#tifa (mentioned)

[emblazons]

♪ know that you'll take my hand—and never let me go ♪

Cloud Strife & Tifa Lockhart Promises to Keep • Final Fantasy VII (Rebirth)

[accala]

Cloud is a father. He has his own kid and a niece he takes care of. He raises kids with Tifa. He's a deadbeat.

It's not sinking in.

[daylighteclipsed]

I finished Rebirth! The last leg of the game gave big KH vibes imo (the name of the last chapter (End of the World) is even the name of the last level/world in KH1). But that ending was crazy. Does Cloud, like, know Aerith is dead, or is he so deep in denial that he thinks she’s alive?

[tifa-simp]

Tifa's trial in the temple is so confusing but so interesting to analyze. The fact little Tifa, little Cloud and Brian feel like 3 separate entities instead of belong in the same illusion group like the rest of trials really sparks a lot of questions about how much of her trial is the temple's doing and/or if there's other third part's involvement?

I feel like her trial has a lot of setup for part 3, but I also think part 3 won't out right answer the questions we have with her trial, we'll have to gather informations and piece the answer together, just like what Tifa does with Cloud.

[wowa-bublord]

I gotta know what animal you associate each SOLDIER with. Zack is a stray dog obv, but what about the other members of the CC cast? Do all/any of them have more animal-like behaviors? Does this impact their relationships with normal citizens??

AHHHH IM HAPPY 2 ANSWER!! None of them are meant to actually be part animal, and only the soldiers are meant to really have inhuman traits, (Weird eyes, sharp teeth, pointy ears) the rest are just artistic design ideas!! like. a design motif i think is the word?? let me collect some pictures.

I tend to base my Sephiroth design off of owls. particularly barn or otherwise tyto owls. Aside from the obvious. Bird. Wing. thing, I think its an interesting parallel to how white barn owls are said to bring prosperity/good luck (like how Sephiroth was designed to be a hero) but owls in general are said to be associated with death and bad omens (like sephiroth. my silly billy)

My Tifa design is based on bulls. I wanted her to look both sturdy and protective, while also being more of a local animal.. plus how she's dressed like a cowgirl in crisis core/flashbacks hehe

And Aeriths design is heavily inspired by a moth!! Representing change, transformation and growth. Though it's heavily based on the fact that Aeriths talk about being afraid of the sky reminded me of a moth to the flame metaphor. (I'm putting her animal comparison under read more NUBE DO NOT CLICKK)

[epicwin64]

This is insane. I didn’t know 6 characters on screen at all times without noticeable frame drops was possible.

[demynom]

Ffvii rebirth spoilers or whatever but I’m still not over how they entirely fumbled nibelheim

Why the hell would shinra build it back EXACTLY as it was if not to pretend nothing ever happened. If their intention was to start a “mako poisoning treatment center” why wouldn’t they…I don’t know. Incorporate that into the architecture instead of deciding “well, we need to make sure we rebuild tifa’s bedroom exactly as it was, down to the furniture placement. For the patients.” It would obviously be too much of a change if they altered it visually, so they didn’t, but that just kind of makes the repurposing of nibelheim illogical in the first place. That’s not to say Shinra’s “treatment facility” angle doesn’t have ulterior motives, but it’s severely lacking in narrative weight. It’s muddy.

I understand it’s a bit over the top in the original for shinra to have hired actors to inhabit nibelheim for the purpose of shock value to the characters/player, but that’s not really a fact that has to be dwelled upon if done well. It just feels like rebirth tones down the depravity of Shinra at any available opportunity and strips away all of the emotional gut punches and creepy ambience. Nibelheim went from a haunting set piece to….just kind of a pit stop.

[strawbrryrush]

closed event starter for kikyo & tifa !! @vcndetta

"kikyo?" the girl called out; her eyes shining with tears- after what she had done.. it was hard not to feel immense guilt.. the voice had been silenced- and her life no longer felt threatened- but how could she live with this.. all these questions raced in her head, but for now she tried her best to focus on the fact- that she- kikyo was okay. "-i'm so glad you're okay- you're okay right?" she asked; wiping at the stray tear she couldn't keep from falling.

[mejomonster]

Is cloud bisexual in canon? I dunno. Couldnt say for sure (im in Rebirth chapter 12 and Only discussing rebirth rn). I can definitely say he's Aware Andrea admires him, Super Aware Dio likes him and is flattered by it and up to flirt with that opportunity (wild choice cloud but okay).

And i certainly cant wait for clouds date with barret <3

[hgmason-hellion]

Another art dump

(Most of these will be from NobodyDaxian's twitch plays KH2 stream, team ballers rise up)

[patchoulol]

Little country girl in NIbelheim who affectionately shouts Cloud "smells like Midgar" loud and proud in the middle of the street to her friend is definitely one of us.

[junkosaotome]

I remember when people were saying aerith is native american/indigenous coded because of her connection to the earth lol

[pine-needle-shuffle]

Jaerti for the soul <- gem from my working notes doc

[kuhatoarchive]

...oof. tifa’s scar and physical rehabilitation. let’s talk about it :)

   veeery very grateful traces of two pasts touches upon this at length because it’s such a landmark in tifa’s life, both emotionally and physically. i’m not a medical expert by any means so i’m glad for it GJGF. i’m taking the specifics of it and the rehabilitation to add to my og verse; note that this post is, again, only limited to the injury and rehabilitation. i’ll make a post about tifa’s life post-discharge from the clinic sometime later so this won’t be too cluttered.

   anyway— the novel describes the scar as running underneath her left collarbone down and across towards the bottom of her right breast, which... means that it’d be quite visible with any cleavage, even if the transplanted issue they used faded into a closer match to her skin. i think her discomfort from showing it would stem from the utterly unpleasant memory rather than any self-consciousness of how it looked aesthetically. it may not look too nasty after it has healed and faded, but it is a lengthy scar on quite a vital body location, so... any stares and questions, even if not outright asked, would give her too much discomfort. this is why i favor the “exotic” (why’d they have to call it that....) dress over the other options— it’s not about modesty, it’s about the scar.  

   below are some excerpts of specifics i’m incorporating:

ON THE INJURY. 

   The injury crushed a piece of [her] sternum, but didn’t puncture any of [her] lungs or internal organs. [They] replaced the missing bone with synthetic grafts, and right now it’s being reinforced with metal wire. This wire will stay on for the rest of [her] life. On the early stages of healing, [her] chest needed to be kept secured in place so she was made to wear a corset which was loosened over time.      The transplanted tissues take about three to four years to assimilate with [her] natural skin. The cause of the pain outside [her] chest is due to this transplant; it’s just like a burn, but it goes away in time. The color should also begin to look more like [her] surrounding skin. 

ON THE REHABILITATION.

   After the major surgeries performed on her and spending a month unconscoius, she has to carry out methods for regaining muscle strength that won’t cause more strain on her injuries. She was to work on grip strength, walking and running ability, and stretching, all for about half a month.

The conditions to discharge her were as follows:

   1. The skin fusion must progress to level 3 or higher.    2. Regain muscle strength to allow for minimal daily activities.    3. Pay for all the medical expenses and hospitalization (LOL...... the amount is not explicitly mentioned but it is described as absurd.)

ON THE RELOCATION.

   “At the first hospital, they finished treatment on your sternum, but your condition remained unstable. The doctor from Corel recommended you to be transferred to either Midgar or Junon because the hospitals there would have the medical equipment ready. They even got approval from Shinra Headquarters’ Science Division, but Master Zangan objected. After some heated discussions, you came [to a sector 8 clinic].”

[bronzewool]

Final Fantasy VII: Traces of Two Pasts by Kazushige Nojima is a novel exploring the backstories of Aerith and Tifa, two party members you acquire early on in the game.

Traces of Tifa starts with a young Tifa in the small village of Neibelheim, playing with the other boys her age (minus Cloud) and reconciling over the knowledge their childhood is coming to an end as each boy is already making plans to leave and follow their future career paths. The boys try to cheer her up by promising to write to her, but it soon becomes clear to her that everyone has already decided she will marry one of these boys without bothering to ask her opinion. After Cloud and the other boys leave for Midgar, she becomes lonely and has no direction in life until a wandering material artist, Rashard Zangan, shows up, scouting for students to join his dojo, and finding the perfect pupil in Tifa. Throwing herself into her training, she proves to be skilled in the art form and even starts teaching a morning class for the other villagers. Fast forward to the Neibelheim Incident, where Tifa lost her father and is mortally wounded by Sephiroth, she wakes up in a Midgar hospital that managed to save her life, but she no longer has a home or any means of paying her medical bills. The doctor's son, Rakesh, also a student of Zangan, sets her up with a room in one of the slum container rows, and a job working at a steamed bun cart. Although Tifa is grateful for the help, she is still in the process of mourning the loss of her home while recovering from a near-fatal stab wound and yet still expected to work off her heavy debts. During her time living in the slums, we see how she met Barret, and the rest of Avalanche and would eventually become the bartender of Seventh Heaven.

The segment has a well-paced coming-of-age story of Tifa having no control over her life, and becoming the confident kickboxer and math-savvy bartender we meet at the beginning of the game. The story is slow in several areas, the major one being the attention to detail it goes into regarding her workout routine (to the point it starts feeling like an actual textbook) and her work rota at the food cart and preparing the bao buns (which starts feeling like an actual cookbook). Other than that it has a satisfying twist near the end with how Tifa manages to get out of debt and find a supportive community that becomes her newfound family.

The only minor complaint I have with this story is how little Zangan is in it, considering he is meant to be Tifa’s sensei, but he is only shown teaching her through textbooks that he leaves for her to study before disappearing for months at a time and returning to test her progress and handing her the next volume before disappearing again. This works in the context of the games as characters can level up by reading textbooks, but from a story standpoint, it's rather disappointing how little these two interact.

Traces of Aerith covers the timeline after Aerith and her mother escape Shina and hide in Sector 8 Slums, right before she dies and Aerith is adopted by Elmyra. The game briefly covers how Aerith and Elymra first met, but the book goes into greater detail about how they became a family and that it wasn't as smooth a transition as was implied. Elmyra's husband was a soldier who had been deployed during the Wutai War and was finally coming back home. Elymra would stand at the train station waiting for him with each passing day and on one such day, she finds Aerith weeping over the corpse of her mother and takes the girl in before Shinra finds her. Aerith is in the middle of mourning her mother and Elymra is overloaded with the responsibility of being a single parent while trying to maintain peace within her husband's business. Aerith's presence complicates things for Elmyra and they come up with a fake identity for Aerith which quickly backfires the more people learn of her existence.

The book tries to address minor details in the framing device of a polygon game and has various degrees of success while doing it. For example, Aerith's home is strangely bigger than the rest of the slums, with a two-story house and a garden filled to the brim with flowers. In the game, this area is heavily detailed because it's a set-piece that represents Aerith and the party spends quite a bit of time here. In the context of reality, this area makes no sense when just outside the gate the rest of Sector 8 is a shanty town. The book works around this by giving Elmyra a backstory where her father-in-law owned a construction company and stayed in the slums to oversee that company, as opposed to other businesses that would start a shop in the Slums and immediately abandon it once they earned enough to move onto the upper plate. Her father-in-law employed all those redundant employees and gained a lot of respect from the community for providing employment, hence why they live more lavishly in comparison.

My only complaint about Aerith’s segment in particular is how it glosses over major details in her childhood that fans were probably picking up the book to read about. We know the Turks have been spying on Aerith since she was a child, but they barely have a presence in this segment beyond one vital scene that needs to exist because it happened in the game and the climax where we can assume they saved Aerith’s life. Instead, we spend a lot of time setting up Aerith having a fake identity, and her panicking and using another girl’s name, and this somehow causes everyone to panic because two girls can’t have the same name I guess? (it's as stupid as it sounds and I don’t know why the book dives into this when we know Aerith uses her real name in the present timeline).

Is this book well written? Yes. Did it need to exist? No. There is nothing new we learn in this book that changes your worldview of the game or about Aerith and Tifa as characters. Hardcore fans will enjoy it but casual fans are not going to get anything out of it.

[noxtivagus]

i love the sky so much