason Zack didn't go back more often, but didn't want to push it.

Neither of them suggested going to Nibelheim. There was nothing and no one waiting for them there.

"Hey! Let's exchange presents!" Zack suggested with a determined clap of his hands, changing the subject with the subtlety of a bull.

"Sure," Cloud agreed, anxiety starting to gnaw at his full stomach, though he tried to hide it.

Zack led the way from their small kitchenette back to their bed, the blankets still a tangled mess. He dug around under the bed for a moment before coming up with a small box wrapped in pale blue paper and tied with simple twine.

Cloud sat down slowly on the edge of the bed and accepted the small package, Zack quickly sitting down beside him and watching him expectantly.

It struck Cloud all at once that this was probably the first Yule gift he had received, that he could remember. Things had always been so tight at home, it was an unspoken rule between him and his mom that they wouldn't exchange presents. Maybe he had received some toys when he was younger, but he couldn’t remember it. He hadn't spent Yule with anyone else since his mother.

Tears stung at the back of his eyes and he hadn't even opened the box yet.

"Open it," Zack urged, bumping his shoulder into Cloud's in a fond way.

Cloud took a deep breath, tried to push all those tender feelings away, and untied the twine. He ripped open the paper along the seam on the bottom to reveal a simple thin cardboard box, the flaps at the top folded together. He used the edge of a fingernail to pull the flaps apart and shook the contents into his palm.

What came out was a cute yellow chocobo ornament made of real feathers stuck into round styrofoam balls, complete with orange wire feet and little black button eyes. Cloud was sure that it was the same one he had looked at the day before, the one that Aerith had scolded him was a better gift for him than for Zack.

"Well?" Zack asked with another shove at his shoulder. "What do you think?"

When Cloud glanced up at him with damp eyes, Zack was nervously pulling on a rubber band that seemed to eternally live on his wrist.

"I really like it," Cloud croaked. He no longer tried to disguise the tears threatening the edge of his eyelashes. This was Zack, after all. What was the point?

"Oh," Zack replied, his own voice getting choked up. "Good. Good, I'm glad!" Zack repeated before grabbing Cloud and pulling him into a tight hug.

They stayed like that for a while, Cloud using Zack's shoulder to wipe his tears and Zack sticking his nose in Cloud's hair, taking deep breaths like he could breathe him in if he just tried hard enough.

"I got you something too," Cloud muttered as he pulled away, feeling slightly more under control.

"Oh!" Zack exclaimed, sounding sincerely surprised.

Cloud frowned at him. "You thought I wouldn't get you anything," Cloud stated, his voice flat and unimpressed.

"No! I mean, yes, I thought, uh," Zack fumbled, seeming unsure whether to lie or explain himself or what.

Cloud sighed. "Don't worry about it. It's better if you don't have high expectations," he said as he stood up from the bed and went to the small metal wardrobe that they shared. He had shoved the paper bag with the two small tissue wrapped packages in the back of the top shelf behind a pile of old boots. He extracted the bag from its hiding place before going back to the bed and handing it to Zack as he sat back down.

Zack stared at the bag for a while, like he wasn't sure what to do with it.

"Are you going to open it?" Cloud prompted him when the wait had gone on too long.

"Oh, yeah! Sorry, just- Uh, yes, I am going to open it," Zack said slowly after fumbling again.

Cloud frowned at Zack as he carefully opened the little paper bag that was patterned on the outside with bright red prints of evergreen trees and snowflakes. Zack peered cautiously into the bag before reaching in with two fingers to draw out the little tissue paper packages. He then sat them in his lap and stared at them like he wasn't sure if they would bite him if he moved wrong or something.

"Zack," Cloud warned him, his patience with Zack's weird behavior running thin.

"Sorry, just. Two gifts! You know, I don't think some people would believe you're capable of it!" Zack babbled.

Cloud kept up his unimpressed stare. "Are you some people?" he asked flatly.

"No!" Zack was quick to protest. "I mean, I wasn't worried! Not for a second!"

Cloud frowned at Zack and Zack kept an uncomfortable looking smile plastered on his face until Cloud cracked and snapped out a "Just open them."

"Yes, sir!" Zack laughed, seeming happy to be out of the staring contest.

He ripped through the tissue paper with significantly less care than Cloud, but froze the second that the first gift was revealed. He removed the rest of the wrapping paper considerably slower. Once he was done, the headband sat white and crisp in his lap.

When Zack had stared down at the headband without expression for too long, Cloud jumped in to explain. "It's supposed to be from Gongaga," he said. "At least, the guy who sold it to me said it was. Both things are. But, uh, you would probably know better than me."

"Yeah," Zack croaked, clearing his throat before he continued. "Yeah, this looks exactly like the one my dad had," Zack said, turning a watery smile on Cloud.

Cloud had to look away, embarrassed. "Open the other one," he said, looking mostly at their laps as they sat side by side.

He watched Zack's hands as he ripped through the tissue paper of the second package considerably faster, the small talisman tumbling out in a matter of seconds.

Zack gave a pleased laugh as he picked it up. "Oh man!" he exclaimed. "This thing really takes me back!"

"Really?" Cloud asked, daring a look up at Zack's face. It was shining with good humor, tears still shining in his eyes, but the rest of his face was relaxed, grinning as wide and easy as he ever did.

"Yeah! I had one when I was a little kid! The elders make all kids wear them. They're supposed to protect from drowning," Zack explained. "They work too, I think," he said as he threw the leather cord around his neck, letting the talisman hang in the center of his chest.

"You think so?" Cloud asked, looking at the talisman curiously.

"Yeah. When I was like thirteen or so I was swimming in the ocean when an undertow started to pull me out. Luckily, I was able to float and conserve my energy until one of the fishermen saw me and hauled me in on their boat. I lost the talisman during all that and all the elders were like 'the gods have smiled on us and taken the talisman instead of this precious child!'" Zack recounted, using a deep grave voice for the elders.

Cloud snorted, one corner of his mouth quirking up in a smile. "Well, I'm glad it worked. What a bummer it would have been if you had died."

"What a bummer, indeed," Zack nodded in agreement, grinning at Cloud who grinned back. "Hey," Zack continued, his voice dropping into sincerity, "Thanks a lot for my presents. I really love them."

Cloud dropped his gaze for a moment before looking back up. "Yeah, same to you," he said. "You'll have to thank Aerith, too. She helped me go shopping."

Zack grinned wide at that. "Definitely! Glad to know she had both our backs on this one," he laughed.

"She always does," Cloud agreed.

"Hey, do you think we could both fit in the shower together?" Zack asked, getting up with a stretch, flashing a strip of his stomach between his t-shirt and his sweats.

"That last time we tried, you almost got a concussion," Cloud reminded him with a doubtful look.

"I'm not about to let that stop me," Zack replied, hands on his hips.

Cloud sighed as he stood up, as well. "Well, it is Yule. Maybe we'll have a Yule miracle and it will work out."

"That's the spirit!" Zack exclaimed before hauling Cloud by the elbow toward the tiny closet that served as their shower.

They didn't manage to both fit in the shower, at least not enough for anything fun to happen, but they did spend a pleasant afternoon together before going to seventh heaven for the large scale feast that acted as the main attraction for Yule.

When Cloud went to bed that night, he realized that he had just had the nicest Yule holiday that he had ever had. Things were still hard, but maybe that was an omen that things were looking up. Maybe, things would only get better from there on out. He could only hope.

#ff7 #clack #cloud/zack #fanfiction #domestic fluff #holidays #wordinggwrites

0 notes