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raajActually this time I'm not really upset about anything I've written. It's that what I've written isn't yet fitting into a cohesive thing. I can't seem to get a handle on what the driving points for these parts are, and as a result I'm pretty much getting to the point where I can't even make myself write more for it: I tweak stuff, rearrange sections, and... so little is actually properly complete as a scene or transitioning into each other because I don't know what scenes I even want to keep (this is way too long considering no scene in here is actually all the way complete). So yeah, warning, this is seriously messy to read.
Kind of debating just posting the first chapter as its own standalone and leaving the rest, well, alone. I like the idea of the story, it's the telling I can't figure out.
To start off with, HERE IS A BIT I CAN ACTUALLY CONSIDER COMPLETE even if I don't know it'll appear in the final draft of the story. (In fact it almost seems like with a bit of editing it could probably be its own thing as Tifa introspection.)
Cloud tells her, Aerith sent him a dream. That's how he knew she's headed for the City of the Ancients.
It doesn't hurt. Not harshly. The thought just sits there in Tifa's mind, lacking the good grace to know it's long overstayed its welcome.
A dream of peace and a promise. It sounds like something from a fairy tale, a more ethereal romance. It tempts a daydreamer to believe in soulmates—which, to be honest, Tifa never really has before. Cloud was her sweetheart always, her soulmate never. There is a connection, an understanding implied in 'soulmates' that she has never been able to pretend to with the blond, whose blue eyes hide thoughts she can't fathom. Even when they were both kids, he was hard to understand. She remembers that. It's getting harder to remember anything else about their friendship now.
If she had been made to claim anyone on this Planet as her soulmate...she thinks she would have said Aerith, the beautiful woman with hopeful green eyes. They had clicked so quickly, always breaking off from the others to do something together or teaming up when someone stubborn needed convincing, often without words. But--
But Aerith sent Cloud the dream. And for Tifa, there had only been a lie and excuse about why and where she was going out. "Stretching my legs!" Right. Aerith was stretching her legs across two continents.
Tifa understands well enough why she was lied to. Oh, she disagrees with it, but she understands. She would have stopped Aerith, she would have insisted on coming along, and even in the dream (as Cloud says, since she didn't have it) her friend didn't want to be followed. Rationally, it makes sense why Aerith carried things out the way she did, wanting what she did, even if Tifa Lockhart chafes at being kept away. So it doesn't hurt, not harshly.
But it still stings. That she was lied to. That Cloud got a proper explanation in their dream. Heh, "their" dream. If two people can share a dream, they really are connected, aren't they? In a bond that space and distance itself can't stretch out to fray.
Tifa had already known that night in Gold Saucer that she was going to get left behind. Once Aerith had made up her mind to pursue Cloud... Tifa hadn't even been able to choose then, or now, which one she loved more, which one she should confess to, and they'd been drawing ever steadily closer to each other. But to think, she'd been worried about something as ordinary as them kissing, when as it just so happened Aerith could touch Cloud's soul halfway around the world.
Had she ever stood a chance in this little love triangle?
So that's that. And then, backtracking a bit, here is the odds and ends and I swear I just cannot write anything long.
Aerith slept. Tifa didn't, keeping watch over her when she wasn't fretting over Cloud. He was dead to the world; wouldn't wake. But then, it was a near unanimous sentiment to let him take his time on that account. On the other hand Aerith needed to be woken up, every couple of hours, to make sure the concussion wasn't affecting her—it was never easy to tell with those if restorative materia had fully done the job. The smallness of Gongaga's inn meant a short patrol for Tifa as she paced between the two beds opposite each other in the tiny circular room, trying to count down the time and weighing counter impulses between letting Aerith recover from her exhaustion and wanting to make sure she would still wake, as well as to see if she might be able to explain any more of just what had happened in the pit that had been the Temple's foundation. One or two of the other members of their party were always in the inn as well, but the whole nine-man team was simply too big for the establishment, and after some discussion (and arguing, and uncertain looks that had hurt with their aim), they were mostly split up throughout the town. Gathering supplies and trying to figure out their next move, ostensibly.
Playing a waiting game as they wondered if the world might really come to an end.
The first time Aerith was carefully shook awake, she'd immediately spoken Cloud's name as a question, turning her head sharply to try catching sight of him. When she spotted him, the relieved sigh that passed her lips almost hurt to hear. "He's here, yeah," Tifa said needlessly. "We're back in Gongaga."
"He hasn't woken up?"
"No." The concern in Aerith's faint voice was heartening and frustrating all at once. If she was worried for Cloud even now, did she really not blame him? Tifa was glad for that, but she wanted to know why, so everyone could be reassured. …So she could be okay with the fact that Aerith was still bruised and disheveled from an assault that could have killed her, and already forgiving. "Aerith, do you think you can stay awake for a little while? We still don't know what happened down there…what happened to you and Cloud. And the Black Materia is…"
Tifa was already bracing herself as her friend's face grew dark and pinched, upset. The flower girl broke her gaze from their still-sleeping friend to answer: "Sephiroth has it."
A curse floated from the doorway; of course Cid was listening. Vincent surely was too, if more controlled in his reactions. After she'd carried Aerith out of the pit, Barret after her hauling Cloud like a sack of potatoes, Nanaki and Cait Sith had called up that they couldn't find the Black Materia in the pit. Tifa and Barret had each done a quick check of their unconscious passengers, but the materia seemed to have vanished. Immediately the gunman had yelled down demanding if this wasn't another fast one being pulled by Shinra, but Cait Sith was adamant that he'd done nothing fishy in the few minutes he'd been down in the pit—as though Nanaki's sharp eyes and hearing wouldn't have caught him out; they could check him too if they wanted! And it was testament to the tension running through the group that even with everyone aware of how unlikely the possibility was, Vincent actually did check the robot, just to put the nail in that coffin and lay it to rest. The narrow window of circumstance left a short list of suspects, and Sephiroth's name had topped it as the group remembered his strange movements, how he could have slipped past even the most careful watch. Tifa's heart still knotted like a noose to hear it confirmed.
"Then he's going to summon Meteor." And Nanaki's explanation of Sephiroth's plan for that particular spell had been chilling: if there was any truth in it, they were all in big trouble. If it was all true… the world really could come to an end.
"We still have time. He needs the Promised Land…" Aerith drifted off to silence, staring over Tifa's shoulder at what the fighter knew was just the brick wall of the hut; the room's entrance was on her other side.
"Aerith?"
Now she was looking at the door. And then the injured woman was trying to push herself off the bed. Even before her bruises made her stop short with a wince, Tifa was up on her feet, holding one hand out to stop her friend.
"No way. You need to rest."
"But, the Planet—"
"You said we still have time, right? So take a rest. You could tell me what it's saying." Not that Tifa really knew what to make of talking to the Planet; the only spirits she'd ever worked with were the alcoholic kind. But it was evident Aerith had talked to something in the temple…and even if she was the only who could hear it, that didn't mean others couldn't help her do whatever was needed, right?
There was so much tension knotted up in the brawler's limbs. She would have raced out and done just about anything, anything the Planet could ask, if it would fix this situation. If it would guarantee Cloud's eyes opening with clarity and calm, if it would mean Aerith could rest, if it would make everyone safe.
"I… I don't know. It's not clear," the Ancient admitted falteringly, sinking the hope of such a simple fix.
Tifa let out a slow breath. "Then we can't do anything yet. We need some sort of plan."
She had the strength to be firm, especially when the other woman's eyes were still murky with exhaustion; if Aerith wouldn't worry about herself, someone needed to. In the end the woman agreed to lie back down, 'for a little bit', and almost immediately slipped back into sleep. Tifa adjusted the pillow under the woman's head and fretted with the edges of her blanket, as her hands lacked anything better to do.
Cid summed up the situation: "Well, fuck!"
Cloud continued to sleep, and Tifa wondered, as she seemed to have countless times since finding him, what exactly was on his mind. Had he fully realized the trouble they were now in? Was that why had he snapped?
There still wasn't anything they could do, and it was starting to drive her mad.
Hours passed before Aerith was woken up again. The exhaustion in her eyes had turned into sadness. "Everyone's hurting."
That hit a little too close to home with how tense the group was, and Tifa shook her head. "What do you mean?"
"…Screaming…"
Tifa pursed her lips, sitting down by the side of the bed. Obviously her friend hadn't gotten the hoped-for restful sleep. "...Nanaki never heard Cloud scream."
"Ah?" Aerith's eyes flicked up to the ceiling without focusing on it. "...Oh." Her hands clasped gently under her chest, beginning to rise and fall with her breath. She closed her eyes for just a few seconds, and by the time Tifa recognized she might be praying--it was a gesture seen so rarely nowadays--her eyes were already open again. "No. I suppose he wouldn't have."
"I don't get it. What does that even mean? You were just hearing the Planet? But you sounded so sure he was hurt," Tifa blurted out, and almost winced at her pleading. But Aerith probably understood. She was concerned for Cloud too.
"I know what Cloud sounds like," Aerith said. Her voice was firm. "I've been listening, and watching, for him. For a while now. But I didn't know what to make of it."
Paying attention to Cloud? Tifa wasn't surprised, not after that night at the Gold Saucer, but that sting of petty jealousy was so slight at the moment. "Didn't know what to make of it?"
The other woman actually looked timid for a split-second, like she wanted to swallow back the very words she was clearly mulling over. "I thought... you would have said if something was really wrong with Cloud. You know him best of all of us."
For a moment, Tifa didn't react at all, her face slack at the unexpected statement. Aerith saw something wrong with Cloud too? So it wasn't just her... and then her cheeks colored at the implication she should have said something. And what would she have said? All she would have done was cast doubt on Cloud when she wasn't even sure he was the one wrong.
But any anger Tifa felt over the issue was pierced by the reality of where they were and where she'd wanted to be. Aerith herself had been laid up in bed by whatever was wrong with Cloud, and he was unconscious. Everyone was worried, even if they wouldn't show it. Would things be different if she'd said there was something off...? Tifa really had wanted to confide in someone all along. She'd wanted to confide in Aerith, she'd thought about it herself so many times, but the occasion had never been right.
No...she'd just never stopped being scared that the moment she admitted doubt in Cloud, she'd lose him again.
Aerith took in her silence and slowly nodded. "It's all right, Tifa. I could have said something too. It's pretty complicated, I guess... no, I know it is."
**
It was late in the night now since they'd gotten back from the temple. Tifa's body was already tired from travel and the scant sleep from the night before. She tried sitting down but the hard floors of the Gongaga Inn borne from poverty in the village made uncomfortable seating, little chance of resting on them. She found herself staring enviously at the beds. It was...those were the only way she could rest and be by Aerith and Cloud. Surely Aerith would not begrudge sharing the bed, right? Even after thinking it, and convincing herself of the truth of that thought, it still took Tifa a whole ten minutes to creep into the bed. She halted when Aerith's dark green eyes opened at her, but before she could apologize she realized there was no confusion or objection in them.
Aerith's hand lighted on her arm and tugged insistently. Tifa had to shift more and more into the bed, lying down beside her friend who curled in to nestle close. The girl's eyes were already closing again, but still Tifa wrapped one protective arm over her.
"It'll be all right," Tifa said quietly. "We're strong. We can get through this." Words she needed someone to say to her, words she knew Aerith needed to hear herself. It had to hurt, hearing the screams of a Planet. The screams of a friend as he was forced to betray. But Aerith was strong, stronger than her, smiling so often when there was little reason to. And she would shield Aerith, as much as possible.
She curled into Aerith, her head resting against the other girl's collarbone, thinking Aerith must be able to feel the lie of false confidence when she had to resist the urge to cling for dear life.
After a peaceful sleep that was too brief, that resistance failed when she felt the other woman pulling out from beneath her grasp; stuck between Tifa and the wall on each side, Aerith had decided instead to scoot downward along the bed and ease herself off its foot, slipping from beneath Tifa's arm. But Tifa's fingers tightened on her before the woman was fully out. "Aerith? Where are you going?"
"For a walk," Aerith said. "How long have I been asleep? It was much too long."
"No it wasn't. It was only..." Tifa was the one muddled by sleep now; she could tell Aerith how long she'd been asleep before being joined on the bed, but she had no idea of any track of time after that--the windowless state of the room definitely didn't help with that. She was so exhausted, her body's clock thoroughly out of sync, that it could have been morning, midnight, afternoon, how would she know?
She'd see outside. They were going on a walk. She pushed herself upright, trying to blink sleep from her eyes, but before she could swing up onto her feet there was a hand at her shoulder.
"Oh, Tifa. What are you doing?"
"I'll go with..."
"You've been watching over us this whole time, haven't you? You look so exhausted I feel like yawning all over again looking at you. Let yourself rest, Tifa."
Sleep did sound good. Really, really good—especially when the mere mention of yawning was suggestive enough for her traitorous mouth to do just that as soon as she opened it. "D...don't...go far. Everyone's been worried about you."
"I'll be back soon."
Tifa nodded, accepting her friend's word; though rather than lay back down, she dragged a bit of the blanket around her shoulders, feeling its extra warmth from body heat, and tracked Aerith blearily as she passed Yuffie with a smile and a blithe remark about needing to stretch her legs. She...did seem okay on her feet. Direct, not disoriented. So her concussion was truly healed then, a blessed reassurance. And she'd be back soon. Tifa wanted to wait for her to come back, but all too soon exhaustion pulled the caretaker back down into a blank, silent sleep.
"Tifa."
The body heat had dissipated. There was cold metal on her shoulder that made her fidget until realizing it was Vincent's metal claw resting on her, and then she jumped again because Vincent was never inclined to disturb others except for watch duty. "Wha, wha--is it my turn?" Were they taking turns here? She hadn't even thought to ask before.
Vincent ignored the question for the sleep-addled nonsense it was, instead crouching down slightly in front of the bed to meet her eyes. "Did Aerith tell you where she would be?"
"Out for a walk…she should be back soon."
His pale face was impassive. "She told Yuffie the same, but her 'walk' has been nearly four hours now."
Oh, God. She hadn't been well after all; she was probably collapsed in a faint somewhere. "We have to look for her—"
"We began searching two hours ago. She's not in the village," the former Turk summed up precisely, and Tifa felt both foolish and more frightened. Of course the others would have realized before now that something was wrong. Aerith could be easily distracted during her ventures, talk with locals turning "fifteen minutes" into "an hour" when the group was resting somewhere, but she was reliable when things got serious. Right now, they were dire. "We've begun sweeping the jungle… but it seemed prudent to check if she had said any more to you."
"No. She said she'd be right back… I don't understand. What could have happened?" The blanket's fabric became security as Tifa clutched it closer to her shoulders. "…We shouldn't have stopped here. Not after the last time. If Shinra took her—do you think she could have been?"
She was worrying now, openly fretting, and anyone else probably would have told her to calm down. At the moment, she was glad Vincent was the way he was, and willing to consider such possibilities. It still only took him a few seconds to shake his head. "There would have been a struggle. No one has seen or heard any evidence of that. I would say, more than likely… she's left of her own accord. Perhaps she finally made out what the Planet was telling her."
"You believe her, don't you, Vincent?"
"I've seen too much to be skeptical of such a claim." He straightened up. "We'll keep looking."
Tifa gritted her teeth, her hands folding up into fists. Damn it, why had her friend lied to her?! She wouldn't have stopped Aerith from going; she would have gone with, and kept an eye on her... someone else could watch Cloud, he was just sleeping, and he'd probably be okay, he hadn't even been injured, concerning as the assault on Aerith was.
**
When Cloud let out a soft moan, Tifa stopped still in her tracks, turning to him. Barret was also sharp at attention--enough to catch Tifa by the shoulder when the moaning continued and she started to approach Cloud, to wake him from the apparent nightmare.
Remembering what had happened when she'd shared a tent with Cloud near this town, she was glad for Barret's mindfulness. It was much too likely that he'd come back swinging, just as he'd gone out. It was already obvious as his jaw clenched and his fingers twitched that he was struggling against the dream.
"No...no! Come back!"
The next moment, Cloud's eyes opened, and they focused narrowly on Barret and Tifa. Clarity and calm were what she'd hoped would grace his expression, but he was wild-eyed and face twisted up, looking horrified.
He was aware, though. It was apparent by just how quickly his face settled again into something more controlled, even if his eyes still betrayed upset.
"You looked like you was havin' a nightmare," Barret told him. "How are you feeling?"
The first look Cloud gave him could easily have been interpreted as 'no shit', flat as it was. But the question seemed to be the final push he needed to get himself fully back to normal, blinking the last remnants of a restless sleep away: "...I seem to be okay now."
"That's good. For a while there I wasn't sure how things were going."
What were they talking like this for? Tifa knew Cloud, she knew Barret knew him--he wasn't going to spill his heart over a nightmare. "Cloud, Aerith is missing."
So they had to go now. He was awake, he was aware, he was probably shook up about what had happened because they all had been but for god's sake, Aerith was missing. She could be killed. They had to find her straight away.
She wasn't expecting Cloud to actually know where Aerith was.
"...City of the Ancients. Aerith is headed there."
That--sounded familiar, though Tifa couldn't quite place it. The answer sure got Barret in a fury, though, and Tifa immediately guessed: it was far, dangeous, or both. Well, it wasn't like the Temple of the Ancients had been easily accessible either.
"By herself?! Why'd she go by herself? Hey, we're going, too."
"Only the Ancients, only Aerith can save us from Meteor..."
"Then we MUST go," Tifa said, growing nervous. Cloud didn't sound like himself. Because really, any time Aerith was in danger or doing something that might be dangerous, he was there to be overly sensible. Sometimes annoyingly so, depending on how he phrased his objection. "What'll we do if something happens to Aerith? If Sephiroth finds her, she's in trouble."
Cloud didn't exactly freeze on the bed; he hadn't been moving in the first place. But movement became even more unlikely in that moment, with his eyes staying fastened toward the ground. "Sephiroth... already knows."
"Hey! Why are you still sitting around?" Barret demanded.
Exactly what Tifa had wanted to say, so she didn't reiterate it, upset as she was. They just needed to get moving. Before Aerith was taken from them. "Let's go, Cloud."
Something inside her crumpled when he did, folding in on himself on the bed and cradling his head like it could break. "No… I'm afraid. If this keeps up, I might go crazy! I'm afraid…"
Afraid he might be the one to hurt her? Was he really that unstable?
**
The point where it gets EVEN MESSIER TO READ because haha writing:
Cloud wanted to be by Tifa, as much as he wanted to be by anyone at all. He still didn't have a good explanation for his actions in the pit of the once Temple and it scared him. He'd wanted Aerith to--tell me who I am--but she hadn't, couldn't. She had to go save the world. That sense of goodness that radiated from her eyes, like they were reflecting something only she could perceive in him, quickly vanished. It had felt like there was no way he could do anything for her.
Tifa and Barret had quickly raged at him, promises of knocks upside the head and quiet pleas that they must go save Aerith getting him back up on his feet, and once there... yeah, he was annoyed with himself too. He had been a SOLDIER. He wasn't going to fail her by doing nothing.
Still...it...scared him, the moment the world had slipped out of focus and he had practically been outside his body, watching himself hand over the materia. He'd screamed at himself, tried to hold his own body back, but in the end nothing had worked; the materia had been handed over to Sephiroth.
And then... then...
He'd beaten Aerith. Tifa had told him, with a pinched, unhappy face, that that was the reason he now had jagged claw marks over the back of his left shoulder: he'd been beating Aerith, and after Nanaki had failed to get any response by yelling at him the feline had pounced on him to bring him to the ground.
Cloud barely remembered any yelling under the heavy tinnitus ringing not in his ears but in his head; but Tifa was honest. So the only thing to do had been thank Nanaki--quickly, without fuss, but it needed to be said.
'You did the right thing. If I'm a threat, take me out.'
Nanaki's actions, Barret's words...yes, he knew he could trust in his party if he went wild. But...
But he wasn't really sure...if a second time would find him coming back to normal. It felt like he was unraveling, and badly. It scared him. Like he was weaving offstep--he just didn't want to go crazy like that again.
So...so he was gravitating to Tifa. Even though she was looking away from him. It's because he's letting down her best friend. He understands that, so he's not angry, but he's just... something inside him is aching. He needed Aerith to tell him who he was, but she wouldn't. And Tifa's always, always had the answers, always been willing to take care of people, so maybe she would--if he could just get her to look at him.
What he does is sit down on the bed at the same moment she does. Their backs bump into each other and she sucks a breath in, jerking back up. "Cloud--"
Barret is giving him a look that promises so much shit if he even breathes on her wrong, but the man soon looks away. Cloud's not sure if it's because Barret knows him better than that now, or if he knows Tifa would kick his ass herself if it needed beating, or if his face is saying too much about how he feels.
It'd be just perfect if his face is saying too much when he can't even get his mouth to work.
"I wanted to talk to you," he murmurs to Tifa.
**
((...Also that is like three different attempts at that scene spliced together just now. So pretty much everything I've done with this fic lately was just "Oh, I think I have an idea. No, I don't know how to make the idea work. Let's try this. Now I'm frustrated. Let's try something else. LET'S GO BACK TO THIS...))
**
Her fingers twitched before clasping around cloud's bicep. "Cloud."
He looked at her with confusion. She knew her request was one that would throw him for a loop.
"Let me go up to Aerith first," she whispered. Because she could protect Aerith too, because she wanted to. She wanted to protect Cloud.
He nodded, though with uncertainty in his eyes, and she strode toward the first pillar and took a short leap up to it. She wondered if originally they'd been closer, or had more pillars in between--they weren't level but slightly crooked beneath her feet, leading to the guess that they'd been disturbed at one point.
And yet, still, she passed with little enough noise. Aerith did not stir one bit, which made Tifa grit her teeth. They had been so worried about her... shouldn't she at least acknowledge them? But the woman continued to keep her head bowed, hands clasped.
...Perhaps, then, she was communicating to someone. Probably the Planet. After sharing dreams with Cloud, Aerith wouldn't exactly be pulling a surprise by communicating to the Planet by prayer. So this was what she'd left them behind for.
A cut-off sound pulled her attention back for just a moment. Cloud had started toward the pillar, only for Barret to immediately grab his shoulder. He wanted to see Aerith, so it shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone...but it seemed to be a surprise to himself. His eyes were a touch wide, mouth working fruitlessly for a second before he closed it and shook his head.
Tifa wasn't sure if she wanted to know, not when they were so close to having Aerith back, so she crossed the final pillar into the threshold of the altar.
Aerith was still in prayer. Tifa wanted to shake her out of it and one hand rose to do that, but she just--couldn't. Aerith had come here to pray, so she needed to do that, obviously. She was the one saving the world, and just watching her... Tifa wasn't sure if it was the angle of her brow or the curve of her shoulders in prayer, but somehow she could see Aerith was pouring her whole heart into that.
Finally, green eyes opened, and Aerith immediately smiled at Tifa. It was the warmth of that gesture and the sure sign of hope behind it--Aerith was done praying and she was happy, it must mean something good--that let the tension ease out of the brawler's muscles, even as she caught herself and resolved that she wanted to tell the other woman how she felt about that little vanishing trick back in Gongaga.
"Aerith, we were so worried--"
In the glass surrounding them, there was a single flicker: a shadow, where there should only have been light.
It was enough for Tifa to shove Aerith back. And that was enough to place her in the path of a blade she recognized all too well when it sliced through her stomach from front to back.
Masamune. Seeing it embedded into her flesh once again felt unreal, but she was already struggling to pull in breath. Not a dream then, not a nightmare.
This...this was something she might never wake up from.
IN CONCLUSION: I think I am pretty much going about this chapter all wrong and am just now contemplating doing the final chapter as a sort of round of sleeping scenes...especially since I for some reason want to write about Aerith in the Sleeping Forest on her own. Even though no one else is with her \o_o/ I have pretty much hit the wall for a while now on knowing what I want to do with this.
Kind of debating just posting the first chapter as its own standalone and leaving the rest, well, alone. I like the idea of the story, it's the telling I can't figure out.
To start off with, HERE IS A BIT I CAN ACTUALLY CONSIDER COMPLETE even if I don't know it'll appear in the final draft of the story. (In fact it almost seems like with a bit of editing it could probably be its own thing as Tifa introspection.)
Cloud tells her, Aerith sent him a dream. That's how he knew she's headed for the City of the Ancients.
It doesn't hurt. Not harshly. The thought just sits there in Tifa's mind, lacking the good grace to know it's long overstayed its welcome.
A dream of peace and a promise. It sounds like something from a fairy tale, a more ethereal romance. It tempts a daydreamer to believe in soulmates—which, to be honest, Tifa never really has before. Cloud was her sweetheart always, her soulmate never. There is a connection, an understanding implied in 'soulmates' that she has never been able to pretend to with the blond, whose blue eyes hide thoughts she can't fathom. Even when they were both kids, he was hard to understand. She remembers that. It's getting harder to remember anything else about their friendship now.
If she had been made to claim anyone on this Planet as her soulmate...she thinks she would have said Aerith, the beautiful woman with hopeful green eyes. They had clicked so quickly, always breaking off from the others to do something together or teaming up when someone stubborn needed convincing, often without words. But--
But Aerith sent Cloud the dream. And for Tifa, there had only been a lie and excuse about why and where she was going out. "Stretching my legs!" Right. Aerith was stretching her legs across two continents.
Tifa understands well enough why she was lied to. Oh, she disagrees with it, but she understands. She would have stopped Aerith, she would have insisted on coming along, and even in the dream (as Cloud says, since she didn't have it) her friend didn't want to be followed. Rationally, it makes sense why Aerith carried things out the way she did, wanting what she did, even if Tifa Lockhart chafes at being kept away. So it doesn't hurt, not harshly.
But it still stings. That she was lied to. That Cloud got a proper explanation in their dream. Heh, "their" dream. If two people can share a dream, they really are connected, aren't they? In a bond that space and distance itself can't stretch out to fray.
Tifa had already known that night in Gold Saucer that she was going to get left behind. Once Aerith had made up her mind to pursue Cloud... Tifa hadn't even been able to choose then, or now, which one she loved more, which one she should confess to, and they'd been drawing ever steadily closer to each other. But to think, she'd been worried about something as ordinary as them kissing, when as it just so happened Aerith could touch Cloud's soul halfway around the world.
Had she ever stood a chance in this little love triangle?
So that's that. And then, backtracking a bit, here is the odds and ends and I swear I just cannot write anything long.
Aerith slept. Tifa didn't, keeping watch over her when she wasn't fretting over Cloud. He was dead to the world; wouldn't wake. But then, it was a near unanimous sentiment to let him take his time on that account. On the other hand Aerith needed to be woken up, every couple of hours, to make sure the concussion wasn't affecting her—it was never easy to tell with those if restorative materia had fully done the job. The smallness of Gongaga's inn meant a short patrol for Tifa as she paced between the two beds opposite each other in the tiny circular room, trying to count down the time and weighing counter impulses between letting Aerith recover from her exhaustion and wanting to make sure she would still wake, as well as to see if she might be able to explain any more of just what had happened in the pit that had been the Temple's foundation. One or two of the other members of their party were always in the inn as well, but the whole nine-man team was simply too big for the establishment, and after some discussion (and arguing, and uncertain looks that had hurt with their aim), they were mostly split up throughout the town. Gathering supplies and trying to figure out their next move, ostensibly.
Playing a waiting game as they wondered if the world might really come to an end.
The first time Aerith was carefully shook awake, she'd immediately spoken Cloud's name as a question, turning her head sharply to try catching sight of him. When she spotted him, the relieved sigh that passed her lips almost hurt to hear. "He's here, yeah," Tifa said needlessly. "We're back in Gongaga."
"He hasn't woken up?"
"No." The concern in Aerith's faint voice was heartening and frustrating all at once. If she was worried for Cloud even now, did she really not blame him? Tifa was glad for that, but she wanted to know why, so everyone could be reassured. …So she could be okay with the fact that Aerith was still bruised and disheveled from an assault that could have killed her, and already forgiving. "Aerith, do you think you can stay awake for a little while? We still don't know what happened down there…what happened to you and Cloud. And the Black Materia is…"
Tifa was already bracing herself as her friend's face grew dark and pinched, upset. The flower girl broke her gaze from their still-sleeping friend to answer: "Sephiroth has it."
A curse floated from the doorway; of course Cid was listening. Vincent surely was too, if more controlled in his reactions. After she'd carried Aerith out of the pit, Barret after her hauling Cloud like a sack of potatoes, Nanaki and Cait Sith had called up that they couldn't find the Black Materia in the pit. Tifa and Barret had each done a quick check of their unconscious passengers, but the materia seemed to have vanished. Immediately the gunman had yelled down demanding if this wasn't another fast one being pulled by Shinra, but Cait Sith was adamant that he'd done nothing fishy in the few minutes he'd been down in the pit—as though Nanaki's sharp eyes and hearing wouldn't have caught him out; they could check him too if they wanted! And it was testament to the tension running through the group that even with everyone aware of how unlikely the possibility was, Vincent actually did check the robot, just to put the nail in that coffin and lay it to rest. The narrow window of circumstance left a short list of suspects, and Sephiroth's name had topped it as the group remembered his strange movements, how he could have slipped past even the most careful watch. Tifa's heart still knotted like a noose to hear it confirmed.
"Then he's going to summon Meteor." And Nanaki's explanation of Sephiroth's plan for that particular spell had been chilling: if there was any truth in it, they were all in big trouble. If it was all true… the world really could come to an end.
"We still have time. He needs the Promised Land…" Aerith drifted off to silence, staring over Tifa's shoulder at what the fighter knew was just the brick wall of the hut; the room's entrance was on her other side.
"Aerith?"
Now she was looking at the door. And then the injured woman was trying to push herself off the bed. Even before her bruises made her stop short with a wince, Tifa was up on her feet, holding one hand out to stop her friend.
"No way. You need to rest."
"But, the Planet—"
"You said we still have time, right? So take a rest. You could tell me what it's saying." Not that Tifa really knew what to make of talking to the Planet; the only spirits she'd ever worked with were the alcoholic kind. But it was evident Aerith had talked to something in the temple…and even if she was the only who could hear it, that didn't mean others couldn't help her do whatever was needed, right?
There was so much tension knotted up in the brawler's limbs. She would have raced out and done just about anything, anything the Planet could ask, if it would fix this situation. If it would guarantee Cloud's eyes opening with clarity and calm, if it would mean Aerith could rest, if it would make everyone safe.
"I… I don't know. It's not clear," the Ancient admitted falteringly, sinking the hope of such a simple fix.
Tifa let out a slow breath. "Then we can't do anything yet. We need some sort of plan."
She had the strength to be firm, especially when the other woman's eyes were still murky with exhaustion; if Aerith wouldn't worry about herself, someone needed to. In the end the woman agreed to lie back down, 'for a little bit', and almost immediately slipped back into sleep. Tifa adjusted the pillow under the woman's head and fretted with the edges of her blanket, as her hands lacked anything better to do.
Cid summed up the situation: "Well, fuck!"
Cloud continued to sleep, and Tifa wondered, as she seemed to have countless times since finding him, what exactly was on his mind. Had he fully realized the trouble they were now in? Was that why had he snapped?
There still wasn't anything they could do, and it was starting to drive her mad.
Hours passed before Aerith was woken up again. The exhaustion in her eyes had turned into sadness. "Everyone's hurting."
That hit a little too close to home with how tense the group was, and Tifa shook her head. "What do you mean?"
"…Screaming…"
Tifa pursed her lips, sitting down by the side of the bed. Obviously her friend hadn't gotten the hoped-for restful sleep. "...Nanaki never heard Cloud scream."
"Ah?" Aerith's eyes flicked up to the ceiling without focusing on it. "...Oh." Her hands clasped gently under her chest, beginning to rise and fall with her breath. She closed her eyes for just a few seconds, and by the time Tifa recognized she might be praying--it was a gesture seen so rarely nowadays--her eyes were already open again. "No. I suppose he wouldn't have."
"I don't get it. What does that even mean? You were just hearing the Planet? But you sounded so sure he was hurt," Tifa blurted out, and almost winced at her pleading. But Aerith probably understood. She was concerned for Cloud too.
"I know what Cloud sounds like," Aerith said. Her voice was firm. "I've been listening, and watching, for him. For a while now. But I didn't know what to make of it."
Paying attention to Cloud? Tifa wasn't surprised, not after that night at the Gold Saucer, but that sting of petty jealousy was so slight at the moment. "Didn't know what to make of it?"
The other woman actually looked timid for a split-second, like she wanted to swallow back the very words she was clearly mulling over. "I thought... you would have said if something was really wrong with Cloud. You know him best of all of us."
For a moment, Tifa didn't react at all, her face slack at the unexpected statement. Aerith saw something wrong with Cloud too? So it wasn't just her... and then her cheeks colored at the implication she should have said something. And what would she have said? All she would have done was cast doubt on Cloud when she wasn't even sure he was the one wrong.
But any anger Tifa felt over the issue was pierced by the reality of where they were and where she'd wanted to be. Aerith herself had been laid up in bed by whatever was wrong with Cloud, and he was unconscious. Everyone was worried, even if they wouldn't show it. Would things be different if she'd said there was something off...? Tifa really had wanted to confide in someone all along. She'd wanted to confide in Aerith, she'd thought about it herself so many times, but the occasion had never been right.
No...she'd just never stopped being scared that the moment she admitted doubt in Cloud, she'd lose him again.
Aerith took in her silence and slowly nodded. "It's all right, Tifa. I could have said something too. It's pretty complicated, I guess... no, I know it is."
**
It was late in the night now since they'd gotten back from the temple. Tifa's body was already tired from travel and the scant sleep from the night before. She tried sitting down but the hard floors of the Gongaga Inn borne from poverty in the village made uncomfortable seating, little chance of resting on them. She found herself staring enviously at the beds. It was...those were the only way she could rest and be by Aerith and Cloud. Surely Aerith would not begrudge sharing the bed, right? Even after thinking it, and convincing herself of the truth of that thought, it still took Tifa a whole ten minutes to creep into the bed. She halted when Aerith's dark green eyes opened at her, but before she could apologize she realized there was no confusion or objection in them.
Aerith's hand lighted on her arm and tugged insistently. Tifa had to shift more and more into the bed, lying down beside her friend who curled in to nestle close. The girl's eyes were already closing again, but still Tifa wrapped one protective arm over her.
"It'll be all right," Tifa said quietly. "We're strong. We can get through this." Words she needed someone to say to her, words she knew Aerith needed to hear herself. It had to hurt, hearing the screams of a Planet. The screams of a friend as he was forced to betray. But Aerith was strong, stronger than her, smiling so often when there was little reason to. And she would shield Aerith, as much as possible.
She curled into Aerith, her head resting against the other girl's collarbone, thinking Aerith must be able to feel the lie of false confidence when she had to resist the urge to cling for dear life.
After a peaceful sleep that was too brief, that resistance failed when she felt the other woman pulling out from beneath her grasp; stuck between Tifa and the wall on each side, Aerith had decided instead to scoot downward along the bed and ease herself off its foot, slipping from beneath Tifa's arm. But Tifa's fingers tightened on her before the woman was fully out. "Aerith? Where are you going?"
"For a walk," Aerith said. "How long have I been asleep? It was much too long."
"No it wasn't. It was only..." Tifa was the one muddled by sleep now; she could tell Aerith how long she'd been asleep before being joined on the bed, but she had no idea of any track of time after that--the windowless state of the room definitely didn't help with that. She was so exhausted, her body's clock thoroughly out of sync, that it could have been morning, midnight, afternoon, how would she know?
She'd see outside. They were going on a walk. She pushed herself upright, trying to blink sleep from her eyes, but before she could swing up onto her feet there was a hand at her shoulder.
"Oh, Tifa. What are you doing?"
"I'll go with..."
"You've been watching over us this whole time, haven't you? You look so exhausted I feel like yawning all over again looking at you. Let yourself rest, Tifa."
Sleep did sound good. Really, really good—especially when the mere mention of yawning was suggestive enough for her traitorous mouth to do just that as soon as she opened it. "D...don't...go far. Everyone's been worried about you."
"I'll be back soon."
Tifa nodded, accepting her friend's word; though rather than lay back down, she dragged a bit of the blanket around her shoulders, feeling its extra warmth from body heat, and tracked Aerith blearily as she passed Yuffie with a smile and a blithe remark about needing to stretch her legs. She...did seem okay on her feet. Direct, not disoriented. So her concussion was truly healed then, a blessed reassurance. And she'd be back soon. Tifa wanted to wait for her to come back, but all too soon exhaustion pulled the caretaker back down into a blank, silent sleep.
"Tifa."
The body heat had dissipated. There was cold metal on her shoulder that made her fidget until realizing it was Vincent's metal claw resting on her, and then she jumped again because Vincent was never inclined to disturb others except for watch duty. "Wha, wha--is it my turn?" Were they taking turns here? She hadn't even thought to ask before.
Vincent ignored the question for the sleep-addled nonsense it was, instead crouching down slightly in front of the bed to meet her eyes. "Did Aerith tell you where she would be?"
"Out for a walk…she should be back soon."
His pale face was impassive. "She told Yuffie the same, but her 'walk' has been nearly four hours now."
Oh, God. She hadn't been well after all; she was probably collapsed in a faint somewhere. "We have to look for her—"
"We began searching two hours ago. She's not in the village," the former Turk summed up precisely, and Tifa felt both foolish and more frightened. Of course the others would have realized before now that something was wrong. Aerith could be easily distracted during her ventures, talk with locals turning "fifteen minutes" into "an hour" when the group was resting somewhere, but she was reliable when things got serious. Right now, they were dire. "We've begun sweeping the jungle… but it seemed prudent to check if she had said any more to you."
"No. She said she'd be right back… I don't understand. What could have happened?" The blanket's fabric became security as Tifa clutched it closer to her shoulders. "…We shouldn't have stopped here. Not after the last time. If Shinra took her—do you think she could have been?"
She was worrying now, openly fretting, and anyone else probably would have told her to calm down. At the moment, she was glad Vincent was the way he was, and willing to consider such possibilities. It still only took him a few seconds to shake his head. "There would have been a struggle. No one has seen or heard any evidence of that. I would say, more than likely… she's left of her own accord. Perhaps she finally made out what the Planet was telling her."
"You believe her, don't you, Vincent?"
"I've seen too much to be skeptical of such a claim." He straightened up. "We'll keep looking."
Tifa gritted her teeth, her hands folding up into fists. Damn it, why had her friend lied to her?! She wouldn't have stopped Aerith from going; she would have gone with, and kept an eye on her... someone else could watch Cloud, he was just sleeping, and he'd probably be okay, he hadn't even been injured, concerning as the assault on Aerith was.
**
When Cloud let out a soft moan, Tifa stopped still in her tracks, turning to him. Barret was also sharp at attention--enough to catch Tifa by the shoulder when the moaning continued and she started to approach Cloud, to wake him from the apparent nightmare.
Remembering what had happened when she'd shared a tent with Cloud near this town, she was glad for Barret's mindfulness. It was much too likely that he'd come back swinging, just as he'd gone out. It was already obvious as his jaw clenched and his fingers twitched that he was struggling against the dream.
"No...no! Come back!"
The next moment, Cloud's eyes opened, and they focused narrowly on Barret and Tifa. Clarity and calm were what she'd hoped would grace his expression, but he was wild-eyed and face twisted up, looking horrified.
He was aware, though. It was apparent by just how quickly his face settled again into something more controlled, even if his eyes still betrayed upset.
"You looked like you was havin' a nightmare," Barret told him. "How are you feeling?"
The first look Cloud gave him could easily have been interpreted as 'no shit', flat as it was. But the question seemed to be the final push he needed to get himself fully back to normal, blinking the last remnants of a restless sleep away: "...I seem to be okay now."
"That's good. For a while there I wasn't sure how things were going."
What were they talking like this for? Tifa knew Cloud, she knew Barret knew him--he wasn't going to spill his heart over a nightmare. "Cloud, Aerith is missing."
So they had to go now. He was awake, he was aware, he was probably shook up about what had happened because they all had been but for god's sake, Aerith was missing. She could be killed. They had to find her straight away.
She wasn't expecting Cloud to actually know where Aerith was.
"...City of the Ancients. Aerith is headed there."
That--sounded familiar, though Tifa couldn't quite place it. The answer sure got Barret in a fury, though, and Tifa immediately guessed: it was far, dangeous, or both. Well, it wasn't like the Temple of the Ancients had been easily accessible either.
"By herself?! Why'd she go by herself? Hey, we're going, too."
"Only the Ancients, only Aerith can save us from Meteor..."
"Then we MUST go," Tifa said, growing nervous. Cloud didn't sound like himself. Because really, any time Aerith was in danger or doing something that might be dangerous, he was there to be overly sensible. Sometimes annoyingly so, depending on how he phrased his objection. "What'll we do if something happens to Aerith? If Sephiroth finds her, she's in trouble."
Cloud didn't exactly freeze on the bed; he hadn't been moving in the first place. But movement became even more unlikely in that moment, with his eyes staying fastened toward the ground. "Sephiroth... already knows."
"Hey! Why are you still sitting around?" Barret demanded.
Exactly what Tifa had wanted to say, so she didn't reiterate it, upset as she was. They just needed to get moving. Before Aerith was taken from them. "Let's go, Cloud."
Something inside her crumpled when he did, folding in on himself on the bed and cradling his head like it could break. "No… I'm afraid. If this keeps up, I might go crazy! I'm afraid…"
Afraid he might be the one to hurt her? Was he really that unstable?
**
The point where it gets EVEN MESSIER TO READ because haha writing:
Cloud wanted to be by Tifa, as much as he wanted to be by anyone at all. He still didn't have a good explanation for his actions in the pit of the once Temple and it scared him. He'd wanted Aerith to--tell me who I am--but she hadn't, couldn't. She had to go save the world. That sense of goodness that radiated from her eyes, like they were reflecting something only she could perceive in him, quickly vanished. It had felt like there was no way he could do anything for her.
Tifa and Barret had quickly raged at him, promises of knocks upside the head and quiet pleas that they must go save Aerith getting him back up on his feet, and once there... yeah, he was annoyed with himself too. He had been a SOLDIER. He wasn't going to fail her by doing nothing.
Still...it...scared him, the moment the world had slipped out of focus and he had practically been outside his body, watching himself hand over the materia. He'd screamed at himself, tried to hold his own body back, but in the end nothing had worked; the materia had been handed over to Sephiroth.
And then... then...
He'd beaten Aerith. Tifa had told him, with a pinched, unhappy face, that that was the reason he now had jagged claw marks over the back of his left shoulder: he'd been beating Aerith, and after Nanaki had failed to get any response by yelling at him the feline had pounced on him to bring him to the ground.
Cloud barely remembered any yelling under the heavy tinnitus ringing not in his ears but in his head; but Tifa was honest. So the only thing to do had been thank Nanaki--quickly, without fuss, but it needed to be said.
'You did the right thing. If I'm a threat, take me out.'
Nanaki's actions, Barret's words...yes, he knew he could trust in his party if he went wild. But...
But he wasn't really sure...if a second time would find him coming back to normal. It felt like he was unraveling, and badly. It scared him. Like he was weaving offstep--he just didn't want to go crazy like that again.
So...so he was gravitating to Tifa. Even though she was looking away from him. It's because he's letting down her best friend. He understands that, so he's not angry, but he's just... something inside him is aching. He needed Aerith to tell him who he was, but she wouldn't. And Tifa's always, always had the answers, always been willing to take care of people, so maybe she would--if he could just get her to look at him.
What he does is sit down on the bed at the same moment she does. Their backs bump into each other and she sucks a breath in, jerking back up. "Cloud--"
Barret is giving him a look that promises so much shit if he even breathes on her wrong, but the man soon looks away. Cloud's not sure if it's because Barret knows him better than that now, or if he knows Tifa would kick his ass herself if it needed beating, or if his face is saying too much about how he feels.
It'd be just perfect if his face is saying too much when he can't even get his mouth to work.
"I wanted to talk to you," he murmurs to Tifa.
**
((...Also that is like three different attempts at that scene spliced together just now. So pretty much everything I've done with this fic lately was just "Oh, I think I have an idea. No, I don't know how to make the idea work. Let's try this. Now I'm frustrated. Let's try something else. LET'S GO BACK TO THIS...))
**
Her fingers twitched before clasping around cloud's bicep. "Cloud."
He looked at her with confusion. She knew her request was one that would throw him for a loop.
"Let me go up to Aerith first," she whispered. Because she could protect Aerith too, because she wanted to. She wanted to protect Cloud.
He nodded, though with uncertainty in his eyes, and she strode toward the first pillar and took a short leap up to it. She wondered if originally they'd been closer, or had more pillars in between--they weren't level but slightly crooked beneath her feet, leading to the guess that they'd been disturbed at one point.
And yet, still, she passed with little enough noise. Aerith did not stir one bit, which made Tifa grit her teeth. They had been so worried about her... shouldn't she at least acknowledge them? But the woman continued to keep her head bowed, hands clasped.
...Perhaps, then, she was communicating to someone. Probably the Planet. After sharing dreams with Cloud, Aerith wouldn't exactly be pulling a surprise by communicating to the Planet by prayer. So this was what she'd left them behind for.
A cut-off sound pulled her attention back for just a moment. Cloud had started toward the pillar, only for Barret to immediately grab his shoulder. He wanted to see Aerith, so it shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone...but it seemed to be a surprise to himself. His eyes were a touch wide, mouth working fruitlessly for a second before he closed it and shook his head.
Tifa wasn't sure if she wanted to know, not when they were so close to having Aerith back, so she crossed the final pillar into the threshold of the altar.
Aerith was still in prayer. Tifa wanted to shake her out of it and one hand rose to do that, but she just--couldn't. Aerith had come here to pray, so she needed to do that, obviously. She was the one saving the world, and just watching her... Tifa wasn't sure if it was the angle of her brow or the curve of her shoulders in prayer, but somehow she could see Aerith was pouring her whole heart into that.
Finally, green eyes opened, and Aerith immediately smiled at Tifa. It was the warmth of that gesture and the sure sign of hope behind it--Aerith was done praying and she was happy, it must mean something good--that let the tension ease out of the brawler's muscles, even as she caught herself and resolved that she wanted to tell the other woman how she felt about that little vanishing trick back in Gongaga.
"Aerith, we were so worried--"
In the glass surrounding them, there was a single flicker: a shadow, where there should only have been light.
It was enough for Tifa to shove Aerith back. And that was enough to place her in the path of a blade she recognized all too well when it sliced through her stomach from front to back.
Masamune. Seeing it embedded into her flesh once again felt unreal, but she was already struggling to pull in breath. Not a dream then, not a nightmare.
This...this was something she might never wake up from.
IN CONCLUSION: I think I am pretty much going about this chapter all wrong and am just now contemplating doing the final chapter as a sort of round of sleeping scenes...especially since I for some reason want to write about Aerith in the Sleeping Forest on her own. Even though no one else is with her \o_o/ I have pretty much hit the wall for a while now on knowing what I want to do with this.
this is a lot of rambling
Date: 2013-07-28 06:36 pm (UTC)I did wonder if maybe the reason given for Tifa is a bit too impersonal--which seems really weird because it's still about them being friends, but I just don't know if it comes through on the phrasing that even if Aerith hasn't twigged onto 'love' they are very dear friends. Or maybe it's that she knows but she also thinks it'd hurt Tifa just as much to lose anyone in AVALANCHE so she's not elevating herself...which is probably about what I was thinking the first time I wrote it. PHRASING. /bats at But haha yeeeeeah they need to talk. And circumstances are not going to help them talk for a while (it's so tempting to AU something so that Tifa doesn't land in the second "out for a week" situation after the northern crater because GOSH that is a lot of unconsciousness to go through. And then at the same time I'm not sure how I would change things up if she was awake the whole time--would Barret and her even be in Shinra custody, given that it seemed to be a trap under the guise of getting proper care for Tifa? \o_O/ Something to think about when I'm actually writing the next fic, I guess...)
Oh man that tumblr conversation annoyed me for how much it harped on "but Rufus is interesting his story is interesting" INTERESTING IS SUBJECTIVE??? (I like how his story possibly being framed as a tragedy was pooh-pahed, like VII and really most Final Fantasies aren't built up on tragedies.) Anyway. My issue with Rufus and Tseng's retconned survivals isn't so much from a worldbuilding or characterization standpoint (Tseng's death only got Elena pissed off at the party which is easily possible with the compilation explanation that has him disappearing, Scarlet and Heidegger don't need Rufus to be all the way dead yet to be their jerky selves and power-hungry) so much as a dramatic/writing standpoint (compilation is kind of like FFIV at this point--no one moderately important really dies except Tellah. Or Aerith/Zack and I'd bet money that's only because that would make the preferred portrayal for Cloud utter nonsense). Also, the feasibility of some of the survivals is really really weak ("L" for "loser" YES BECAUSE THE PRESIDENT WOULD WANT THAT IN HIS OFFICE JUST TO MAKE FUN OF HIS SON??? ffs his whole thing is money money money, sure he might mock his son at the moment but why would he actually have commissioned the project and wasted money on something he thought useless). Basically it's easy enough for me to ignore in writing a fanfic the "they're dead! ...wait, no they're not" nonsense that I wouldn't feel the need to kill them off unless I thought they were blocking more interesting possibilities. The fic's not about how they died so I'm not going to worry about how they miraculously survived either, that's off-screen as much as possible. Which is why Aerith isn't going "He died :(" in here but "oh man Sephiroth be crazy, he could have killed Tseng :(... but I haven't heard him die, maybe he got rescued...?"
tl;dr I still think Rufus' survival is ridiculous but both him and Tseng will survive 'the one who didn't die' unless I feel murderous toward fictional characters at some point in plotting (...not impossible). A live Rufus will quietly have been on the fringe of the blast rather than lol smack dab center in my head. I am mildly in despair people think retcons are necessary for interesting stories. MOVING ON
Just given her canon attitude toward Cloud, I can't think she was ever mad at or scared of Cloud for what had happened. I guess I like to make a note of it because it's so easy for Cloud to have thought she did (and this might come up a bit in his section. maybe. to be honest I'm not quite sure what tack I'm using to open that section yet.)
Haha the "not resting" initially tied into the sleep magic too and it was more like Aerith DID have complete control over both the magic and what was going on with her body, but then it seemed sort of odd to do it that way considering sleep is actually a necessary thing. So yeah it got tweaked to be the Planet pretty much pushing her to go go go and she's supposed to come off as edging toward slap-happy by the time she gets to Bone Village--she's so focused on the Forest that she doesn't remember the town's name, she has gotten trigger-happy with the magic (which yes, she'll be more careful with later on), and she's having some inane thoughts when the night before her thoughts were purely serious. She's still on-task enough to get things done but prooooobably would've needed sleep soon no matter what.
Funny enough at one point her being half-human was actually connected to the travel, but in a positive way--all the modes of transportation (besides her walking) are man-made, and she was going to be musing about how she knew to go where the Lifestream was muddled to find civilization. Then it was like "wow this is getting long already". (Though now that I say all her transportation was man-made, it's kind of humorous to think of the group finding her missing...and the chocobo lure. c'mon Planet, send her a gold! (Truly random tangent: one of her abilities in Theatrhythm is to increase the chances of getting a good chocobo during special segments. She's the only one who learns that ability.)) I don't really see the Cetra as hardier than humans so if a pure Cetra would have made it I would attribute it more to lifestyle (...and Aerith is less experience to harsh traveling so there could be something there) than physiology.
In the end, I did make it that her being asleep is actually a requirement for crossing the Sleeping Forest without the Lunar Harp (in the beginning this was going to actually be Aerith having to wake the Forest without the harp but still with music and involve singing and then it was like "no no not that much singing we are not making her a Disney princess here, just the lullaby"), so it's not all that bad that she has to sleep there, and is in fact part of why the Planet backs off for the moment...just a bit. Because yeah it is not letting its last Cetra wander off. XD
(ahaha the lie about the Lunar Harp is faintly plausible, which is part of why he lets her go, but it is very surprising and is surely going to seem more and more outrageous the more he thinks about it--because they can only be excavated there and he'd never seen her before.)
It's funny, but I just always thought of Aerith as being asleep when she contacted Cloud and lucid-dreaming. It's probably because when I was younger I was pretty interested in dreams and out-of-body experiences, even if I didn't believe in them. (...well, considering how I wrote this section, it's probably fair to say I still find them interesting XD) I'm not sure what is with me and FF7 and deep sea fish right now but I just really wanted to detail the oceanic rift and that there's still life down there, even as the Lifestream's gushing up into it. ...Now I'm curious what kind of rumors there were, though I'm not surprised there would be some--especially after one of the locales in FFV was a rift in the ocean floor.
I'm very, very glad that the scene for Aerith's dream sent to Cloud worked for you. It was a kind of weird turnabout as the whole dream is intended to make Aerith a bit mysterious, we're supposed to feel lost with Cloud about what she's doing, but at the same time Aerith's personality is such that there should be a sort of logic to this for her and she probably doesn't mean to cause Cloud any confusion at such a crucial time. I always knew I wanted the appearances/disappearances she pulls to be playful, but I was a bit stumped as how to handle Cloud's initial nonappearance in the scene--was she actually seeing him and he was just not in the screen, or what? The way his dialogue presentation changes seems to suggest he's not just off-screen but not with her at all at first and it turned into her having to coax him and in fact her trying to coax him to realize it's okay to wake up (which giving her a realistic travel time made seem like a necessity--he's surely been healed of all injuries at this point, so why hasn't he woken up yet? Unless it's because, as he says himself in the white-out scene, he doesn't think he should).
And yes, she trusts AVALANCHE...and still doesn't get why it's not okay to just run off without them to protect them. She will be hearing why she shouldn't in events to come, and Tifa and Cloud in particular definitely have strong feelings about that.
Re: this is a lot of rambling
Date: 2013-07-28 09:17 pm (UTC)I do think Aeris reckons losing anyone in Avalanche is going to hurt Tifa - especially after the loses in Midgar and throughout her life - it feeds into that observation that the VII cast are realyl likely to remain and be friends; there's no hint of allied for a mutual goal against their better judgement (not that I can think of that many examples in the FFs - Amarant keeps coming to mind in IX, but generally I can see the casts not wanting to lose touch in the aftermaths). And yeah, unfortunately circumstances get in the way of that rather vital discussion... Heh - I can definitely see the appeal of AUing to avoid the second week of unconciousness post-North Crater - especially given these circumstances where she's unconcious already... But yeah that does raise some complications for how/why/if Barret and Tifa are split off from the others at that stage, and what happens otherwise (if I remember the plan right, wasn't Aeris going to fall back into Hojo's clutches at this point?)
Haha! Yeah, the Compilation has got shades of FFIV to it - no one can die except Zack/Aeris - and yeah that's only stayed as it would impact Cloud too badly (I would also bet that the notion of concluding AC with Aeris/Zack's resurrection was mooted by someone along the line). You're right though, the refusal to let the characters die is infuriating - Tseng was a debatable point - though I think always assumed to be dead, while Rufus had sufficient fans to keep him alive in some instances. And oh, yeah the whole thing with President Shinra and the escape hatch and the L for Loser... I think this was the part of On the Way to a Smile it really felt like I was reading a badfic rather then an official addition to canon. Plus that even with that its badly designed as it seems to be responsible for several of Rufus's more problematic injuries rather then having the office explode around him.
Definitely liking Rufus on the edge of Diamond Weapon's blast rather then taking it to the face... And urgh; yeah, I don't see how retcons can be seen as necessary for interesting stories, or to even extend existing stories. (definite despair there)
I really liked that detail that Aeris is so focused on her mission she does miss Bone Village's name (at the same time, I did wonder if you were implying that Bone Village was more of a nickname and the place has an actual name of its own? Just one we never hear). Definitely liking the humorous notion of them finding Aeris gone and one single materia - the choco lure. And yeah, if the Planet sent her a Gold Chocobo, she'd be to the City of the Ancients in no time... (also that's a cool but random note on Theatrhythm).
Ah, yeah Aeris singing to wake the forest would be going too Disney Princess there (though would potentially allow that version of Aeris to get more involved in Kingdom Hearts if she was one of the princesses... Then again, sadly they seem to mostly get captured, so not such a great plan). But I do like the lie about the Lunar Harp - and it is effective because of the vague plausibility (despite being simultaneously very unlikely). Heh - dreams and out of body experiences are interesting - even if not believable, and the concepts behind them are useful for things like this. But its an interesting different way I'd never considered before, that Aeris can get into Cloud's dreams because they're both asleep and dreaming - it has a very nice right feel to it.
The detail on the oceanic rift is very welcome, and its something never detailed in canon as we never see any other life in the depths outside of Emerald Weapon - and it matches to the deep-sea organisms that live around the oceanic volcanic vents - very easy to see life around a Lifestream vent adapating to the conditions (/wondering how different the fish around Mideel are given the much more pronounced Lifestream...). Heh, I can't remember the precise details of those rumours, but I think it was under certain conditions you could descend in the submarine into the trench and into a new area. There might have been an additional summon or Weapon - I forget - and I think it endured a bit longer then some fake rumours as it really does look like there is more below the bottom of the ocean/the rift is clearly big enough for the submarine to go lower... It at least had more going for it then the rumour that you could (*somehow*) get onto Meteor and there was something else up there to do.
Heh - that is a good point the dream is supposed to make Aeris seem mysterious (very much the "Woah, has she always been able to do this kind of thing?" on the first play-through), but her personality still has to be a factor and yeah, she's going to want some logic for herself. I do like the idea he's not simply off-screen, as while the game implies this, it doesn't feel quite right for Cloud to be viewing the scene third person before entering it himself. And I like the justifications for why Cloud is taking so long to awaken/Aeris helping him understand its okay now.
Might have meandered a bit/rambled a tad there. Concentration complete gone this evening...
Re: this is a lot of rambling
Date: 2013-07-30 03:34 am (UTC)...lmfao it's friendship that keeps tripping me up now as I realized that I made Tifa afraid everyone would eventually part in the Gold Saucer chapter, while Aerith is so sure here that everyone will help Cloud and Tifa would be hurt by any of their deaths. They're not...necessarily contradicting, since 1) different characters, different perspectives and 2) Aerith viewing them as good people doesn't mean she thinks they're going to all stick tight together (and that they wouldn't doesn't mean it wouldn't hurt for their lives to be cut short) but I do wonder if something needs to be tweaked. In the Gold Saucer chapter it can probably be tweaked to be a bit more explicitly that Tifa thinks Cloud and Aerith will be caught up in each other and her own jealous feelings might get in the way. But yeah, something I have to think about... (I haven't really started the Cloud section yet and only poked a little at the part where Tifa is lulled to sleep. ahhhh I want to just finish and at the same time actually writing is ...:|;; I keep stumping myself pretty much.)
But yeah that does raise some complications for how/why/if Barret and Tifa are split off from the others at that stage, and what happens otherwise (if I remember the plan right, wasn't Aeris going to fall back into Hojo's clutches at this point?)
Yyyyyes general idea was Aerith was going to go back with Shinra her terms being to help the company purely by speaking to the Planet and trying to calm the WEAPONs or at least make a warning when they approach populated areas...knowing enough about Shinra that she's not really that surprised when they hand her off to Hojo (and on that note I kind of keep thinking too about what she might have to say at the Northern Crater... like the scene where Tifa is trying to shout to Cloud when Sephiroth's completely broken her and realizes he can't hear her voice, I imagine if Aerith's there too it's a similar deal and maybe it's only the girls who can hear each other (Barret/Nanaki doesn't seem to be able to hear Tifa either, as it would probably have given them pause to hear Tifa shouting at Cloud to stop when he's asking for the Black Materia); so they're effectively muted to everyone else but it doesn't stop them from trying and I imagine when Hojo tells Cloud "shut up, miserable failure" Aerith just absolutely explodes at him because he's always been like this, he's always dehumanizing people and hurting them without any care--and then Cloud is levitating up to Sephiroth and both girls are shouting at him again. Still doesn't work. :( ). One idea on the even-further-AUing is that Tifa for some reason is with Aerith... Except I don't know why Shinra would really take her conscious (I can see her insisting on going with Aerith to make sure Shinra's not pulling a fast one on Aerith even with Aerith going "NO" at her, but it seems much more likely Rufus would nix that as taking all three of Aerith, Barret and Tifa makes some coordinated resistance more likely, and leaving Barret behind makes the execution for public blame idea weaker--one woman isn't going to seem as likely as some horrible public threat as a duo (and sadly for Barret it is pretty much canon that he comes off the much more threatening one just by appearance alone). ...The only AU change I can really think works here is a brief-lived one, at least from Tifa's POV--she still gets knocked out, and Shinra will provide care for her and allow Barret to stay and Aerith comes with them--Aerith insists on helping heal Tifa. They grant this as a show of goodwill but still only intend this to be until Tifa regains consciousness; once she does, Aerith only has a brief time to talk with her until the surveillance camera gets checked and they realize oh, hey, the prisoners are awake to die and Aerith gets whisked out of the room on some excuse before Rufus reveals to Tifa and Barret the real reason they're there.
Haha, yeah, AC probably did have resurrection ideas being brought up at least once or in passing, just to be shot down.
Tseng I find very weird as, while Elena's line might have been badly phrased, there's still oddities--first, wasn't the translation done by the Japanese? Most of the translation errors always seemed to be idiot English, not a lack of understanding of what was going on in the original version. So while it's possible that they chose a bad English phrase not totally understanding its implication, it doesn't seem quite as likely... Second, why does Tseng never come up again in the game if he's alive? Even a casual comment would be nice. But then, you could probably argue the same about his death, that that should have also gotten comment from Reno or Rude.
But the third weird thing...why is Elena even angry at Cloud? Think of the original game scenario--if Tseng was supposed to have actually survived in that case, before compilation invented new people, Elena would have been the one to rescue him, being the nearest Shinra personnel. Are we to assume that despite being shown still conscious when Cloud goes on he then lost consciousness from the Temple of Ancients onward to Icicle Inn so that Elena never heard who actually did it? Even if he wasn't conscious, wouldn't Elena realize from the wound that hey, that's not the mark of a broadsword?
If we're assuming Elena is just THAT much a rookie that she thinks a stab wound from Masamune is from Cloud's broadsword (Yuffie's shuriken?? Cid's spear??) I suppose that works. But she knew they were following Sephiroth and that he had a possibility to be there too, so being that oblivious to realizing it was him seems pretty dumb. Going by OGC, Elena should have seen Tseng's body and realized it was Sephiroth...unless she plain didn't see the body, crushed in the temple.
So I think either Tseng's survival is a retcon, or the whole scenario in Icicle Inn wasn't well thought out in a way that isn't connected to translation.
And yeah, Case of Shinra definitely seemed more like badfic at some points.
at the same time, I did wonder if you were implying that Bone Village was more of a nickname and the place has an actual name of its own?
Ah ah, no, I did mean she heard "Bone Village" and thought "hmm fitting" and poof! it went out of her mind.
lmfao yes if anything KH is proof that Aerith does not need to be a disney princess. And oh yes! The sea rift is so, sooo much more plausible than the idea of getting onto Meteor (the idea of another summon is pretty believable since the sub is how you get both the Materia and Key of the Ancients).
I suppose it is possible that Cloud could be viewing the scene third person, as sort of him needing some time to "enter" the dream Aerith made, but I still just liked connecting it to the whole "don't wake me" line.
Haha I feel like my concentration's been gone for a while now.
Re: this is a lot of rambling
Date: 2013-07-30 10:14 pm (UTC)Haha - very true that Tifa's stance and Aeris's stance aren't necessarily contradicting due to their different perspectives/Tifa's more pessimistic view of the situations versus Aeris's much more optimistic - and yeah that Aeris thinks thet are all good people does not mean they will stick together (they've known Vincent and Cid for a relatively very short time) - but yeah it is still going to hurt to lose any of them, no matter how recently they met. Hmm... yeah that tweak sounds about right for Tifa's mindset at the Gold Saucer; her feeling she's going to be edged out/will get in the way if she stays as close/is not going to do herself any good by staying that close. Ah, I know that feeling about writing - really wanting to get it finished, but then some days, its just so hard to even begin/so much other things to investigate (I suspect you'll have seen, but just in case, there's an intriguing Rapture set BioShock Infinite DLC on the way, which sounds like it has a lot of potential and gives you control of Elizabeth (oh and reportedly Infinite 2 is just not going to happen. Probably a good thing, but now I'm hoping the Lutece's make it into the DLC...))
Ah - yeah, I still like Aeris returning to Shinra on strictly her terms, but never being surprised (so very, very disappointed, but not surprised) that they do hand her to Hojo like that. That's an interesting question for the Nort Crater - I like the detail that Aeris can still hear Tifa even if the other's can't - and yeah they would have reacted more if they'd heard her yells. And yeah, Aeris is going to explode at Hojo; she remembers what he was like before, and this is all uttely typical of him.
Hmm... taking Aeris with Tifa and Barret is tempting for the increased AU possibilities; but you're right, the motivations of Rufus don't quite work/as you said with the publically stated reason they want Aeris back to talk to the Planet/warn about Weapon approaches, it seems odder to lock her up with the Avalanche members. That said, I think the idea of it being a condition of Aeris's return works quite nicely so she does have until Tifa wakes up to stay with her and Barret (and actually, you could then use this to reduce the time it takes for Tifa to recover with Aeris able to assist the process. And she'll be torn between spending more time with Tifa even though she's unconcious and getting her awake only for her to be dragged away from her. I just remember you were wary of having Tifa be unconcious for seven days so rapidly after Sephiroth's attack at the City of the Ancients).
That is a good point about Elena's line in VII. From what I remember the VII translation was done entirely by Square themselves - and yeah most of the errors are slightly wonky grammar/the odd bad phrasing, but never noticeably inaccurate/misunderstood (which would be a greater risk for an external translator). So yeah, while it is possible that the phrasing is off in Elena's words, its not as likely to have gotten the meaning so wrong to confuse the situation. And yeah; Tseng's lack of in-game subsequent appearance is probably the strongest reinforcement of his death - it feels like he should have stopped the Turks from challenging Avalanche that final time, or tried to get Rufus out of his office, or helped Reeve escape confinement, or almost anything. Though that is also true that Reno and Rude never comment on it either.
...somehow a load of this just never occured to me; Elena being angry is confusing - and yeah before the Compilation (/two active Cait Siths at the Temple), Elena would have to be the one to get him away from the Temple - and yeah, its a big stretch to imply he never explained to Elena that it was Sephiroth who near killed him. The sword wound... is a bit trickier as Cloud does have some finer bladed swords I think so it might not be quite as obvious that the wound can't be from his normal weapon. That's a weak argument though.
Hmm... yeah while Elena is still quite rookie-like, I think even by that stage she'd be much more used to the Turks way of doing things to not make that mistake with the wounding, but it is possible that its the turning point and she becomes more serious as a result of that incident. But yeah, that it was possibly Sephiroth should have ocurred to her. Tseng getting crushed by the Temple would sort that a bit, but it does feel that unless Tseng crawled elsewhere, Cloud might have taken the second to grab him as they're fleeing out of the Temple.
Hehe - I think the easiest conclusion is that Tseng's survival is a retcon, fuelled by a slight narrative hitch in the way they presented Icicle Inn (or else it was an overlooked line from a point where Tseng was meant to survive, and when developing AC someone realised they'd not actively declared him dead. Then someone else nuisance pointed out that no one saw Rufus's body, and so...)
Ah - my mistake with Bone Village (though, like with Icicle Inn, it kind of feels that these places should have a name that feels more like a place name. Well, admittedly Bone Village feels like Rocket Town - it was never conceived as a settlement, it kind of developed as a result/they nicknamed their settlement and it stuck. Admittedly that could be true for Icicle Inn - originally there was just the Inn as a way-point and the other houses came later...)
Heh - good point on the sub. We could add the crashed Gelnika as well as things connected to it. And that rift just looks like it should be accessible.
Re: this is a lot of rambling
Date: 2013-07-31 05:14 pm (UTC)Yeah, I saw about the DLC! Well, I saw a gifset of meeting Elizabeth in Rapture, which I figured must be from a DLC. I'm curious to see what plot there is even though the closest I'll ever get to experiencing it is Let's Play or summaries...
and actually, you could then use this to reduce the time it takes for Tifa to recover with Aeris able to assist the process. And she'll be torn between spending more time with Tifa even though she's unconcious and getting her awake only for her to be dragged away from her. I just remember you were wary of having Tifa be unconcious for seven days so rapidly after Sephiroth's attack at the City of the Ancients
Mm, yeah. At the same time I mostly find the period of unconsciousness annoying because it winds up with her doing nothing, and if I get Tifa into that situation in Shinra custody...she's still going to wind up doing nothing until the execution/Sapphire WEAPON attack. (Unless I turn things really AU with Barret and Tifa escaping on their own, and I'm not sure how I'd have them meeting up with the others again and that's just more and more complicated.) Though it may still have potential as an opportunity for something... at least the scene together when she wakes up would be sweet (kind of bittersweet with Aerith knowing that aaaaaany minute now...)
...You know. With the Elena and Tseng thing now I kind of wonder if Elena's supposed to be pulling a Hope and blaming the person who is very obviously NOT TO BLAME but was involved and is much more easily punishable than the real responsible party. ...Her dialogue is kind of going a step too far for that unless she reaaaaaally convinced herself it could be one of Cloud's fine-bladed weapons. (Elena...writers...?! /_\) It does feel like a "hey, we never actually SAID he was dead" deal that chose to brush Icicle Inn's weirdness aside.
Yeah, I think Bone Village and Rocket Town are both makeshift settlements that just came into being rather than being planned--and that does sound right for Icicle Inn (I always do wonder when looking at that one if it shouldn't have another name as a town though--which is funny because I don't even think of it for the other two. Probably because they at least say 'village' or 'town'--that one's talking about just the inn!!)
Re: this is a lot of rambling
Date: 2013-07-31 08:36 pm (UTC)I was actually considering waiting for a LP for the DLC as well; mostly as I was so put off by the combat in Infinite I'm not entirely encouraged about going through that again. That said, maybe it'll be different due to Rapture, and I am really intrigued as to what's going to happen. Also the meeting with Elizabeth looks like its done to give the impression its a returning BioShock character and there's a lot of speculation if this is an AU with the Infinite cast in place of BioShock cast, or they're additional and previously unseesn Rapture denizens.
I do agree about the unconcious period being annoying (I skipped straight over that last time) as it does mean she does nothing for a week - and yeah would then be stuck until Sapphire WEAPON turns up. The AU for the escape is intriguing, but yeah, getting everyone together again is a bit trickier. Oh! And yeah having Aeris there as well really would make it bittersweet when Tifa wakes up and Aeris is uncomfortably aware that they could be coming for her any second.
That is possible that Elena is reacting similarly to Hope like that; Cloud and co. are much less daunting to deal with then Sephiroth would or could be... Though yeah, the dialogue is a bit too far unless as you say she is completely convinced. I wonder if it's... not so much different in Japanese, its just the blame is easier to understand (another point to get to in the re-translation of the game. As well as finding out what on Earth Johnny says).
Heh - yeah Icicle Inn has always stuck out as being the oddest named settlement for me too; it really feels that place should have had another name; and yeah, never thought that about the other two - they sound righter as place names, and have a right sense to them when the circumstances of their founding is considered/conjectured.
(now my brain has gone silly: postal delivery to the area. The package is addressed to Icicle Inn - the postal worker is pretty sure this is for the Inn and not just the area. The staff at Icicle Inn open the packagae and find six copies of Loveless inside and wearily send someone to tell the red-headed stranger that the delivery company forgot to put his name and address on the package again (...brain you confuse me; why Genesis of all people?! Well, needed something obviously not intended for the inn to be delivered... rambly...))
Re: this is a lot of rambling
Date: 2013-08-01 06:58 pm (UTC)I saw a pic with the Booker Dewitt Detective Agency (or however that went) door in it--isn't he the playable character? I mean he could easily not recognize Elizabeth because he's had his life with Anna and she doesn't look the same (and this Booker's not clued in to alternate realities). But then again I wasn't looking too closely at what the pics I came across did show of the player's character so I could be completely wrong and it's another Bioshock character. It'll just be interesting to see what they do (though, ack, at the combat being fun--I do remember other complaints about it but the genre's the completely wrong one for me to judge anyway).
Sometimes I feel like I should just go through the whole FF7 Japanese script just to satisfy my curiosity. Then I realize with how much Japanese I don't now, this would drive me pretty well insane (slang and casual language would just. no. no.)
Ahaha the Loveless takeover has gotten to you. But yeah, the address confusion does seem like it'd be a thing with that sort of name.
Re: this is a lot of rambling
Date: 2013-08-01 08:07 pm (UTC)Ah, I was a bit confused on the Infinite DLC too - as I saw presumably Booker walking through his door and into Rapture - and yeah I assumed he'd be the playable character again. But I'm sure I saw another comment about how different it would be to have control of Elizabeth for the DLC. I might have just gotten confused. Either way, I'm intrigued as to how it's going to work - and a return to Rapture is very tempting/the setting is really cool... Haha - I think I griped multiple times about the combat, so that might just be me; I've gotten more fond of stealth games then blasting away at enemies...
(actually, I have just realised the real disappointment with the DLC as announced - as I think that's it; one multiplayer and the two part Rapture set one - is that we're unlikely to get anything on the vigours and where and how they came about)
Ah, reading the Japanese script would be cool, but yeah, I can see that being problematic. A friend of a friend apparently was having troubles with FFXII in Japanese because they were using a slightly archaic dialect in the speech or something like that.
...yeah Loveless got to me a bit there. I must flee it!
Re: this is a lot of rambling
Date: 2013-08-04 04:41 pm (UTC)Though yeah, a Rapture-set DLC pretty much rules out worldbuilding for Columbia, which is a bit disappointing.
I did hear about the archaic dialect for XII--I'm pretty sure Reno alone would drive me nuts in VII, given I've heard he has verbal tics in here (actually I'm sure a number of minor characters probably have verbal tics/language gags tied into them, given how they were translated...).
Re: this is a lot of rambling
Date: 2013-08-04 06:13 pm (UTC)And Infinite 2 is outright not happening apparently - unless the guy in charge leaves again like with BioShock (as I doubt he wanted BioShock 2 either), so we are going to be left with a frustrating hole in the world-building... Unless the two new chapters tie back into Columbia again, which isn't impossible given the in-game time-shifts and the whole nature of the parallel universes.
I confess to not really picking up on tics for Reno (at least in Advent Children) - except for the 'yo' at the end of sentences which some fanfic writers now seem to employ all the time. But yeah, I would imagine there are a lot of other dialects in use in the game; Caith Sith/Reeve is the major one I remember...)
Re: this is a lot of rambling
Date: 2013-08-06 05:17 pm (UTC)Reno doesn't have much of a verbal tic in the English game itself, he just has a casual tone; I've heard in Japanese he uses "zo to" quite a bit. ...I need to actually rewatch Advent Children again and see what's there. But yeah Cait Sith/Reeve is definitely a major one as it's part of the 'tell' of Reeve slipping up.
Re: this is a lot of rambling
Date: 2013-08-06 09:58 pm (UTC)...its not the best evidence, but I'm sure I remember "zo to" used by Reno at least once in AC. Can't remember where, but I can hear his voice actor saying that (...it might actually be one of the very first lines when he's in the helicopter). If I remember right, I was a little disappointed that Cait Sith/Reeve weren't the same actor in Japanese, but that Cait Sith's accent is really noticeable even to a non-fluent speaker. It's not as blatant as the dub, but he does speak noticeably differently to most of the cast/Reeve himself.
Re: this is a lot of rambling
Date: 2013-08-08 04:05 pm (UTC)Re: this is a lot of rambling
Date: 2013-08-08 06:18 pm (UTC)