To Nibelheim of Hel's Domain
May. 26th, 2013 01:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
raajCid had known for quite a while that Nibelheim was always going to be a hurt for Cloud and Tifa. This was his first time being in the village himself, but Yuffie had blabbed about AVALANCHE's drive-by of it to him years ago, back when Cloud had gone--shit, there wasn't a good word to describe it--he'd gone and handed the black materia to Sephiroth, then disappeared in the collapse of the crater. The little oddities that had been there all along and the big fucking neon signs of underlying weirdness had come to the forefront of everyone's mind and they'd all talked about Cloud. Even him, newest to the group as he was, he'd noticed some things. But he hadn't known about the cover-up job done on the past Cloud had claimed to have, that Tifa had been adamant they'd shared.
"So they said it was gone, and we get there and hel-lo! Totally there. And I was thinking yeesh, I know someone said fire--what, like a kitchen fire? Because nothing was missing. It looked like your perfectly ordinary yawn-and-put-it-on-a-postcard dinky town. But then we got further in, and...some of the things there..."
The fact that Yuffie had then started to go quiet had told Cid a lot more than a thousand of her babbled words would have, and certainly more than her faltering conclusion of "there was seriously bad mojo" had. ("No shit, you found Vincent there.") When even the loudmouthed brat was tiptoeing on a subject, you knew it was sensitive like a sunburn.
So he'd known it had hurt back then, and that was why about a year ago, when a sweet, stubborn, didn't-know-how-to-take-a-load-off-even-when-she-was-dead flower girl gave them a way to heal Geostigma and he suddenly had a fuckton of transportation jobs ahead of him, getting victims all over the world to her church, Cid had mentioned to Cloud and Tifa as an aside that in the first batch, along with some folk from his town (and he didn't give a damn if that was unfair bias or not: it was his airship, and it was The Shera for a reason), were going to be people from Nibelheim, if they had any sick to send. Casually, just letting them know so they didn't get surprised if someone mentioned it later on, or if they saw a face from a bad run-in.
Tifa's pleasant smile had gone pinched, like she'd just bitten into a lemon--or she was debating how hard she needed to punch something--while Cloud's shyer one didn't exactly change so much as get left behind by his suddenly remote eyes. They'd been talking about cleaning up Aerith's church after the mess of fights with the Sephiroth remnants, and keeping an eye on it with the influx of strangers sure to come, and somehow Cid had just known that they were thinking something neither of them would ever say: nothing from their hell of a hometown should touch the church's sanctity, Aerith's memory.
They both knew damn well they couldn't say it because they were talking about sick people. But they'd faltered, and Barret had blundered in to say he'd be the one there to meet the airship and make sure everything went smoothly in the church, and that had pretty much said it all to Cid. Nibelheim, and the concerted effort of scores of actors to bury it under a replacement, was always going to one hell of a sore point for them.
So being in Nibelheim now, Cid had known there was going to be some weirdness with Cloud. Especially with them going up to the reactor itself, a structure that AVALANCHE had given healthy distance in their traveling. He'd even offered the guy an out before the airship had touched down: they'd checked every other reactor across the continents and hadn't found a hint of anything insidious like Deepground had been--the former, literally underground organization being the reason why they were globetrotting now, checking every old Shinra structure, reactor or otherwise, and making sure there was no way they were hiding something that would fester and blow up in everyone's face later. The town was the last place they could think of to check, and Vincent and some WRO crew had already swept through mansion once, probably wasn't anything up in the reactor if the other reactors were clean, so in that case he and Vincent (and oh, yeah, like Vincent was going to have barrels of fun in the mansion, but he was more cool about it) could handle what was simple recon--
The younger man had straightly looked Cid back in the eye like he was a fucking moron for taking chances where Nibelheim was concerned and reminded the pilot that the whole excursion had largely been his idea to start with. "I'll be...fine. Just tell me if I'm acting off."
Well, shit, what was off when it came to re-experiencing the place where your life had gotten flushed down the drain? That required honest thought. Cid figured it'd be off if Cloud didn't act weird at all. So tension could slide. Tight-lippedness around the current residents could slide, even if Cid loathed doing all the talking since Vincent sure wouldn't contribute more than his bare minimum of a chipped two-gil.
When the blond's head jerked to the left and the woman who'd emerged from a shop in that direction did a double-take, that was off. It quickly grew to 'worrying' as the woman, who looked a good few years above Cid's age, shrank against the entrance and held her handbag against herself like a shield, while Cloud's look continued long enough to be reclassified to stare without seeming like he was truly seeing her or remotely considering the effect he was having on her. Cid knew from his days as a Shinra pilot that a SOLDIER's glare was commonly intimidating; ignorance about the mako glow didn't keep a person from seeing an inexplicable, disconcerting quality in an insanely strong man's eyes. The fact that Cloud hadn't really been SOLDIER didn't make a difference there. Most folk didn't know that tidbit. They did know his name and face for having been able to kill the world's strongest one.
"I doubt you're staring 'cause she's a looker, so quit it," Cid muttered out of the side of his mouth.
"Huh?" Cloud sounded as lost as someone hit by the confusion spell, his eyes wide as he half-turned to Cid. The lady must have thought she'd been in a stare-down with a bear instead of a man; as soon as Cloud's eyes were off her she scurried across the open space of the village to what was presumably her home, an unremarkably humble one-story, and rushed to get in.
"She looked like a hag to me, personally."
"...Cid."
Heh. Guy was definitely back on the ground with them if he could get prissy over a little language. Though when the front door of the house slammed closed, Cloud reacted to the sound, wincing and just barely managing to check himself from looking to it.
Vincent did observe the door, apparently drawing thoughts similar to Cid's about the possibilities of the residence. "You seemed to recognize her."
Well. Vincent wasn't much for conversational gambits, but Cid figured that broached the question fine enough and just quirked a brow at Cloud. They could talk about it or keep moving; the guy's call.
Come to think about it, he'd recognized her. One of the Geostigma passengers. Probably Barret had been a smart man, then, relieving Cloud and Tifa of any greeting duties for that batch.
"...I went into my mother's house," Cloud said slowly, confirming their thoughts, "and she was there. She said I was sick, for saying--" He laughed, quick and mirthless, and ducked his eyes from any scrutiny. "I was sick, yeah."
Sick from having his head fucked around with, and even if Nibelheim's reconstruction had just been icing on the cake at that point, it had still been shit icing. Cid summed up his feelings with a hocked loogie and thumb of his nose. "With that kind of act, she knows what she said was a load of crap. Don't think about it."
Easier said than done, no one could pretend otherwise, but Cloud nodded, his pained expression smoothing into a more familiar focus. "Yeah. Let's get this done."
His tension actually eased in the mansion. Not completely, but Cid snorted to see the kid's shoulders loosen, his arms move a bit more naturally--ready for a fight and probably anxious about memories, but not scared of a confrontation he couldn't handle.
"Cid?"
"What?" he drawled back.
The younger man's brow wrinkled in confusion before he shrugged it off and turned to Vincent. "You okay?"
"Of course," came the predictably toneless response. "I know these nightmares well."
...He was putting on the airs again. Two pairs of blue eyes met each other and rolled. It was a fucking hoot: sometimes, Cloud and Vincent were perfectly on the same wavelength. But sometimes? Cloud was definitely more on Cid's. Which was a good thing, as Cid was pretty sure he would've pitched both his friends off the Highwind years back if they were always swapping talk of sins and guilt and shit. Vincent was a decent guy, but the world didn't need two of him.
This kind of exchange was so familiar to the three that the melodramatic ex-Turk simply ignored both blonds, stalking further into the mansion. Cloud picked up his pace to cover Vincent's side, while Cid had their backs. Granted, nothing was likely to get the drop on Vincent or Cloud in the first place. If anything, they'd hear the monster before Cid saw it, so the pilot was more literally watching their backs, idly watching to see if they were more bugged than they'd let on.
And after a few more minutes and a fight with those weirdass chain-danglers--almost human, but not, with strong arms to swing by and blades instead of legs--Cid realized he'd caught something off, if not what he'd been looking for. "Huh. The hell is that, kid? Your shoulder still acting up?"
"...Sometimes," Cloud admitted as he re-holstered his fused sword. "You could tell?"
"I asked, 'course I could tell." Actually, he'd nearly missed it. It'd only been a momentary tensing of the shoulder, tell-tale because Cid realized he'd seen the gesture back in their visit to Gongaga as well. "Shit, you're only twenty-three--"
"Twenty-four."
"--yeah, okay. Too young to be fallin' apart. Next you'll be bitching about your hips coming out of place."
Cloud pursed his lips, looking frustrated that this was even a topic for discussion. "I don't know. It started after the fight with Deepground. I must have gotten hit there, and not realized until it was too late to catch with a Restore."
"Well, if anyone could pull off something that boneheaded..." Dumbass had probably gotten too distracted in the worry over Vincent's disappearance. Cid hadn't worried at all, because he had a full crew to bark out search and rescue orders to.
Still, it was strange that injury would be bugging Cloud even now. Deepground had been weeks ago.
And then Vincent was either perceptive or just plain pessimistic enough to ask a question the pilot hadn't even considered. "Is it getting better, or worse?"
And judging from Cloud's hesitance, pessimism was justified. Incredulous, Cid glared first at tall-dark-and-morbid, then turned on short-blond-and-stupid. "Why the fuck would it get worse, and why the fuck haven't you said anything?"
Cloud (currently dubbed dumb knucklehead in Cid's train of thought) gave an exaggerated sigh. "We'd already crossed the Corel mountains by the time I realized it wasn't going away. I want this done, and then I'll--" He pursed his lips, obviously having to think, obviously having originally planned to just mosey on home without even thinking about it. "--I'll check at WRO headquarters if Dr. Watts is there."
Of course. Watts had been one of the first medical personnel invited to work with the WRO in providing charitable public health services, as Reeve had been well aware of both the man's altruism and resourcefulness in caring for Cloud when he washed up as a vegetable on the shore of Mideel, only peripherally aware of the world around him. Which was the same reason the man had found himself in the odd position of being the sole medical personnel willingly visited by one otherwise notoriously doctor-shy Jenova War hero, like he'd managed to bypass part of a crippling fear of chemical smells, scalpels and needles simply by not being cruel to a helpless human being. ...Not that anyone particularly liked thinking about Cloud's previous experience with doctors; they focused on the fact that there actually existed one he would go to see before being completely incapacitated by injury or disease.
"All right?"
Though with his stubbornness, he'd still wait until he was half-blind with pain.
"Pft. Making me sound like a worrywart..."
"I killed half a dozen monsters yesterday, Cid. I don't think you 'sound like' anything."
"Hnf." Cid chewed on his cigarette and had to grudgingly conclude the kid might be right. It seemed odd with how quick he usually healed up, but Cloud's fighting ability was at its usual par despite the injury. They'd fought through worse.
"...What, you too, Vincent?"
Vincent quirked a dark eyebrow at Cloud's plaintive tone. "Merely thinking." When Cloud cocked his head, he added, "it might annoy you, but the concern should be appreciated."
The way he said 'concern', might as well just make it 'motherhenning'. Cid spluttered. "Jump off a cliff and fucking--I'm not--"
Vincent had to be smirking under his mantle, the way he dipped his face, and Cloud didn't have anything to hide his amusement behind. Assholes. Cid told them as much before demanding they get their lily-asses in gear again. He didn't let his crew keep them waiting, so like hell he'd let them keep the crew waiting with their precious little chit-chat.
**
Not quite relevant to the fanfic but I had a lot of fun with the idea of "Doctor Watts", the unnamed NPC who takes care of Cloud in the clinic, managing to pop up in Cloud's life again with the idea that Reeve was originally doing some kind of hiring/coordinating work with doctors around the Planet for a public effort led by WRO into researching Geostigma and taking care of its victims (though this obviously did fall short in some ways, but they were trying) and seriously did look at Mideel's region and go "Ah, THAT doctor, he's a good man...hm, clinic got wrecked, let's arrange some more resources so he can care for his patients", thus Watts has some business relationship with WRO. At some point both Watts and Cloud having connections to WRO leads to the discovery that Watts actually is the one doctor Cloud can tolerate being seen by, partly because Watts has an excellent bedside manner and works easily around Cloud's awkwardness and part of it really being because Cloud was aware on some level of both him and the nurse and recognizes the two as people he can trust. He still doesn't like a trip to the doctor, but he's not one step from a panic attack like he might be with another doctor. It mostly just popped into my head since it's so popular to give Cloud a phobia / discomfort about doctors given Hojo and I started to wonder about the doctor he actually sees in canon.
"So they said it was gone, and we get there and hel-lo! Totally there. And I was thinking yeesh, I know someone said fire--what, like a kitchen fire? Because nothing was missing. It looked like your perfectly ordinary yawn-and-put-it-on-a-postcard dinky town. But then we got further in, and...some of the things there..."
The fact that Yuffie had then started to go quiet had told Cid a lot more than a thousand of her babbled words would have, and certainly more than her faltering conclusion of "there was seriously bad mojo" had. ("No shit, you found Vincent there.") When even the loudmouthed brat was tiptoeing on a subject, you knew it was sensitive like a sunburn.
So he'd known it had hurt back then, and that was why about a year ago, when a sweet, stubborn, didn't-know-how-to-take-a-load-off-even-when-she-was-dead flower girl gave them a way to heal Geostigma and he suddenly had a fuckton of transportation jobs ahead of him, getting victims all over the world to her church, Cid had mentioned to Cloud and Tifa as an aside that in the first batch, along with some folk from his town (and he didn't give a damn if that was unfair bias or not: it was his airship, and it was The Shera for a reason), were going to be people from Nibelheim, if they had any sick to send. Casually, just letting them know so they didn't get surprised if someone mentioned it later on, or if they saw a face from a bad run-in.
Tifa's pleasant smile had gone pinched, like she'd just bitten into a lemon--or she was debating how hard she needed to punch something--while Cloud's shyer one didn't exactly change so much as get left behind by his suddenly remote eyes. They'd been talking about cleaning up Aerith's church after the mess of fights with the Sephiroth remnants, and keeping an eye on it with the influx of strangers sure to come, and somehow Cid had just known that they were thinking something neither of them would ever say: nothing from their hell of a hometown should touch the church's sanctity, Aerith's memory.
They both knew damn well they couldn't say it because they were talking about sick people. But they'd faltered, and Barret had blundered in to say he'd be the one there to meet the airship and make sure everything went smoothly in the church, and that had pretty much said it all to Cid. Nibelheim, and the concerted effort of scores of actors to bury it under a replacement, was always going to one hell of a sore point for them.
So being in Nibelheim now, Cid had known there was going to be some weirdness with Cloud. Especially with them going up to the reactor itself, a structure that AVALANCHE had given healthy distance in their traveling. He'd even offered the guy an out before the airship had touched down: they'd checked every other reactor across the continents and hadn't found a hint of anything insidious like Deepground had been--the former, literally underground organization being the reason why they were globetrotting now, checking every old Shinra structure, reactor or otherwise, and making sure there was no way they were hiding something that would fester and blow up in everyone's face later. The town was the last place they could think of to check, and Vincent and some WRO crew had already swept through mansion once, probably wasn't anything up in the reactor if the other reactors were clean, so in that case he and Vincent (and oh, yeah, like Vincent was going to have barrels of fun in the mansion, but he was more cool about it) could handle what was simple recon--
The younger man had straightly looked Cid back in the eye like he was a fucking moron for taking chances where Nibelheim was concerned and reminded the pilot that the whole excursion had largely been his idea to start with. "I'll be...fine. Just tell me if I'm acting off."
Well, shit, what was off when it came to re-experiencing the place where your life had gotten flushed down the drain? That required honest thought. Cid figured it'd be off if Cloud didn't act weird at all. So tension could slide. Tight-lippedness around the current residents could slide, even if Cid loathed doing all the talking since Vincent sure wouldn't contribute more than his bare minimum of a chipped two-gil.
When the blond's head jerked to the left and the woman who'd emerged from a shop in that direction did a double-take, that was off. It quickly grew to 'worrying' as the woman, who looked a good few years above Cid's age, shrank against the entrance and held her handbag against herself like a shield, while Cloud's look continued long enough to be reclassified to stare without seeming like he was truly seeing her or remotely considering the effect he was having on her. Cid knew from his days as a Shinra pilot that a SOLDIER's glare was commonly intimidating; ignorance about the mako glow didn't keep a person from seeing an inexplicable, disconcerting quality in an insanely strong man's eyes. The fact that Cloud hadn't really been SOLDIER didn't make a difference there. Most folk didn't know that tidbit. They did know his name and face for having been able to kill the world's strongest one.
"I doubt you're staring 'cause she's a looker, so quit it," Cid muttered out of the side of his mouth.
"Huh?" Cloud sounded as lost as someone hit by the confusion spell, his eyes wide as he half-turned to Cid. The lady must have thought she'd been in a stare-down with a bear instead of a man; as soon as Cloud's eyes were off her she scurried across the open space of the village to what was presumably her home, an unremarkably humble one-story, and rushed to get in.
"She looked like a hag to me, personally."
"...Cid."
Heh. Guy was definitely back on the ground with them if he could get prissy over a little language. Though when the front door of the house slammed closed, Cloud reacted to the sound, wincing and just barely managing to check himself from looking to it.
Vincent did observe the door, apparently drawing thoughts similar to Cid's about the possibilities of the residence. "You seemed to recognize her."
Well. Vincent wasn't much for conversational gambits, but Cid figured that broached the question fine enough and just quirked a brow at Cloud. They could talk about it or keep moving; the guy's call.
Come to think about it, he'd recognized her. One of the Geostigma passengers. Probably Barret had been a smart man, then, relieving Cloud and Tifa of any greeting duties for that batch.
"...I went into my mother's house," Cloud said slowly, confirming their thoughts, "and she was there. She said I was sick, for saying--" He laughed, quick and mirthless, and ducked his eyes from any scrutiny. "I was sick, yeah."
Sick from having his head fucked around with, and even if Nibelheim's reconstruction had just been icing on the cake at that point, it had still been shit icing. Cid summed up his feelings with a hocked loogie and thumb of his nose. "With that kind of act, she knows what she said was a load of crap. Don't think about it."
Easier said than done, no one could pretend otherwise, but Cloud nodded, his pained expression smoothing into a more familiar focus. "Yeah. Let's get this done."
His tension actually eased in the mansion. Not completely, but Cid snorted to see the kid's shoulders loosen, his arms move a bit more naturally--ready for a fight and probably anxious about memories, but not scared of a confrontation he couldn't handle.
"Cid?"
"What?" he drawled back.
The younger man's brow wrinkled in confusion before he shrugged it off and turned to Vincent. "You okay?"
"Of course," came the predictably toneless response. "I know these nightmares well."
...He was putting on the airs again. Two pairs of blue eyes met each other and rolled. It was a fucking hoot: sometimes, Cloud and Vincent were perfectly on the same wavelength. But sometimes? Cloud was definitely more on Cid's. Which was a good thing, as Cid was pretty sure he would've pitched both his friends off the Highwind years back if they were always swapping talk of sins and guilt and shit. Vincent was a decent guy, but the world didn't need two of him.
This kind of exchange was so familiar to the three that the melodramatic ex-Turk simply ignored both blonds, stalking further into the mansion. Cloud picked up his pace to cover Vincent's side, while Cid had their backs. Granted, nothing was likely to get the drop on Vincent or Cloud in the first place. If anything, they'd hear the monster before Cid saw it, so the pilot was more literally watching their backs, idly watching to see if they were more bugged than they'd let on.
And after a few more minutes and a fight with those weirdass chain-danglers--almost human, but not, with strong arms to swing by and blades instead of legs--Cid realized he'd caught something off, if not what he'd been looking for. "Huh. The hell is that, kid? Your shoulder still acting up?"
"...Sometimes," Cloud admitted as he re-holstered his fused sword. "You could tell?"
"I asked, 'course I could tell." Actually, he'd nearly missed it. It'd only been a momentary tensing of the shoulder, tell-tale because Cid realized he'd seen the gesture back in their visit to Gongaga as well. "Shit, you're only twenty-three--"
"Twenty-four."
"--yeah, okay. Too young to be fallin' apart. Next you'll be bitching about your hips coming out of place."
Cloud pursed his lips, looking frustrated that this was even a topic for discussion. "I don't know. It started after the fight with Deepground. I must have gotten hit there, and not realized until it was too late to catch with a Restore."
"Well, if anyone could pull off something that boneheaded..." Dumbass had probably gotten too distracted in the worry over Vincent's disappearance. Cid hadn't worried at all, because he had a full crew to bark out search and rescue orders to.
Still, it was strange that injury would be bugging Cloud even now. Deepground had been weeks ago.
And then Vincent was either perceptive or just plain pessimistic enough to ask a question the pilot hadn't even considered. "Is it getting better, or worse?"
And judging from Cloud's hesitance, pessimism was justified. Incredulous, Cid glared first at tall-dark-and-morbid, then turned on short-blond-and-stupid. "Why the fuck would it get worse, and why the fuck haven't you said anything?"
Cloud (currently dubbed dumb knucklehead in Cid's train of thought) gave an exaggerated sigh. "We'd already crossed the Corel mountains by the time I realized it wasn't going away. I want this done, and then I'll--" He pursed his lips, obviously having to think, obviously having originally planned to just mosey on home without even thinking about it. "--I'll check at WRO headquarters if Dr. Watts is there."
Of course. Watts had been one of the first medical personnel invited to work with the WRO in providing charitable public health services, as Reeve had been well aware of both the man's altruism and resourcefulness in caring for Cloud when he washed up as a vegetable on the shore of Mideel, only peripherally aware of the world around him. Which was the same reason the man had found himself in the odd position of being the sole medical personnel willingly visited by one otherwise notoriously doctor-shy Jenova War hero, like he'd managed to bypass part of a crippling fear of chemical smells, scalpels and needles simply by not being cruel to a helpless human being. ...Not that anyone particularly liked thinking about Cloud's previous experience with doctors; they focused on the fact that there actually existed one he would go to see before being completely incapacitated by injury or disease.
"All right?"
Though with his stubbornness, he'd still wait until he was half-blind with pain.
"Pft. Making me sound like a worrywart..."
"I killed half a dozen monsters yesterday, Cid. I don't think you 'sound like' anything."
"Hnf." Cid chewed on his cigarette and had to grudgingly conclude the kid might be right. It seemed odd with how quick he usually healed up, but Cloud's fighting ability was at its usual par despite the injury. They'd fought through worse.
"...What, you too, Vincent?"
Vincent quirked a dark eyebrow at Cloud's plaintive tone. "Merely thinking." When Cloud cocked his head, he added, "it might annoy you, but the concern should be appreciated."
The way he said 'concern', might as well just make it 'motherhenning'. Cid spluttered. "Jump off a cliff and fucking--I'm not--"
Vincent had to be smirking under his mantle, the way he dipped his face, and Cloud didn't have anything to hide his amusement behind. Assholes. Cid told them as much before demanding they get their lily-asses in gear again. He didn't let his crew keep them waiting, so like hell he'd let them keep the crew waiting with their precious little chit-chat.
**
Not quite relevant to the fanfic but I had a lot of fun with the idea of "Doctor Watts", the unnamed NPC who takes care of Cloud in the clinic, managing to pop up in Cloud's life again with the idea that Reeve was originally doing some kind of hiring/coordinating work with doctors around the Planet for a public effort led by WRO into researching Geostigma and taking care of its victims (though this obviously did fall short in some ways, but they were trying) and seriously did look at Mideel's region and go "Ah, THAT doctor, he's a good man...hm, clinic got wrecked, let's arrange some more resources so he can care for his patients", thus Watts has some business relationship with WRO. At some point both Watts and Cloud having connections to WRO leads to the discovery that Watts actually is the one doctor Cloud can tolerate being seen by, partly because Watts has an excellent bedside manner and works easily around Cloud's awkwardness and part of it really being because Cloud was aware on some level of both him and the nurse and recognizes the two as people he can trust. He still doesn't like a trip to the doctor, but he's not one step from a panic attack like he might be with another doctor. It mostly just popped into my head since it's so popular to give Cloud a phobia / discomfort about doctors given Hojo and I started to wonder about the doctor he actually sees in canon.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-27 10:37 am (UTC)I really like Cid's lack of familiarity with Nibelheim and it makes a lot of sense (since the Zack and Cloud escape memory can be put anywhere in the timeline due to how its triggered), especially since he joined the team afterward and there is never much reason to return to the settlement. Really like Yuffie being the one to tell Cid - and at a not so brilliant time either. And that Yuffie is so blase and flippant about how she saw the town first and then... then its not so funny once they got further in.
Nice idea with Cid running major transportation to get people over to the church to be healed - and that the first batch are from Rocket Town (really like him not giving a damn) and Nibelheim, and that he is trying to mention it casually now just for when they inevitably do find out later on. And both Cloud and Tifa's reactions feel right - and I like Barret swinging in to handle the situation.
Really like Cid's rambling way out for Cloud to avoid taking him back to the town, and Cloud dismissing it... but not fully, and to let him know if he is acting weird. That was a neat thought process as well for Cid reconciling how Cloud would be behaving oddly - or at least how he'd be able to tell. And that the normal nervous tics could be ignored for this. Haha! And Cid realising he's going to be doing all the talking given who he's there with.
The resident of Cloud's rebuilt home and Cloud's reactions were very nicely done - and Cid's check to see if he was okay by calling her a hag which Cloud reacts to. And that note about how intimidating the mako glow could be - especially if coupled with the knowledge of just who Cloud is and what he did. And... got to wonder if that's a hint about the woman being one of the Geostigma passengers, and if she's going to play a further part.
Really like Cloud and Cid able to be on the same wavelength, and Cid finding that a nice change from Cloud and Vincent being like that (and the comment about hurling them both off the Highwind if they'd never stopped talking about sin and guilt). And that this has become so cliche to them that Vincent just ignores the eye-rolling...
Foreshadowing! Intrigued as to if anything else happened on the visit to Gongaga when Cloud's shoulder first caught Cid's attention - and that it started after Deepground... And oooh; Cloud doesn't answer Vincent's question - at least not directly. The implication does seem to be its getting worse but he never outright says it, but pressed on to get this sorted and then get checked out by Doctor Watts.
On that note; I like your usage of the NPC (and the name sounds right) for the WRO, and very easy to see Reeve recruiting him to help - and the how and why Cloud even remotely trusts this doctor over any others. I like that combination of good beside manner and Cloud being aware of what this man did for him years before - and that he can visit him without being that one step from the panic attack. I have seen the doctor phobia a lot (often coupled with Cloud's immune system being so over-powered he never gets injured/sick) and its nice to see that he can recognise that doctor is not going to be anything like Hojo (or...I hope so. Depends what you have planned, but it would seem a bit convenient for him to be villainous).
I also quite like that the mansion isn't as nerve-wracking for Cloud to visit; and I'm attributing that to him not remembering that period very well - its a place nightmare things happened, but he's (mercifully?) unaware of what happened. The reactor on the other hand while slightly different and ultimately victorious for him is a very different situation.
I like the little banter between the three of them, and Vincent saying the concern should be appreciated and Cid protesting (and Vincent not bothering to try and hide his amusement as no one can see it anyway).
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-28 03:27 am (UTC)baaaaaaaad mojo.
Barret's novella made a big point about the transportation to get people over to any place with a cure for Geostigma, and with Cid being part of that, yeah, it'd just feel wrong for him not to be involved in the transportation. And then with Shera sick (and seemingly not there with Cid in the church at the end of Advent Children)...yeah, there was no way he WASN'T going to zip back and get her over there asap. Might be bias but he'd dare anyone to say they wouldn't do the same.
And yeah, Barret having his bad experience with North Corel and being there for when Cloud and Tifa revisited Nibelheim would be the first to understand that being there for all the townspeople coming in would be hard, so I just really liked him interjecting like hey, they're not the only ones who can look out for the flower girl's memory, he wants to do his part too so he's gonna /BLUSTERING and Cloud and Tifa are like oh thank god, they don't have to be the most awkward hosts who would probably make any situations worse at the smallest upset.
(Something I was repeatedly tempted to have Cid comment on at one point, that it'd probably be even worse if they'd both been there, with each being sensitive about the other feeling hurt; he could totally see Tifa decking the 'hag' lady for Cloud if she recognized her. Then I thought I shouldn't imply Tifa as that much of a loose cannon, but the thought of that encounter going very awry has been stuck in my mind.)
And yeah it's very much a situation where Cloud being uptight can slide, because honestly Cid would probably have to be a lot more concerned if the guy acted like everything was 100% hunky-dory. --though speaking of, I have seen that kind of reaction written/rped for Cloud, Counter Crisis has a moment like that even, and it's always really interesting to see WHAT kind of act gets put on by Cloud, if he's snapping like that--sometimes it's a simple but jarring return to the SOLDIER First Class persona, sometimes it's similar but a bit more adapted to circumstances persona that's subtler and doesn't stand out as "wrong" as quickly...and then you get truly weird ones. Like an RP one where Cloud was from shortly after Aerith's death, I think he might have even been from right after his fall into Lifestream given how extremely poor his self-esteem was, and when faced with Zack he ended up putting on Aerith's basic demeanor: not really any specific mannerisms, but mimicking the incessant cheeriness, the teasing, even just a bit of how she smiled. Zack knew something was wrong with Cloud so he tried to let it go at first to try to let his friend come out of it himself but that didn't last very long because it was creepy. ...So in conclusion it's really better Cloud is letting himself be bugged by being back in Nibelheim. IT'S A NORMAL REACTION. Cid might be a little worried anyway but he trusts at this point that the kid knows how much is too much for him and can call it if he needs a break or something (...which then makes the unfortunate part of this fic that it's not too much for Cloud right up to the point where it is abruptly sky-high above his ability to cope because jfc he has a wing and Sephiroth had a wing and oh god horrific comparison).
Haha. Cid was trying to intentionally distract/rile Cloud up with calling the woman a hag; with how Cloud tries to awkwardly apologize to Shera for Cid's behavior at their meeting I've always imagined that he tries to rein Cid in on the language every so often, even if it's for the most part an exercise in futility. Especially when it's language like that toward women (Cloud's mama raised him right). So Cid was seeing just how upset Cloud was, and I think I also just found it humorous that, even though Cloud is really unsettled about this woman given what happened before, his kneejerk reaction to Cid slandering her is still Cid, stop that. (Though given the circumstances I don't think Cid would've exactly been surprised either if Cloud let it go/agreed with him for once, he just would have counted it as a mark against Cloud keeping his cool.)
The woman and villagers as a whole actually might come up again; I remember starting into this that part of the reason Cid bringing passengers from Nibelheim was even a thing was because I wanted to play with the fact that though what the actors did is horrible, they're still human. The fake Nibelheim went through the same suffering that the world did with Geostigma (in some ways I think the epidemic could have possibly been worse there, because you've got to be in some weird/bad/hard circumstances in the first place to be willing to fake your life in a strange town, as Evan's mother was, then the world got jacked up). Though considering past Geostigma was still playing a role in Dirge, yeah, that could have a plot relevance of its own that way too...
Ahaha yeah the shoulder's been getting worse, even if Cloud doesn't say it, despite acknowledging it by mentioning the doctor. Whose name I can take no credit for as I stole it from a certain Forest Owls member >-> I would say in this Cloud still doesn't get injured/sick anywhere near as easily as a normal person, part of why the shoulder thing's so weird--the incident I initially thought of with them meeting again was Cloud getting hurt in some kind of conflict (monster or human; I originally thought Deepground, but that might be too recent, or at least need some tweaking in Cid's description of Watts) in a way that materia couldn't really fix easily, so he had to be brought into the infirmary--with him just about throwing a fit over it in spite of his state because feeling weak + being handled by doctors = oh hell no.
At one point this scenario included, for added "oh dammit Cloud" fun, him having been hit with Confuse in the fight. Very unhappy disoriented camper.At any rate that re-meeting probably needs to be solidified more somehow, but at the same time I didn't want to diverge into a big (...bigger) diversion about the doctor the first time his name was mentioned. But yeah, this is a doctor Cloud believes he can trust, and no, Watts is really supposed to be 100% genuine good guy who is probably rather perplexed by Cloud's quirks, but figures Cloud is allowed eccentricities, having overcome the most massive case of mako poisoning he's seen in his career to go on to save the world.Yeah, while the mansion does hold some memories for Cloud, they're mostly of Zack so at this point not really so bad; nostalgic in a way that hurts, but the memory of the actual experiments is either waaaaay buried or just gone, washed out by the mako poisoning, so not a nightmare like it could be. That can't be said for the reactor.
Haha! The banter, I just liked the idea of them as a group sort of ganging up on each other by turns; Cloud and Cid roll their eyes when Vincent is a bit over the top (as the group as a whole didn't seem to take Vincent entirely seriously when they found him, and I keep thinking even Vincent is aware at times that he's ridiculous in a way, but at the same time he has no intentions to change); Vincent and Cloud occasionally nettle Cid on purpose because it's funny; and Cid and Vincent, well, okay, as a duo they're probably mostly making sure Cloud really is keeping level with himself. Not as funny but helpful.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-29 09:52 pm (UTC)Serious bad mojo that town...
Bit of a shame that Shera wasn't on the airship with Cid, but then I suppose he wouldn't want to drag her into a fight with unknown odds (I'm still not wholely sure what Avalanche figured they were going to run into when they showed up in AC. Probably not worth worrying about again), and yeah, no one is gonna dare that the first transport is people from Rocket Town/Nibleheim (it is at least massively geographically removed from Midgar so there's a good case for getting them over there given the distance). I do like Barret interjecting and short-cutting any comment of discomfort for the two from Nibelheim.
Definitely agree on Cloud there - just that the situation is getting to him shows it's really Cloud as they know him and he hasn't snapped, hiding behind another persona or any other possible troublesome situation for him. Heh - yeah I can see the different kind of acts for Cloud when he is snapping like that; a return to his initial persona would be very noticeable, but a more subtle one would interesting for how long it takes anyone to notice. Ohhh, that RP one does sound creepy! Did Cloud eventually come around or was he ejected from the Lifestream and into his mako coma before Zack could do much?
And poor Cloud - yeah none of this is too bad until the wing is busily knocking into things and he's making all those horrible connections, and what is happening to him now?! It was all supposed to be over!
I like that detail that Cid is deliberately distracting/riling Cloud by insulting the woman with him knowing how he'll react, and that's a nice illustration of the closeness of the group - Cid knows it will not only distract him, but he can get away with saying it. But yeah, he wouldn't be shocked if Cloud had let it go/agreed with the sentiment for a change - out of character but this place will do that to him...
I don't think I've seen many fics really deal with the new populace of Nibelheim - I have seen one which had the town be a ghost town post-game due to its function being fulfilled (/Vincent living in the mansion/the odd fic where Cloud and Tifa have slightly perplexingly moved back to town... which never feels quite right. Bad mojo is going to always make the place an unfortunately skin-crawling experience). But its a good point; they did horrible things and helped cover up a massacre - but they're human, and Geostigma was utterly indiscriminant in its victims. I actually like the idea that the town was hit worse for geostigma (ah, really do need to catch up with 'The Kids...' So Evan's mother was from Nibelheim too?) not just because of what the actors personally did, but as the likely original resting place of Jenova, or even ignoring that, that the sample would have spent so long housed in the reactor, that it was Sephiroth's birth place, and I can kind of see Sephiroth trying to originate the disease from the town too as another twist of the knife to Cloud (possibly going a bit far). Completely forgot Geostigma even got mentioned in DoC...
Haha! Ah, well that's a good source for the doctor's name as any... that does make sense for Cloud to not get injured or sick anywhere near as easily as the non-augmented populace - and that's a nice lead into why the shoulder is so troublesome (and like how Genesis's injury in CC was such a big thing - that he was injured at all was a point of concern). Hmm... as for why Cloud does meet the doctor again... I think that if he somehow actually broke a limb that would work; its easy to see cuts/scratches/gouges healing up on their own, but with bones - if its a really serious break the bones would need to be re-aligned before they can heal, so there would be a real rush to get Cloud to someone who can splint/plaster-cast the limb quickly enough before his accelerating healing leaves him in a seriously bad way.
Glad to hear Watts is 100% genuinely good (had to check given its a possible lead in as to what has befallen Cloud afterall) - I like him being perplexed with Cloud's quirks, but he's way too impressed given the state he met Cloud in, that he recovered and THEN saved the world. Twice.
Definitely concur on Cloud's reactions to the mansion versus the reactor. He'll have more memories of encountering Sephiroth and meeting Vincent then the nightmare experiments...
The banter was really neat - and I like it is amusing and to help break the tension somewhat (and so amused that Vincent is aware he's ridiculous at times but is not going to stop being gothic and portentous).
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-03 06:08 pm (UTC)Hmm, now I'm trying to think of when they would have been contacted--Barret's call comes as Cloud is headed to Healin, so presumably then they still think all's normal. They probably were contacted really after Reno and Rude found Tifa and Cloud unconscious, either by the Turks themselves if they thought things were looking bad enough or by Tifa after she regained consciousness, so they knew there was definitely trouble brewing, good enough reason for Cid to not want to bring Shera into it. And if the Rude and Reno had added their information about the Remnants attacking over Jenova's remains... yeah they'd know they're likely in for something weird.
And yes, that's true! Rocket Town/Nibelheim make logical sense as needing transport anyway given the remote distance. I can imagine WRO's going to be coordinating transport too at some point to help victims get over by ship/land where possible to help ease things, though places like Wutai/Bone Village/etc would probably still need help. (...Unless we're going by transportation times in the movie but, no.)
Did Cloud eventually come around or was he ejected from the Lifestream and into his mako coma before Zack could do much?
RPs on LJ/DW tend to work a bit differently from that, Cloud was from that timepoint but they weren't in the Lifestream...if that makes sense? I mean a roleplay from that point is kind of like Cloud being plucked into Ivalice in Tactics. I am not 100% certain because I stopped paying attention at some point (I wasn't in their game and following threads can get time-consuming), but I think he recovered enough that he wasn't trying to hide under the persona of someone else (Zack finally confronting him on the Aerith-like behavior made him initially distraught, but he did drop it afterward), but not fully--his self-esteem was just shot and he could cope with day to day stuff but easily got upset at any problems arising.
(...It occurs to me just now that Cloud rp is usually a good way to depress yourself over Cloud. So many players like dwelling on the problems. And I can't claim to be exempt from that statement myself!)
And poor Cloud - yeah none of this is too bad until the wing is busily knocking into things
hfeh LMFAO oh god terrible as it is for Cloud, I just have to admit the mental image of him stumbling into everything with the wing made me laugh.
Cid knows it will not only distract him, but he can get away with saying it.
To be honest, I'm not sure Cid even thinks about what he can get away with saying, he just says it all XD
"The Kids Are All Right" has Nibelheim continue to be lived in--Nanaki's novella too, come to think of it--and in all honesty that's what makes most sense to me: I can imagine a good number of the Nibelheim actors might leave with no one paying them, but given that they were willing to take on this kind of job to begin with, a good number might not really have anywhere to go to. And despite its remoteness, it'd still be a fully livable, functioning town just like the original Nibelheim was, as far as I can tell. So why give it up if you don't really know what you would do elsewhere? But yeah, probably a good target for the Geostigma plague... Evan's mother isn't originally from Nibelheim, of course, but she did go there to earn money for a surgery that she knew he would need to have (I guess he has health problems?? I'm still not sure there actually.) He's the one who's a Shinra bastard so she was actually originally from Midgar, a mistress of Shinra Sr.
Geostigma started in Midgar, though. That's why it's known at first as the "Midgar Disease". I don't think it gets mentioned in dialogue in Dirge, but it comes up as Deepground is kidnapping people:
The "pure" Lifestream Deepground is creating to trick the Planet (...this plot) apparently can't have victims of Geostigma in it, there's a detectable taint left behind by the Geostigma even after having been healed.
Oooh, the broken bone really does sound like a good idea, definitely a need to see the doctor ASAP... and yeah with something like that I'd probably make it Deepground. Or it'd have to be like, a tremendously bad monster encounter ("So the cool news is, guess what, Cloud can take down a dragon with only one arm! 'Course, it's only a matter of time before the great ninja Yuffie shows him up--" "...There's bad news as well, isn't there." "Well, yeah, the sucktastic part is why he had to take it down without an arm. It's bent like a bendy straw." "Yuffie--[wincing. did not need that mental image. ] I'll get the doctors ready. Get him back here, please?" "Duh. Already on-route!").
Haha, that's true, Cloud saved the world twice! And probably is still a bit bemused that this doctor takes him at all seriously after seeing him at his absolute worst. Glad you like the banter.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-06 09:35 pm (UTC)Haha - yeah never going to agree on the AC travel times; just nonsensical.
Ah - I get the idea about the RP I think (and thanks to your tumblr message I have a much better understanding of how these RPs work). Ouch about Cloud being a good way to depress yourself over the character, but its easy to see given what he's been through/how badly things affect him.
Heh - glad the wing comment made you laugh (feels like a kind of omake thing for a serious story like that); though it kind of connects to how controlled Cloud and Sephiroth are when fighting - especially in interiors. Either they manage to never clip a wall, or hit some obstacle, or the swords are so sharp they just go straight through things...
Definitely agree that I can see Nibelheim still populated; as it would have become those people's lives, and yeah the town does appear to be fully functional so it would be able to just continue on as it did - and the people there wouldn't think anything more of how they came to live there, and over time (and with a successful clean-up operation like this) it'll lose its bad mojo feel. Hopefully.
(actually, even though officially its untrue as Jenova's tomb location, I would like to have seen if the North Crater and Mount Nibel have appreciably recovered five hundred years later...)
Ahhh - that clears up Evan (and does make a potential canon reveal of Cloud having anything like the same scenario just going a bit far - though sadly its not as if SE have been reluctant to recycle/re-attribute ideas elsewhere in the Compilation).
...I feel I should reacquaint myself with DoC as it really has been so long since I played it now. Haha! Yeah, *that* plot (I mean, the actual plan of awakening Omega weapon... okay that also wasn't great as it was kind of a variation on what Sephiroth wanted to do anyway, but to trick the Planet? That was just silly). Interesting that Geostigma does leave a taint even after the cure (but is implied to not to be passed to children from their parents).
Ah, glad the broken bone idea sounds good (sort of inspired by one of Scribbler's fics - I think when Yuffie found Zack and Cloud in Wutai and set Zack's arm into position before using cure to heal him). I think linking it to Deepground is the better idea given that the fic does require the post-DoC setting... Though I did laugh at the phone conversation resulting from the tremendously bad monster encounter ("bendy straw" Haha!)
Banter is always nice to read!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-10 06:00 am (UTC)Hm, I forget how surprised Tifa looks; could also have something to do with the timing of them coming in, just when things looked really bad, but I honestly don't remember her expression so I'd have to rewatch for that. (...Though on the note of timing. ...How convenient is it that everyone shows up so closely within each other? Cloud + Vincent + the other AVALANCHE members, since Cloud's implied to have left the Sleeping Forest ahead of Vincent and Vincent doesn't have a phone. Also now amused at Cloud telling Vincent that he'll "phone in the verdict" on trying to be forgiven right after it's been made obvious Vincent doesn't have one Vincent is probably like ":| is this your gracelessly unsubtle hint that I need to get a phone :| hnnnn why must I like you people. Fine.")
Haha, I think the depressing bits are also part of why I insisted on having Cloud OGC to have his quirks and attitude for some humor as well--Cloud's plenty capable of having crack in his interactions (and now I can't even remember the weird things he's done. The most extreme one always stands out as meeting another canon's villain during a fight against a dragon and letting the guy toss him up at the dragon because he was that desperate to do something about it, followed by a brief conversation after that went less than spectacularly. (The villain not doing anything particularly evil at the time, Cloud's impression was actually mostly just "weirdo")). And he could have lighthearted and silly moments with friends, sometimes even segueing to that from serious topics...though he did also have sad-awkward moments due to his canon point. Like not recognizing that Seventh Heaven was supposed to his home too when Marlene described it (he assumed he visited, since Marlene seemed fond of him, but he just honestly had trouble imagining himself in the future, let alone in the future with a family). And...occasionally having breakdowns or deluding himself...but there were lots of fun moments!
I'm not sure if I'm helping with this or not. XDI do think eventually Nibelheim will become a normal town, if one with the WEIRDEST history, and hopefully those places will be healed... And yeah, with both Evan and Lazard, adding Cloud as well would just go too far (besides--even if he does share coloring with Rufus--it is pretty obvious that he gets that from his mother. It doesn't preclude Shinra Sr. being his father, or Cloud being related to the Shinra family in another way, but it does make it a lot less urgent that Cloud have a blond father to explain his looks.
Even if the Papa Don jokes are funny.)And oh yeah "tricking the Planet" is always going to be pretty silly as a notion.
Haha, while I did have fun thinking up the monster conversation, I think you're right--Deepground works best for Cloud to have a broken bone. Certainly has enemies sadistic enough--and maybe it could be tied into the hurting shoulder, with them mistakenly thinking the injury that broke the arm affected something there too.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-10 11:58 pm (UTC)Heh - not to worry that all did help get across the different aspects of Cloud - like you said, the OGC Cloud has the scope and hooks for a lot of quirks and differing reactions. Plus I do like the idea of the villain flinging him up to the dragon so he could do something about it. Awww... that is sweet but misguided of him not thinking of the Seventh heaven as his home...
...I have weird visions of a future centennial of Nibelheim, and then that degenerating into arguments about the date depending on *which* centennial they're celebrating, and most people really confused by the whole argument ("Well the town was burnt right to the ground, so its technically a whole new settlement." "Yeah, but an exact duplicate of the one before." ...and then this is the town history no one really likes to talk about as its just weird years later). Haha! Yeah, good point about Cloud's colouring (someone noted on tumblr this week how much Miss Cloud looks like Mama Strife), though yeah, doesn't prevent Shinra Sr. or another relation to Shinra... And yeah, there is definitely humour in Papa Don Corneo (especially if Cloud ever found out/knows he's still around).
Even though I do think Deepground would work better, I think the monster conversation could be recycled for something light hearted (I just like the way Yuffie's responding to Tifa's questions/the initial praising of Cloud's skills). And oh, yeah DoC certainly had enough sadistic enemies... And that sounds like it would work to tie the hurting shoulder into the broken arm...
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-12 07:19 am (UTC)Haha, I guess it's sweet that Cloud at least assumed he visited. Marlene was kind of upset because he didn't think he lived there (plus, given her age, the player avoided her quite understanding how the roleplay worked like older characters did. Because she always saw Cloud as an adult, it didn't seem so much that he was from different times as that he was forgetting things. Forgetting he lived at Seventh Heaven? Nooooo.) ...It kind of affected him when Denzel came along and he knew at that point from Marlene that he was supposed to know Denzel so he tried to act like he did because you know, Denzel's a kid (and the roleplay setting was kind of a bad scenario already, deserted city that characters were finding themselves in, so he didn't like the idea of a kid he was supposed to be responsible for feeling abandoned there) and messed it up. Actually he messed up at the very beginning--Denzel didn't give out his name with his initial broadcast so Cloud casually addressed him as "kid" in response, which rubbed Denzel wrong. He made it clear to Cloud that his name wasn't "kid"--and it really wasn't the way Cloud would have addressed Denzel, knowing him in canon. In the roleplay Cloud kind of brushed it off as "right, no nicknames, I'll remember that" and guessed his name from how excited Marlene was, but he knew he'd screwed up and ended up dropping the act to tell Denzel the truth some time after Denzel was in a safe building instead of on the streets. But...yeah. I like Cloud as very sweet-but-misguided.
Lmfao the best part of Papa Don Corneo would be Cloud finding out.
Ahaha, Yuffie was supposed to be conversing with Reeve, but then I can see how it would fit Tifa (and she would want to be told if Cloud's hurt...!)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-12 11:23 pm (UTC)(as an aside here (and because I was stuck on a train for a lot of the day so I managed to read a whole load of fics), I have encountered the I suspect incredibly rare pairings of (adult I hastily add) Marlene/Cloud and Marlene/Yuffie. ...which are both...um. Yeah. Well, the first instance is Cloud replacing Aeris with Marlene (no idea what happened to Tifa) and Marlene replacing Denzel with Cloud (who according to the author's notes... died. Somehow. Hmmm). And none of that feels right - especially given Cloud apparently waited until Marlene was 18 to tell her any of this, and its just all so creepy and weird and CLOUD WHAT ARE YOU DOING? *ahem* The second was more melancholic as Yuffie bought Marlene a motorbike, and she fell off and got hit by a truck. And is now in a coma. And Yuffie blames herself for not hearing when her girlfriend initially fell off. Really can't see either of these relationships being likely; the age gap and personal associations feel like they'd work in opposition (Cloud is a parent figure and Yuffie is almost certainly a cool aunt or something) to everything)
Ah, that does sound like the Marlene rper was really playing her age well, and oh... Cloud basically (for the entire situation. Poor Denzel. Sounds a fairly creepy setting as well). The concept of Cloud being sweet but misguided is now making me think of him just going a bit too over the top in apologies and things like that; like having a small fight with Tifa and he panics and buys thousands of flowers or something...
...oh the awkward family reunion event when Cloud finds out Don Corneo's his father... (is Corneo the kind of guy who might turn over a new leaf and actually be tactful about his relationship with Mama Strife, or would he be blunt and to the point of whatever their relationship was? And Cloud trying to work out if he should ever tell anyone of this/allow a family reunion to introduce his *chokes back rising combination of sickness/rage/despair* father to any of his friends...)
Ah! My mistake on the phone call, but yeah it fits to Tifa easily...
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-14 02:22 pm (UTC)I've seen way too many instances of Denzel/Cloud with Denzel still a teenager
and ignoring that Reeve decided against children in WRO, so adult Marlene/Cloud is like "AT LEAST SHE'S OLD ENOUGH". Still, yeah, both of those fics sound pretty weird.Ahaha, yeah, Discedo (the roleplay) was kind of a "poor everyone" thing. No one got off easy... unless their players were just ignoring the logic of the setting (so the first Zack Fair / Cloud Strife duo were...pretty bad. Among other things, Zack's player had him constantly finding swords whenever Zack might find himself without one, never mind 1) post-apocalyptic setting 2) it was pretty clear from how the ruined city was described that even before it'd been destroyed, swords wouldn't have been all that common. It was a modern/slightly futuristic setting. Zack kept finding huge broadswords. Eventually the mods called the player out when he found yet another blade and used it in part of the roleplay... only for the player to backpedal and say it wasn't a sword, it was a knife. Which led to the Buster sword commonly being called "butter sword" by players.) I don't see Cloud going quite that overboard XD but I can see him taking the guilt in fights and trying all sorts of little apologies.
Honestly with Cloud and Don Corneo I imagine it only takes one moment of Don Corneo thinking, hey, child who's a world hero, maybe there's something to cash in on this if he butters up, before Cloud is like hell no do NOT try sentimentality on me you have hit on me, you've kidnapped girls, you left my mom (no, he doesn't really care to hear what Don Corneo's side of this might be), you're a scumbag. And that's ostensibly that, the Don's learned just enough to not make Cloud mad by trying to trumpet this blood relation... and Cloud finds himself frustrated that he is vulnerable enough to sentimentality to tell other people about the Don's resources so the man can do business in trade and keep supporting himself, rather than telling everyone to steer clear. He tells himself that least the Don, if not turning over a new leaf, isn't causing trouble like he had before.
lmfao no his friends are never learning about this from him. though I imagine if one of them does find out and asks him about it he's just going to take a moment to freeze, curse his luck and eventually come back with a rather caustic quip like yeah, here he was worried about an alien virus mucking up his genetics when he's had sleaze genes all along. But he can be okay with this as long as no one makes it a big deal by either feeling bad for him or thinking he might be like his (ugh) father. Please no. Please.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-14 05:30 pm (UTC)Haha - yeah I was sooooo dubious until the fic explicitly stated this was some years post AC for it not to be really awful (it was cagey on all its details for summary and character involvement, so I had no idea what I was getting into). And yeah I heard about Cloud/Denzel stuff... and seriously guys?
Urg; yeah that sounds a bit annoying for the Zack roleplayer to keep finding swords that easily - seemingly missing the idea of the setting somewhat - at least the mods stepped in eventually. Not a terribly subtle backpedal there...
Haha- yeah might be bit of an overreaction from Cloud, but he's not going to cope with fights very well, and feel so very guilty/try his hardest to avoid them in future...
Oh, I can really see the Don trying to milk his connection to Cloud like that - and yeah Cloud isn't going to entertain that for a second (definitely agreeing on him not caring Corneo's side of why Mama Strife lived alone - he's seen first hand what this guy is like). And I do like the idea that no matter how much he dislikes the man he can't just tell people to steer clear - as you said, no new leaf, but certainly nowhere near as problematic as he was at the height of his power.
Oh - and yeah Avalanche are never to find out. I can see Reeve running across something at some point and him putting it together, and spends ages wondering if he should tell Cloud... then Yuffie sees the same thing and just blabs to everyone. I do like his comeback quip if anyone does ask - and the request no one makes a big deal for feeling bad for him or that he might be like his father (...now I can see Cloud having nightmares about this where he starts behaving like Corneo to his friends, and he wakes up in a panic and so very queazy).
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-14 07:33 pm (UTC)...I just. I don't have too much to add to this comment in total, but the thought of Cloud having a nightmare makes me picture a horrific farce of a "family reunion" that's at first painfully awkward and stilted, and then it gets worse when the Don says they should break the ice with a bit of entertainment...surprise! He's got Tifa and Yuffie in compromising positions, and they're looking at Cloud so very disappointed... cue Cloud waking up in that panic, yes, and with a good bit of revulsion. And the next day is spent asking Tifa if she thinks he's a creep--like at all, does he do anything--and Tifa is like "Cloud the only creepy thing is the fact that you keep asking me this."
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-15 09:44 am (UTC)Oh wow - that is one creepy/horrific nightmare for Cloud!