#cloud? reno? a bunch of the other dudes

[iwaasfairy]

i know absolutely nothing about ffvii or any of the games but all of those mfers so goddamn sexy and i dont understand whAt for hHHHHHH

[zackfiar-a]

zack fair UR HAND PLEASE?? 

it took me a bit to realize that zack had a lot of influence in ff7 indirectly (but for this instance ill be talking about the remake because i can barely remember playing the og when i was like 7) a lot of these deal w aerith but U Know + among other things that i rant about

like, helping some random dude name 7th heaven in exchange for the wood thats needed to build aeriths flower wagon, aerith wearing pink after a certain point because she promised zack to wear it every time they saw each other even tho it was ‘silly’ (also buying aeriths bow but that seems null and void in the remake), aeriths ‘just one date’, even tho sephiroth was already on the tipping point zack helped edge him just a little off the deep end asking him about ‘we’re average soldiers but what about u?’ and asking about sephiroths family (altho genesis helped him keep that curiosity), in the remake if u chose ‘how much?’ for the option when aerith offers u the flower for helping her she gets a bit aggressive than going for a measly 2 girl for a real flower (something zack told her, dont just settle for less u need to be more aggressive; assert urself), and even zacks suggestion for selling the flowers in the first place which is how aerith and cloud even met in the first place, and even mentioning kunsel in the remake (someone no one talks about because he doesnt have a face under the mask and hes literally Never mentioned again outside of crisis core) when those infantryman see cloud in the shinra building, hojo recognizing cloud as his runaway specimen (cloud: im an (ex) soldier 1st class, hojo: lol no ur not, cloud: pikachu meme), “ur eyes!!”

im sure theres more because i remember a lot of things connecting to zack but i cant think of them atm rip but this boy has endured a lot of trauma that i didnt rly connect to? it was like a domino effect 

first, being pushed a bunch of missions on from sephiroth because he refused to deal w those that had angeal or genesis thus leaving zack to do his dirty work, then slaying ur mentor and close friend by ur hand thus inheriting the buster sword (which starts to conflict his beliefs, soldier honor and dreams, that has been ingrained in him since he joined or was under angeals wing haha get it?), being held out to dry because of the disappearance of lazard thus being attacked by genesis copies when he thought he killed him), which goes back to encountering angeal copies when ur like ??? thought i killed him so hes rly alive?, THEN confronting sephiroth that has convinced himself that he is the true ruler of the planet and getting fucked up in the process, now him and cloud are getting experimented on (i can only imagine what has happened seeing as zack wasnt directly affected by the jenova / s cells that was implanted into him (lots of needles, electricity, and incisions if anything assuming by hojos surgery room in the remake), angeals image appearing his mind and waking him up to save cloud who has a mako addiction and poisoning from the failed experimentation and being in a pod for 4 years, BACK to killing genesis and only to meet ur end after u promised the girl u loved that u would see her again and inheriting ur hopes and dreams on that boy u saved

hes naive, headstrong, impatient, wants to do everything to prove himself, friendly, determined, loyal, emotional af, stubborn, sucks at intaking information, sentimental, and has such a pure soul 

after angeals death he practically changed his image to be more ‘mature’ and gave such a heartfelt speech that affected more than just cloud and inspired many ppl to live out their dreams too (luxaerie if ur out there), and the bonds hes formed with ppl ie cissnei and tseng (i dont count reno or rude since he only encounters them when hes on missions w either tseng or ciss), aerith and cloud, and sephiroth too; which they never rly explained why zack joined soldier in the first place (to become a hero sure) but i assume since clouds intentions to join in the first place was because of the war hero sephiroth that zacks was similar considering how genuinely excited he was that he was going to be going on a mission with sephiroth!! whoa!!! only to lose that infatuation over time

might i say that he indirectly met vincent? what a guy, nice to see someone unironically sleep in a coffin thats a nice conversation starter

in the end he went from being a proud member of soldier to an ex-soldier because no one saw zack as that humble and inspiring guy instead to just a runaway failed experiment with implanted jenova / s cells that dont Rly Work rip to cloud but hes different, and wanting to become a mercenary?? King 

[cryinggameff]

Seventy-Three

Randi

It felt like we were in limbo for the last week. Cayden and I weren’t fighting, I was back home, and we were together, but it was different. It was like a dark cloud was looming over our heads, threatening. I still was not sure if I could stay with Cayden no matter what, even if the results said the boy was his, and he knew that. So I was confused, and he was on edge. We both tried to distract ourselves, me by buying stuff for the baby and him by working on his new businesses.

I was on my laptop looking at cribs when Cayden got home that night. I looked up when I heard the door and a few moments later he walked into ththe living room where I was sitting.

“Why you still up?” He asked. It was almost 2 in the morning.

“Baby was moving too much, I couldn’t sleep” I said, closing my laptop. He paused. I could tell something was up just by his voice. That’s when I noticed he held an envelope in his hand. My heart stopped for a moment. I looked from the envelope to him. “Is that it?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, “must have come this morning.”

“Have....have you opened it?”

“No,” he said, looking at it for a long time. I tapped the spot next to me and he sat down. “I don’t know if I can.” I nodded, understanding. Eventually my anxiety was just too much and I put my hand out.

“I’ll do it,” I said. He gave it to me and I quickly tore it open before I lost my nerve. I unfolded the letter and started reading. After a bunch of confusing graphs and tables was the written results.

I didn’t realize I had stopped breathing until i let out a relieved breath.

“He’s not yours,” I told him. Cayden let out a sigh of relief and pulled me into him. It was like a weight had been lifted.

“Fuck, I feel like a nigga on jerry Springer,” he mumbled, in disbelief. I let out a shaky laugh, my heart still recovering. “I’m sorry I put you through all this shit Ran. I should have known my past would catch up with me eventually.”

“I know you are Cay...and I’m sorry I made you worry that I’d leave you. I know I promised not to hold your past against you, and I went against that,” I looked down at my hands, too ashamed to look him in the eye.

“I’m not mad at you,” he lifted my chin. We looked at each other for a while in silence. Looking into his eyes something crossed my mind. I put my hand to his cheek.

“I know your face like the back of my hand, how can that boy look like you?” I tilted my head. Cayden picked up the letter, reading for himself. His brows came together in confusion.

“This says that the samples were similar, not father and son, but we’re related somehow,” he said. I was so lost, but Cayden was already on his feet.

“What?”

“No, it can’t be,” he said, shaking his head. I grabbed his arm.

“What Cayden?”

“There’s only one way that;s possible. Think bout it,” he said, clenching his jaw. It took me a minute but eventually I said,

“Trey.” Cayden nodded.

“He must have cheated on Jenny, with Keisha, and he knew I was hooking up with her too” he sounded upset, or hurt. “Nah Trey wouldn’t do that to Keisha or to me,” he sat back down. I bit my lip and touched his shoulder.

“I’m sorry you had to find out like this. I know he was your older brother, but he was human, he made a mistake,” I tried to console him. I couldn’t imagine how it would feel to have the image of someone you looked up to tarnished, especially when they were gone. I could tell he was angry, but there was no one to yell at.

“I wonder if Jenny knew,” he said, rubbing a hand over his face. “I need to tell her,” he said. I shook my head quickly.

“I don’t know about that Cayden. You two already fought, and this will hurt her. That was her husband Cay.”

“He has a whole kid that she didn’t know about, what happens if she sees him. Yo, imagine if she had been at Ty’s party!” He shot up again.

“You have a point,” I signed, “if i saw it as soon as I set eyes on the kid, so will she.”

“This is some fucked up shit,” he grumbled. I tried to get him to sit again, pulling him down. I guided his head into my lap, running his hair.

“I know. But you know what?” I said softly.

“What?” He asked, his eyes closed.

“You have a piece of Trey now, a way to stay connected to him,” I pointed out. He never answered, and I assumed he was thinking about it. We eventually fell asleep on that couch.

Cayden

Jenny brought back so many memories, she may as well have been my sister. When I saw her I just wanted to smile or laugh, because all the memories were tied to Trey and bad things we used to do.

“You’re  lucky I even came,” she said, folding her arms. That was fair, i thought.

“I know,” I nodded. “I acted like an ass. I just never prepared for that, you moving on from Trey.” Last time we had seen each other was the part where she brought her boyfriend and i didn’t take it very well and lost it on both her and Randi.

“I’ll never completely move on from him, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my life sad. I can’t, and you shouldn’t either,” her face softened a little.

“You right, and I know you’re not trying to replace him, I didn’t mean that. I guess I’ve just been clinging onto him so hard because I’m scared I’ll  start to forget, and I’ll feel guilty to move on. Like sometimes I’ll forget when I’m with Randi, or thinking about the baby, and I’m so happy that I forget for a bit, then i feel so guilty. Is that weird?” I locked my jaw.

“No, but that’s not something to be guilty about. I realized, after all these years, that Trey wouldn’t want us to stay sad forever. You’re allowed to be happy. It’s good to Forget sometimes, even if for just a few minutes, that he’s gone, for your own mental health,” she reached for my hand. I gave her a small smile and she smiled back. This made what I had to tell her harder.

“Look Jenny, the reason why I called you. I need to tell you something. Its about Trey,” I said. She was confused.

“Ok? What about him?” She looked scared, like it may be something she didn’t want to know, which this was.

“I don’t know how to say it, so I’m just gonna put it out there,” I said. She nodded. “Ok. Trey cheated, while you guys were together....with Keisha. The girl I was with at the time, don’t know if you remember her but...” I trailed off. I expected her to cry, or scream, something. But she looked apologetic.

“I know sweetie,” she said.

“Wait? You knew about it?” I was even more confused.

“I found out about it and confronted him. But we worked through it, and I eventually forgave him. I didn’t want to hurt you, so I asked him and Keisha not to tell you, he was going to confess. Then he died and I didn’t want to ruin the image you had of your brother, so I kept it to myself,” she said, squeezing my hand. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok. I’m sorry you had to go through that. I never knew. You guys always looked so happy and, well perfect.”

“We went through a lot, but god, we loved each other, the dangerous kind of love. Nothing could have broke us up,” she said.

“I understand that,” I mumbled, knowing that was me and Randi.

“But how did you find out?” She asked. Well shit, this part would for sure shock her.

“Keisha has a son, and I thought he was mine. Turns out we are related, but not as father and son. He’s Trey’s,” I finished. She dropped my hand and her mouth fell open.

“A-are you sure?” She stuttered. I nodded. She looked like she wanted to cry. “I want to see him,” she said urgently. I made a face.

“Um is that a good idea? That’s just gonna hurt you more, and I don’t want you and Keisha to have problems,” I shook my head. It sounded crazy to me.

“That was the man I loved, with everything in me. So I’m telling you Cayden, if Trey has a kid out there, I need to see him,” she said, looking me dead on. I sighed.

“Ok. I’ll give you her number,” i said.

I’m not sure what Jenny expected, but I also understood. I was curious about the kid too. Would he remind me of Trey? Talk the same, or laugh the same as him?

When I got home I thought Randi would be there but she wasn’t so I called her.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“The salon, we have a big bridal group today remember?” She sounded like she was moving around, and there was a lot of noise in the back.

“Are you even supposed to be working anymore? The doctor told your ass to chill ,remember.” I was irritated because she always ignored shit that the doctor told her. She was sick most of the pregnancy and the doctor had told her she could have the baby early if she didn’t take it easy especially towards the end.

“I’m sitting. And the baby isn’t coming for a few weeks still, I just wanna get things in order before I leave,” she said. “How was it with Jenny?”

"Well apparently she knew about Trey cheating," i shrugged to myself, "the kid was a surprise though."

"I can imagine. So what did she say?"

"She talking about she wants to meet him, she gonna talk to Keisha,which is gonna be interesting, i know Keisha," i opened the fridge door looking for something to eat. There was leftovers from last night and i pulled them out to make myself a plate.

"This is like a soap opera, but like a sad one" she said.

"Legit. So when you coming home?" i asked.

"I'll leave soon. I didn't know you'd be home so early," she said, "But i really gotta go babe," someone was calling her in the background.

"Aight, catch you later."

I went to watch a game i had recorded while i ate my food.

Randi got home about 2 hours later, and damn she was looking good. Her makeup was all done and so was her hair.

"Who you looking good for?" i asked when she came down the hallway from the entrance. She laughed. She was even wearing red lipstick which she knew was a weakness for me.

"I wanted to look good for work today that's all," she said, "plus, who gonna be checking for me?" she gestured to her bump.

"Oh dont play that, i seen dudes looking at you when we go out, and i know that nigga you work with be eyeballing you all the time," i reminded her. She rolled her eyes.

"Our reno guy? You still on that?" She asked. I had almost fought the dude when he was eyeing her in my own house. I threw her a dirty look for playing dumb and she giggled. "You so bitter you can't even compliment your own wife?"

"I said you looked nice," i said still mean mugging her.

"No, you asked who i was looking good for, thats different," she stopped in front of me, arms crossed. That just made her boobs pop out of her dress more. She sat down in my lap and i wrapped one arm around her waist and put the other on her stomach. Things felt normal again, us just sitting here, and i was so thankful that things worked out the way they did, that she was still here. She was having my first kid and things were right again.

"You look aight" i said, looking up from her belly to her face. She threw me a mean mug this time.

"Why are you home early anyways? Don't you have things to do at the warehouse? You weren't there yesterday, you didn't go today, that never happens.”

"Sean is pretty much handling everything now, all i'm doing is closing my old deals and collecting what's mine. So i really ain't gotta be there," i told her. I had settled the deal with Sean a while ago to buy me out and take over the business.

"Really?" she couldn't believe it. I chuckled at her shock.

"I told you, i'm out. I promised you the future you wanted and i meant it" i shrugged. She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me suddenly. I was surprised but wrapped my arms tight around her.

"Thank you," she whispered by my ear. I kissed her head.

"Speaking of the future, what's up with the house? Do you not want to move anymore?” I asked, confused. She moved her face out of my neck. She had been so excited about it before but now when id bring up moving, since the baby was about to come, she was real silent. She bit her lip and shook her head. “What happened?”

“I tried packing, and I couldn’t. I don't know, we have so many memories here, it’s home. I mean yeah, it doesn’t have the countertops I want, and you got shot in our kitchen which is a bummer ” she paused and we both laughed. “But I can’t see myself bringing the baby home anywhere else but here.”

“Then we stay here,” I kissed her forehead, “and get new countertops.”

“I also may have started on the nursery while I was stress shopping so now we have to stay," she said quickly.

"Is that why we've been getting all those deliveries?" i asked. She leaned in and kissed me instead of answering.

[meltykarasu]

Final Fantasy VII Advent Calendar — Dec. 5

I'm awake, I've got the whole day off with no plans except for playing FFVII and writing this post, so here we go. I'm slightly behind schedule. Optimally, I'd like to get to the Western Continent today.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, I made my way to the Chocobo farm, where Choco Bill warned me about the Midgar Zolom, a giant snake in the marshes. I got two pieces of Materia, as well: the Choco/Mog summon and the Chocobo Lure.

(Okay, actually, I didn't have enough gil for Chocobo Lure, so I ground a little outside the farm.)

Chocobo catching is...interesting. You have to equip the Lure materia and run around on the Chocobo tracks until you trigger an encounter, which probably has a Chocobo, and then you have to murder every other monster in the encounter...before the Chocobo runs away.

This is pretty tedious and intensive, since you can't actually hit the Chocobo, lest it peck you and run off. I mean, the running off is a little inevitable. It happened a lot to me.

What wound up actually happening was just grinding until Cloud and Barret got Limit Breaks (Tifa's wasn't viable, as it selects targets randomly) and then unleashing them on the Chocobo's companions.

All that for a thirty second ride across the marsh.

...I decided that Chocobuckle could wait.

The Mythril Mine is interesting in that it's a rather straightforward dungeon if you want to beeline for the exit but it's got a lot of goodies stashed away in side rooms. Aside from a quick appearance from the Turks, however, it's not much to talk about in terms of plot.

An Archdragon kept using Flame Thrower on Barret. I think he must have gotten hit three times before Cloud finally got targeted. Cloud also wound up getting his first level 2 limit break.

On the other side of the mountain, I did some grinding in the forests to get Yuffie. I rotated out the Enemy Skill materia to Tifa in the hope she'd get her Level 2 limits and then found Yuffie almost immediately after. Anyway, if you're going after Yuffie make sure not to save at the save point immediately after you beat her.

Yuffie comes with the Throw materia, which is a command I've found useless in almost every FF except for the ones that let you buy dedicated items *for* throwing.

Junon is a fishing town underneath a giant Shinra city. Down on the beach, a girl named Priscilla was playing with a dolphin. A giant boss attacked from the water. Priscilla ran out to help the dolphin.

The boss, Bottom Swell, is a bit tricky — it has a variation on Reno's pyramids, bubbles that drain life as well as bind party members, and they can only be popped by magic. In addition, his wave attacks hit everyone for decent damage. I still destroyed it.

Afterwards, Cloud gave Priscilla CPR and the townsfolk gave the party a place to stay for the night. In the morning, loud music was playing from Upper Junon as Rufus Shinra arrived. Priscilla gave Cloud the Shiva summon, which feels like a rather large and important thing for a literal child to have. She also used a whistle to summon the dolphin so Cloud could get up to Upper Junon. Don't bother repositioning yourself during the dolphin jump — all you need to do is jump from your starting position and then jump again from where you land.

Cloud climbs up from there and infiltrates the Shinra airport.

Wait, why is Rufus using a dinky ship to get to the Western Continent when there's multiple aircraft???

Inside the Shinra complex, an officer mistook Cloud for a soldier who hasn't donned their uniform. Cloud put it on and took part in a parade. If he does poorly, the TV executives send him a bomb. I have never grasped this minigame. I got a bomb.

The prizes aren't even that good, so whatever.

Anyway, before Cloud hops on Rufus's boat, there's a bunch of wacky shops and events in Junon. There's even a second Beginners' Hall, as the original in Sector 7 was demolished. The ghosts of all the dudes in the original Hall haunt this one, so you can look at all the information from there here, too, but if you really have to ask how to save after getting out of Midgar, I think you deserve everything coming to you. You can also run into the Turks at the bar.

Anyway, Cloud participates in a sending-off ceremony as Rufus boards the Shinra cargo ship. Red XIII is chilling behind Rufus. I'd argue it's better to just do mediocre at this, as the reward is an HP Plus materia — better than the Force Stealer, which you can just buy two towns from now, whereas the HP Plus doesn't become available until a few hours from that.

Anyway once the ceremony wraps up you can make Cloud shrug with the triangle button, which leads me to state that I always over-exaggeratedly shrug exactly like Cloud.

Onboard the ship is a fun segment where you get to find all of your party members who have snuck aboard. Red XIII has even crammed himself into a uniform somehow.

Once you find Barret, sneaking around the bridge, an alert sounds about a mysterious character onboard. When the party reconvenes on the deck, nobody is missing, so they speculate if it's Sephiroth. Cloud forms up a party to investigate.

In the engine room Sephiroth emerges but flips the fuck out and becomes a giant alien freakbag and so begins the boss fight against Jenova-BIRTH — and I gotta say, Jenova has an amazing theme. Also, killing it leveled up Cloud's Fire materia for Fire2, and I got the Ifrit summon! Bonus! Also I grabbed Wind Slash, Yuffie's weapon for double materia growth!

The party arrives in Costa del Sol, which is a beach resort with a super-chill groovin' theme. All the members of the party have neat events to witness. Down on the beach, Hojo is on vacation. He doesn't remember Aerith's name, which is slightly hilarious. That aside, the town doesn't have a ton in terms of shops. What it does have is President Shinra's now vacant villa, where you can grab a Fire Ring and the Motor Drive, Tifa's double AP weapon. I have big plans for the Fire Ring that will pan out as soon as I get in (and out) of the Gold Saucer, and trust me, you'll like 'em.

I headed out, saved the game, and stopped for the night.

Today's Predictions & Strategy for Tomorrow

It's going well! I am back on schedule, maybe even slightly ahead. We're almost to the part of the game where the really good Enemy Skills become available — not that Matra Magic and Flame Thrower are bad, but there's a couple within the next few sessions that can really rock your socks off. In addition, the double growth weapons will let me be able to get more second-tier spells, which is always a bonus.

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