#and like i love cloti but barret is an option for a reason even if it was more meant as a 'joke' originally | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

blankbeat · 4 years

Photo

Shiva of www.cloudandaerith.com:

Regardless of what optional scenes you get (*COUGH*Highwind Scene*COUGH*), and regardless of which girl the **player** personally prefers. No matter what, Cloud is attracted to Aerith, protects her as his bodyguard, and goes on at least one date with her. No matter what, Tifa is jealous of the budding relationship between Cloud and Aerith. No matter what, Cloud and Aerith are confirmed to have a "special bond" and are predicted to be married. No matter what, Cloud is devastated over Aerith's death and one of the reasons he fights is for her. No matter what, Cloud is longing to be with Aerith at the end, reaching for her hand and asking the Planet how he can be with her again. No matter what, it is Aerith that Cloud wants to meet in his Promised Land. And, no matter what, it is impossible to use the affection rating system to eradicate all of the romantic affection between Cloud and Aerith. Also, regardless of what optional choices you make, Cloud still makes his affection for Aerith clear right in front of Tifa. He calls himself her bodyguard in front of Tifa, bringing up a deal in which the result is Cloud dating Aerith. Cloud also doesn't object when Cait Sith offers to be the preacher at he and Aerith's wedding (even when Tifa is standing right there). Cloud and Tifa fans like to assert that the High Affection version of the Highwind Scene is canon, even though they don't have any proof of this. They even go so far as to suggest Cloud and Tifa had sex under the Highwind, which is equally as absurd. And, yet, right after Cloud rescues Tifa from falling and they are clinging to the side of the Northern Crater, he says, right in front of her, that it is Aerith that he wants to see again in his Promised Land. And this is **after** he and Tifa supposedly confessed romantic feelings for one another (High Affection version of the Highwind Scene) and, according to rabid CloTis, had sex. If that is the case, then Cloud just used Tifa for sex, played her feelings, and dropped her like a rock. Because it isn't Tifa that Cloud wants to be with in the place of supreme bliss (his Promised Land), it's a completely different woman (Aerith). Also, Cloud demanded an answer from the Planet, remember? This is after he showed the Planet his wishes. His answer was that he could be with Aerith again if he could find the/his Promised Land. And so the wish he expressed to the Planet was quite obviously how he could be reunited with Aerith. This scene **also** took place after the supposed confession of love and alleged sex on pointy rocks under the Highwind. **IF** Cloud confessed romantic feelings for Tifa under the Highwind, then why would he be seeking a reunion with her confirmed "love rival"? **IF** Cloud confessed romantic feelings for Tifa under the Highwind, then why wasn't Tifa the one he states he wants to be with? Why wasn't his wish about her? And why doesn't he care about how she is feeling when he ignores her and says he wants to be with Aerith? These scenes only make sense if you take the Low Affection version of the Highwind Scene into account. If Cloud and Tifa only shared feelings of a platonic nature, then they are only friends. And Cloud doesn't come off like a cold-hearted jerk who could care less about Tifa's breaking heart. If they are only friends, then it makes perfect sense why Cloud would be seeking a reunion with Aerith again instead of wanting to be with Tifa. In my opinion, the Low Affection version of the Highwind Scene is the one being followed throughout the rest of the game as well as the Compilation (during which Cloud and Tifa are not portrayed as being in any romantic relationship and there has been **zero** progression toward a romantic relationship between them). Not only that, but the two Highwind Scenes are merely there for replay value and nothing more. While the **player** can choose for Cloud to show romantic interest in Tifa, it doesn't change the fact that he loves Aerith. In other words, Cloud's love for Tifa is **optional**.

Cloud's love for Aerith is **not optional**.

A good example is FFX, where Tidus can show romantic interest in Rikku or Lulu. Between Rikku and Lulu, it is Lulu that seems more inclined to show interest in Tidus, but it doesn't mean that either of them were intended to be Tidus's love interest. Regardless of any optional scenes or dialogues, regardless of affections levels, Tidus still loves Yuna and they are the intended pairing. The scenes with Rikku and Lulu were simply thrown in for replay value. They don't actually mean anything in the end. It is much the same between Cloud and Tifa. Though Cloud can date Tifa, Yuffie, or Barret instead of Aerith, it doesn't change the fact that Cloud and Aerith love one another and are the intended pairing of FFVII. And, although Cloud has an optional scene with Tifa that may or may not show affection between them under the Highwind, it doesn't change the fact that Cloud and Aerith are the intended pairing of FFVII and Cloud loves Aerith regardless of any affection and/or optional scenes he might feel/share with Tifa (or anyone else). An interesting note: Yuna is the default character for cut scenes when there is a tie, much like Aerith is the default character for the date scene at Gold Saucer, even if there is a tie between she and Tifa (or anyone else). Coincidence? I think not...

The bottom line? Cloud loves Aerith. The **player** can choose for Cloud to **also** love Tifa, but you cannot eradicate the love between Cloud and Aerith. He can love **both** Aerith and Tifa (optionally). Or he can love just Aerith. He cannot love just Tifa. This was the original intent when the game was created, regardless of the current fan-pandering stance that Square-ENIX has now taken.

#clerith #cloud strife #aerith gainsborough #final fantasy 7 remake #ff7r

75 notes · View notes

silver-wield · 4 years

Note

Cloud had every opportunity to validate his relationship between he and Tifa. He doesn’t tell aerith who he gave the flower to and when aerith asks if tifa is his girlfriend he’s quick to say no and when she says “she’s something special, right?” And he says “it’s not like that” that doesn’t sound like someone who’s in love... yet when Tifa questions the relationship he has with aerith, he can’t even answer... As a cloti fan I don’t think I can shobghis anymore... 😔

Ok, let’s breakdown how Cloud’s behaviour works again.

Not that some people understand that having mental illness and crafting a false persona to protect their own psyche means they do things that are contradictory to their own true feelings at times. They seem to think SOLDIER Cloud is another way of saying “He’S jUsT zAcK”. Which isn’t that at all and they need to stop purposely misunderstanding the point.

SPOILERS FOR CLOUD’S ENTIRE BACKSTORY.

Cloud: introverted, socially awkward, no father figure, low self-esteem, lives in a very small town with little culture and few kids his age. Of those kids, the majority don’t like him because they’re assholes (yeah I said it).

Tifa: childhood friend and crush, who isn’t an asshole to him because she’s a literal fucking sweetheart (don’t even try and @ me). Shy, reserved, polite, kind, also can be reckless af.

Age 8, Tifa’s mother dies and she gets it into her head that she can go visit her at the top of mt Nibel because that’s where she gets the impression the lifestream touches the planet.

Cloud (9), follows her and her friends up the mountain and stays with her as they chicken out. He and Tifa have an accident, which results in Tifa being unconscious for 7 days. During that time she’s unconscious (but yknow some ppl say she should’ve still cleared up the misunderstanding WHILE UNCONSCIOUS, despite never learning of it even after she woke up), her friends throw Cloud under the bus to her father as the reason why she went there. Tifa’s father puts all the blame for it on him (douchebag move, but he’s an upset parent who’s just lost his wife and now doesn’t know if his daughter will live or die. I’m not excusing him, but he’s got reasons other than “let’s victimise Cloud”.) Tifa’s father tells Cloud that if he isn’t capable of protecting her then he should keep his distance.

Cloud resolves to become stronger and thanks to Stamp propaganda and Sephiroth hero worship he decides to become a SOLDIER.

Tifa never says anything about this being what she wants. She likes Cloud just as he is.

Skip forward a few years and Cloud’s 14, has kept his word not to hang out with Tifa, not that it stops her wanting his attention.

The promise scene occurs, where Cloud tries to get Tifa to admit she likes him and Tifa gets Cloud to promise to return to town just once so she can see him again (because these idiots have no idea they mutually like each other in a romantic sense).

Skip forward another 2 years.

Cloud (16) isn’t a SOLDIER, but he’s got to go to Nibelheim with Zack and Sephiroth. He hides from Tifa, ashamed that he isn’t the man he promised he’d become.

Tifa (15) who’s massively disappointed Cloud wasn’t with them, ends up seriously injured by Sephiroth after he loses his marbles.

Cloud appears and saves her, killing Sephiroth.

Zangan takes Tifa away from Nibelheim - and good thing too or she’d have ended up a test subject with the others.

Cloud and Zack are stuffed in chambers to be experimented on.

4 years go by and Zack saves Cloud who’s suffering mako poisoning. They make it to Midgar, which takes around a year, where Zack then dies, leaving his sword to Cloud.

Cloud still suffering from mako poisoning and now also with PTSD and all his other previous issues, shambles into Midgar where Tifa finds him.

Here’s the bit people like to misunderstand.

Cloud is infected with Jenova cells, which warp his perception and make him susceptible to Sephiroth’s control. (This is proven by a moment at the end of the game where Cloud’s hand twitches in response to Sephiroth asking for his help)

Zack told Cloud a lot of stories, both before he was poisoned and after. These combined with Jenova’s mind warping, the mako poisoning itself and Cloud’s own severe trauma allowed him to craft a false persona for himself, which he needed to protect his real psyche from a further mental breakdown.

Cloud is a mentally ill protagonist.

Cloud uses the SOLDIER persona he’s crafted as a shield to function in daily life. He’s unaware of what he’s done. He believes SOLDIER!Cloud is the only psyche. We get to see real!Cloud on screen at the beginning of Chapter 8 asking SOLDIER!Cloud if he’s ok. Real!Cloud specifically refers to the childhood event on mt Nibel with Tifa where he “got away with scraped knees”. SOLDIER!Cloud doesn’t know what he’s talking about because it’s a real!Cloud memory and not one he’s privy to. Any time SOLDIER!Cloud tries reconnecting to his true self he ends up in pain. He’s not ready to be whole yet.

Behind the shield is an emotionally stunted, very ill man who spent four years as a lab rat, suffered countless traumas, witnessed his home burned and saw the girl he loved stabbed. The real Cloud is a weak, flawed human being who isn’t in a good enough head space to function, let alone do all the things that’s needed of him during events in the game.

Cloud doesn’t think he’s Zack. The only time that argument can even be used is in a 23 year old game that has clear script problems all over the place. That information is outdated and been debunked several times over.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Now, onto the points you raised.

Cloud cannot connect his real persona and the feelings he has for Tifa with this false persona he has. The SOLDIER persona acts as both a shield and a wall preventing things from affecting the real!Cloud behind it. Nothing gets in or out. That’s why Cloud can’t articulate his feelings for Tifa. It’s not because he doesn’t feel anything for her, it’s because he can’t connect to those feelings until after he’s reunited the fractured parts of his psyche -- which only happens because of Tifa during the lifestream sequence. It’s then he’s able to get back in touch with those feelings and express them. It’s not because they don’t exist. He never, at any point, in 7R says he doesn’t have feelings for Tifa. He says she’s not his girlfriend - fact, she isn’t. He says in response to Aerith asking “she’s someone special” that “it’s not like that” but then gets cut off, like every other point in the game where he’s about to try and explain his feelings. He doesn’t know how he feels because those feelings belong to real!Cloud and not SOLDIER!Cloud. We get a clear view of how Real!Cloud feels about Tifa during the plate fall. At several points, the urge to comfort Tifa is seen. That’s not SOLDIER!Cloud’s urge, it’s real!Cloud’s. When he sees her crying during Jessie’s cut scene, when he sees her on her knees at the top of the plate, when his hand twitches as Barret hugs her. All of these are canon non-optional moments that build a picture of real!Cloud wanting to express his feelings to Tifa, but not being able to. The resolution is the culmination of those feelings. He takes his time hugging her back because the SOLDIER persona is trying to protect him still, but the real!Cloud breaks through long enough to hug her. And he does so hard because he needs comfort. He’s gone through so much that he’s broken inside. That’s why he hugs her until it hurts. Because he hurts.

His response to Tifa’s question about Aerith isn't shipping. Tifa’s first words when she wakes are an urgent affirmation to get home and save the slum. Cloud agrees. She then asks Cloud how he knows Aerith, after expressing concern she'll get hurt by going with them. Tifa and Cloud are eco terrorists and as far as she knows Aerith is a normal girl. Nobody would want a civilian dragged into danger. And Cloud has been in Midgar for four days and spent most of them with Avalanche and Tifa. She's curious how they're friends because she knows Cloud isn't a people person. Cloud explains Aerith saved him, but when? It's clearer in the JP because the phrasing is that Cloud was in the kind of danger that worries Tifa. She wants to know what kind of danger Cloud would get into that he couldn't handle. Well he's not talking physical danger. He's talking about how Aerith helped him save Tifa. Because that's the kind of dork he is. He's referring to the phrase Aerith said to Sam about making sure Cloud wouldn't have to live without Tifa. That's what he means by her saving his life. Because he can't live without Tifa. So, it's obvious why that's not made a bigger deal of in disc one.

He doesn’t tell Aerith who he gave the flower to because it’s none of her goddamn business. She’s a stranger being nosy. He’s got no obligation to tell her what he did with it. If someone you met twice start sticking their nose in your personal business you’d be cagey too. That’s a meaningless moment that certain people cling to because they’re idiots.

Sorry, this got long. Hope it clears a few things up though. I probably missed a few details here and there.

TLDR: Cloud has mental illness and isn’t capable of love due to a fractured psyche, so can’t answer anyone when they ask.

#final fantasy 7 remake spoilers #Character analysis #Cloud strife #tw: mental illness #ship war

218 notes · View notes

iaintyourbro · 4 years

Text

Shipping Makes Me Question My Sanity

I learned about the FFVII waifu wars after playing the remake. I played the OG many moons ago, replayed it a few years ago, but really got interested in the character dynamics after playing FFVIIR.

I foolishly looked up “Is the remake pushing Cloud and Tifa more?” I found the shipping wars... That I never knew existed.

You see, I played the OG and it was pretty clear to me that the story went a certain way. In fact, I didn’t even associate FFVII to romance.

FFVII was a story about a villain who was pissed off that a grunt killed him, so he finds a way to come back from the dead through clones that his father made to fuck with said grunt and get revenge on all the humans that wronged his Mother.

(This is my explanation in as few words as possible, because we all know explaining FFVII would take multiple posts).

So why did I look up my question about Cloud and Tifa? Well, I was shocked at how they presented them. I didn’t remember this from the OG. Like I said, I didn’t associate FFVII to romance like I did with VIII, IX, and X. Those were clear. FFVII didn’t have this as a main theme. FFVIIR created extreme sexual tension between Cloud and Tifa.

I remember when you finally found out Cloud wasn’t a SOLDIER, that he actually DID kill Sephiroth 5 years ago, and that he did come to save Tifa - he fulfilled his promise. The part when the main theme plays and he takes his helmet off... chills. Even now, I love that part. Still, I associated this with us finally getting answers to some of the weird shit that happens earlier in the game. And I was way too young and dense to understand the Under the Highwind scene.

Needless to say, I wanted to see if others had the same impression. It seems they did, and those posts were then overpowered by the other side. “Yeah, I used to ship Cloti, but the remake made me see that it’s clearly Aerith.” What? What did I miss?

So I questioned my sanity a bit. I played every quest - I did both Tifa and Aerith’s discovery quests. Until the point we get back to Tifa in Wall Market, I still was kind of iffy on how they were presenting Aerith and Cloud. They removed a lot of stuff from the OG that was a bit more direct from Cloud’s end. They also removed a lot of the jealousy scenes between Tifa and Aerith. Seems they gave all the jealousy to Cloud in other scenes.

Cloud clearly is soft with Tifa. He remembers The Promise, he calls her beautiful, you have no choice but to give her the flower. No matter what choices you make with Aerith. He still gives her the flower. He gets jealous whenever he even thinks a guy is talking about her in a romantic/sexual way.

Then I see things like “Cloud was so emotionless and mean until Chapter 8″. HOW? And this goes beyond Tifa. Cloud had a ton of character growth during the first 3 chapters, and it continued on until Chapter 8. This was not something where he suddenly turned nice to Aerith. He had a ton of people help him out before.

Take Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. Cloud was a dick to them. I mean, he really was. I was sad for Wedge, cuz I think he’s so nice, and Cloud was just mean to him. By the end of Chapter 4, he’s much nicer to them. He’s left out of their celebration, and I think maybe this was a reference to him as a child. He thought he was better than the other kids (except Tifa). He treated everybody like shit (except Tifa) in the first three chapters and Barret told him to gtfo.

Jessie made sure to let him know she wanted him there. Now, I’m not a fan of how thirsty Jessie is. I mean they REALLY slam it on you how bad she wants to get with Cloud. Cloud then says what I was thinking “Are you seriously that desperate?!” Yes, she is, and it’s obnoxious, but I think it’s a hilarious addition to the story. However, I think it was a light bulb moment that he would be included if he was a bit nicer to people.

Cloud and Barret start getting along more as time goes on as well. This is all before Chapter 8. So I actually have commented on these posts... “Did you play the first 7 chapters? Did you play the rest of the game?” There’s so many points during FFVIIR where Cloud clearly has character development outside of what Tifa and Aerith do.

They ignore this. That’s my issue. The ignore everything else in the story. They ignore reality, so that makes people like me question themselves.

It reminds me of a personal situation with my job. We had a really bad leader. Like, cruel, mean. And he got away with it for a long time. You can say, “just leave”, but I think anybody with a family knows that’s not as easy as it sounds. Not when you rely on your job for not only income, but benefits, retirement, and stability. Not when changing buildings causes months of legit mental breakdowns (imagine changing companies completely?). So, it wasn’t really an option.

The worst part during all of that was knowing and seeing the reality of what was going on and having people flat out try to tell me that what I was seeing wasn’t true. I had conversations with other co-workers who started to question their sanity. Is it us? Are we the problem? Are we wrong? What are we missing? And that’s tough, especially when it goes on for so long.

In the real life example, there was a resolution earlier this year, where finally the guy was fired. And a lot of people were fighting him. More than you’d think. But they were scared, so they had to be careful. This is real life, not a game, so the stakes were much higher. The truth all comes out after this type of thing, and it was actually worse than we thought. There was a lot we missed, and a lot we just weren’t aware of. We weren’t crazy - there was just a group of his followers trying to brainwash us in to thinking he was great.

The shipping wars give me the same feelings I had during that. I question my sanity and don’t get what I’m missing. This is beyond how you interpret the LTD. This is legit ignoring parts of the story as it’s presented. SE put these Cloti moments throughout the Remake to make a point. They have Aerith say things to make a point. They even have Aerith stop making moves on Cloud after Tifa comes back and she sees the obvious “thing” between them.

There are tons of analysis on multiple scenes and how Cloud reacts. Facial expressions tell a lot, so does voice acting. There are reasons they put these scenes in. There are reasons they are part of the main story and not part of side quests. There are reasons that the devs responded the way they did in interviews.

The Ultimania clearly talks about Cloud’s feelings. The OG talks about them.

So why do I still feel upset when I see these? Well, for one, the posters that say “I was a Cloti until..” in most cases are probably shipping the other side, but this is a great way to make people question themselves. It may make new fans not enjoy the story as much.

Then you have Twitter. And it’s a shame, because there’s some great fanart on Twitter. But, you can’t search for “tifa” without seeing some really bad posts. And it’s the same accounts over and over. There isn’t a large amount.

The entire goal of these posters is to fight people who don’t agree with them. They also start posting similar complaints about a week after the Cloti side makes them.

The most recent being that Cloti fans are going after Nojima and it’s not going to change anything. What? I saw a similar post about the C////erith side about a week or two ago. Why are Cloti’s going after Nojima? So I went through some of his posts. I found one where he posted about FF7R. The only Cloti posts I saw were thanking him. The C///erith ones were over the top trying to say how it was all C///erith and there was no Cloti in the remake. One even said that “millions of fans want Aerith to survive.” No, I’d say the majority of fans want the original plot points to stay.

Nojima himself liked a fanart of himself... where they called him the Cloti king.

So where are the Cloti’s going after Nojima? I only saw praise...

The next new one is that C///eriths aren’t racist and Cloti’s are. I’ve seen this argument in reverse as well. It seems they scope out some things and repost them in the opposite argument.

I just don’t understand the extreme nature. You can ship who you want, but you can’t erase parts of the story to make it work. Why even bother playing the game? The romance aspect is SO SMALL in the OG.

In the remake its a bit heavier, but it’s different times. Sex sells. Let’s add some spice to the game, and they did. I felt no sexual tension between Cloud and Aerith. Jessie tried HARD. The only mutual tension felt was between Cloud and Tifa. That deep, dear lord please do something to release this tension, feeling. Cloud and Aerith had cute little moments similar to a Disney movie or a kids movie. Tifa and Cloud had the moments you see in more mature things.

Some of these moments are optional - the resolution scene you can technically avoid every time you play if you choose to. The Clotiscrew tunnel roll is a bit harder unless you KNOW you can avoid it and/or are terrible at the game. You literally have to try hard to mess up to not get that scene.

The Clotiscrew tunnel scene is also hilarious to watch people react to. Cuz you do feel like you need to take a quick walk to cool off from that heat. Even my husband who doesn’t give a shit was like “wow, yeah, okay, that’s... intense.”

It didn’t have to be, it could have been a roll and release, but he holds her and says “You okay?” in that soft af voice THAT HE ONLY USES ON HER. Her response is equally sexy. Then they get up and stare. Once again, not necessary.

All the “unnecessary” touching that goes on is fun to point out. People are still finding moments, I think. During battles, in the background during other scenes. They’re making this a point. They make it a point to show shots of those two during other scenes in the game. They aren’t being subtle anymore.

So I don’t understand how you can erase all of that.

The other side has a small group that is completely shitting on Tifa to do it. I don’t see that as much on the Cloti side towards Aerith. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, I bet it does, but it’s not as easy to find. Almost EVERY shipping fight has something about Tifa’s boobs, Tifa not telling Cloud about his past, something. They make stuff up in some cases.

All of this is a way to recruit people to their side. To “convert” them. I feel bad for the streamers who like Tifa and you see a group come in to try and “correct” that thought. Why do they care so much?

Maximillian Dood doesn’t seem affected by those opinions - he’s a great supporter of Tifa as a character. He was very happy with the way they handled the remake, and that says a lot. He also has some great reactions to parts of the game. He also is a more experienced streamer, it seems.

My thoughts are... the Remake has blown expectations on how it was supposed to go. Probably a lot of fans assumed they’d make a point to build up Aerith as the love interest... but they didn’t. Tifa is in almost every chapter (2 is the exception). She is referenced multiple times in Wall Market - especially if you actually listen to the lyrics for Midgar Blues. Why place that song in during that part?

So we go to the attack mode of survival here. They’re going to change as many opinions as possible. They’re going to make people question themselves. Make people feel bad.

The reality is, there’s a clear cut story - they’re making it that way. There’s multiple hints that there isn’t going to be a love triangle. There’s multiple hints that Zack is going to be a thing in the Remake. They’ve definitely put it on more heavy that Aerith still loves Zack.

I can only hope that things are made clear. That this can stop. I still say people should ship who they want. Hell, I ship Vincent and Lucrecia (this was my only romantic love in the OG back then...). However, canon is that Hojo and Lucrecia married and had a child. I wanted Vincent to secretly be the father so bad, but he’s not. That doesn’t ruin the game for me, at all.

It would ruin the game for me, in a sense, if they completely pull a 180 in Part 2 and try to “remove” all of the stuff from Part 1 from a character dynamics perspective. It would feel wrong for Aerith to tell Cloud not to fall in love with her, tell him that everything isn’t real if he does, and also have her back off completely after Tifa is back, and then all of a sudden throw herself at him. It would erase all the friendship scenes between Tifa and Aerith.

And how could you just “turn off” Cloud’s attentive nature to Tifa? It wouldn’t make sense. It would ruin it for me because that is legit trying to erase parts of the story.

I don’t think that will happen. But I still get anxious when I see shit on the internet.

#cloti #clotif #ff7r #ff7r thoughts #shipping wars #cloud x tifa #tifa lockhart #ltd #final fantasy 7 remake #final fantasy 7 #cloud strife #ff7 spoilers #ff7r spoilers

129 notes · View notes

clotitrash · 4 years

Text

My OBJECTIVE opinion on CA vs CT and thoughts on the topic.

I know, I'm a CloTi, but that doesn't mean I can give my unbiased opinion on the topic and why I think both sides are correct but definitively one is the endgame for Final Fantasy 7: Remake.

THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM THE COMPILATION, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

First of all I'll start with Aerith's relationship with Cloud, let's get this out of the way, it's completly possible that both had feelings for each other at some point during their friendship, after all CLoud is a man, a 21 years-old man to be exact but with the mind of a 16 year-old. It's really likely that Cloud was sexually attracted to Aerith, he's still a teenager in mind and by no means she's ugly, in my opinion the scene where Aerith shows up with the red dress shows that, but being sexually attracted to someone doesnt necessarilly mean that you're romantically attracted. This is where people needs to understand the difference between the concept of "LOVE" and "ATTRACTION" and even more important, the difference between "PLATONIC" and "ROMANTIC" love. Cloud is initially attracted to her, Aerith is bold, pushy, flirty, the complete opposite of Cloud in terms of personality, she shows her feelings really easily and that can initially attract Cloud, at least as far as we can see in Part 1. To expand on this I'll use what we see in OG for obvious reasons. Cloud and Aerith's relationship evolves, they become friends. Yes, OG pushes Aerith against Tifa and both of them "fight" for Cloud, but more than that she becomes a platonic lover for Cloud, he sees in her an older sister, someone that pushes him out of his comfort zone. It can be possible that Cloud still had feelings for her at this point, but even if he had her tragic fate comes. She's killed by Sephiroth. Even if both of them had feelings for each other, no matter how little they were this is the last straw that kills that romance. A lot of people seem to forget that the characters from Final Fantasy 7 are portrayed as REALISTIC, Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret etc. they all are portrayed as human, it isn't realistic for someone to be grieving all their lives for someone that died, and that is shown in the own compilation, in Dirge of Cerberus they no longer wear the ribbons on their arms on Advent Children because of that, because they have moved on from the past. Not saying that they forgot about Aerith, just that they moved on from the memories that haunted them for all this years. This is not even taking into account Zack, who canonically, is Aerith's first love. At the end of Crisis Core Zack dies, Aerith, confused, doesn't know why he has not came back to her like he promised. Even today we don't really know if Aerith knows about Zack's death, if she is in denial of the fact Zack that died, or is she genuinely believes that he is cheating on her. Because how Cloud appears on her life, both him and Zack goes through the roof of the church and land on a bed of flowers, both are Soldiers 1st Class, both have the same sword etc. Aerith tries to re-live her romance with Zack through him. This is shown on their date in Gold Saucer, where Aerith says that she want to meet "the Real Cloud", knowing that even if he had feelings for her, they are not from his genuine persona. Arguments like "but she loved more Cloud than Zack" are not true for various reasons, 1st: The novel where this is said, "The Maiden who travels the Planet" is not part of Compilation of Final Fantasy 7, and 2nd: Advent Children completly dismantles this argument, not to say how distressed she was when the group visits Gongaga. Talking about Advent Children, if Aerith really wanted, she could have perfectly reunited with Cloud. Cloud enters the Lifrestream and Aerith herself pushes him out of it telling him that it isn't his time yet and that he has to come back to his family. Cloud also refers to Aerith as "mother" confirming the fact that Cloud saw her as a platonic love, like the love a mother has for her children, or what brothers have.

Moving onto Tifa's relationship with Cloud, she is Cloud's childhood friend and crush. In contrast with Cloud's relationship with Aerith we know what his feelings are for Tifa. This is important because their dynamic is established really early into the game, Cloud is still in love, romantic love, with Tifa and he, even in the fake persona he is in during Part 1 of Remake, shows his real self when he is with her. Meanwhile, Tifa also has romantic feelings for Cloud, it is true that she realized she had those feelings for him too late because Cloud already left Nibelheim to go to soldier. That's why the scene of Zack, Sephiroth and Cloud coming to Nibelheim is so important, because she wanted to see him, but he is so embarassed he couldn't make true his promise that he can't even face her. You have to realize that the whole premise of the game goes around Cloud wanting to make it into SOLDIER to impress her because he still blames himself for the accident Tifa has when she is younger in Mt. Nibel and that is why the scene of Cloud's promise to Tifa is so important, because it's something that ties the two of them troughout the whole game, Cloud always protecting Tifa even tho she really doesn't need him to. Continuing with what we know from OG, we get one of the most important scenes for both Cloud and Tifa's relationship and Cloud's own character development, the Lifestream. In the Lifestream, Tifa is able to see Cloud subconscious where she realized that the romantic feelings she has for Cloud are mutual, and the reason because all his strange behaviour is because all those awful experiments Hojo made on him. People forget that Tifa is the only one that can unlock Cloud's real persona because the only thing that can bring him back are those precious memories he has with Tifa. If Mideel already shows how important Cloud is for Tifa and how she realized her feelings for him, the Lifestream just confirms it. That is the biggest difference between Tifa's relationship with Cloud in contrast with Aerith, while we know the feelings of both and us, the player, knows it is mutual, we only know Aerith's side and we never really get to know Cloud's actual feelings for her other than platonic love. After all this we get the scene that really shows the change in Tifa and Cloud's dynamic from friends to people that know they are both attracted and love romantically each other, Under the Highwind. No matter if you get the High Affection or Regular Affection scene, both aren't optional. In both you get Tifa and Cloud speaking heart to heart because this may be the last chance to prove their feelings for each other before they fight Sephiroth, the only difference in this being that it is implied they have sex in the High Affection scene, which I personally think is not a relevant point for the scene because the point of the scene is them having a moment to reassure what they feel for each other, this possibly being their certain death.

In my honest opinion and without taking into account my personal bias towards one of the ships, narratively both in OG, ACC, DoC and now Remake, a romance between Cloud and Aerith is not sustainable, we all know what is going to happen to Aerith sooner or later in the game and the own Compilation denies any possible romance between them.

#ltd #final fantasy 7

15 notes · View notes

winterune · 5 years

Text

A Place to Call Home

Entry for Cloti Fall Festival 2019 Day 1 by @clotiweek.

Prompts: coming home

A/N: my first cloti/FF7 fic. Sorry if it’s weird or too long. So sorry for the late entry too!

Also available on AO3 and FFN.

~*~*~*~*~

Home.

It was such a lovely word. Not so much as a place you live in but more of a sense of belonging. A place you belong to. A person you belong with.

Ever since Tifa left Nibelheim when she was fifteen, she never really had a place to call home. Her father was dead. Her town was burned to the ground. Sometimes, she wished Zangan hadn’t rescued her back then. Sometimes, she wished she had died with her father. Death felt like a better option than this crushing hatred, anger, and hopelessness she bore against the Shinra Company.

The Seventh Heaven bar she ran in the slums wasn’t much. It was only a deserted place of which someone needed to have their hands washed off. But Zangan had been about to leave and Tifa needed a place to stay—a place to work—because she had to move. She couldn’t stand still. Otherwise, she knew that one day, she would be consumed by these raging emotions she had locked deep within her heart.

So, Tifa opened the bar, and gained what little popularity the slums offered. Then one day, a man with a gun for his arm came and introduced her to Avalanche, an ecoterrorists set on bringing Shinra down.

“Aah~” Wedge sighed contentedly at the counter, a half-empty mug in his hand. “Home sweet home.”

Biggs, who was sitting beside him, smacked him across the head playfully. “Where do you think is your home, huh?” he said with a laugh, his own glass still full.

Tifa was filling Jessie’s glass when she chuckled at the interaction. “It’s all right. It’s everyone’s home,” she said. “So, do you want something to go with that?”

“Snacks, please!” Wedge’s hand immediately shot up. “Any kind is okay.”

Biggs shook his head at his friend with a click of his tongue, bringing his own glass of beer to his lips. Tifa just smiled and said, “Coming right up!”

Jessie, on the other hand, rolled her eyes and laughed under her breath. “You’re too kind, Tifa,” she said, drinking from her own glass. Tifa knew it was only a harmless comment, but for a split second, her hands stilled as she was about to take out plates from the cupboard, her fingers curling slightly.

She wasn’t kind. Not really.

The team had just returned from a covert mission above the plate. That was what they did: infiltrate bases, hack into computers, map out the reactors. Sometimes, Tifa would tag along. Most times, she would stay at the bar and gather what information she could glean from her patrons who had had a couple drinks too much, while also taking care of Barret’s six-year-old daughter on the side.

Tifa hadn’t come with them that day. From what she had heard at their meetings in her basement, they were planning to infiltrate and destroy the Sector 1 Reactor. She had actually come across Jessie building the bomb one night, and the sight of it had made her freeze.

Tifa despised Shinra. She wanted to see them burn for what they had done to her and her family. She still had dreams sometimes—of blazing fire under a scarlet sky, of heart-wrenching screams and dying wails, of her father lying in a pool of blood. She would wake up in cold sweats in the middle of the night, her pounding heart in her chest felt like it would burst. Her body would tremble, and she would curl on her side, shedding silent tears.

She could still see the silhouette of the silver-haired SOLDIER. The tip of his long, thin sword. The maniacal look he had as he cut her down. The scar still smarted sometimes, even though it had recovered a long time ago.

Sometimes, she would go and get water in the kitchen. Other times, she’d go outside for some air. Tifa would look up, expecting the stars would soothe her restless heart, only to frown at the vast metal plate spreading as far as the eye could see. How could people even live here? Without seeing the sky; without feeling the sun; cooped up under some pretense of a utopia that was sucking out the life and blood of the planet.

If you get really famous and I’m ever in a bind, you’ll come save me, all right?

From the far reaches of her mind, the promise she had made with a certain boy came back to her, and the thought made her smile ruefully.

He never did come and save her. He never returned. Tifa had tried looking for him when she arrived at Midgar, but no one seemed to know him at all. It was as though he had fallen off the face of the earth.

Tifa pursed her lips and clenched her fingers over her coat, wondering where Cloud was and if he were all right.

***

At one point, Tifa had forgotten about it. Running a bar and being a member of Avalanche had made her busy that she didn’t have time for idle thoughts. Gathering information, equipment, and arms; looking for promising new recruits; helping the team form plans—and finally, in a meeting a day before the big day, Jessie came up and said, “Everything’s in place. We have the map, the guard rotations, and of course, the bomb. If we’re careful, we may be able to finish this unscathed.”

Nods and grins. They were confident in this. Tifa knew she should feel the same, but bombing a reactor…did they really have to go to such lengths? What if innocents were caught in the crossfire?

With no objections, Barret closed the meeting and wished everyone good luck and a good rest. Wedge immediately proposed some drinks, followed by Biggs’s “Here, here!” and Jessie’s “A glass for me!”

But Barret frowned and hit the table with his fist. “You dimwits! Drinking the day before your big mission?”

“Come on, Boss,” Biggs said. “One glass won’t do us harm.”

“Yeah,” Wedge added. “It might even pump our energy for tomorrow.”

Barret’s scowl deepened, then shifted his glare at Jessie, who just shrugged and gave a resigned grin. “We’ll have it really light.”

“Real light. Sure,” Barret scoffed. He looked at Tifa, who cocked her head and smiled inquiringly. Of course, she knew that drinking tonight would be a bad idea, but Tifa also felt like she should give them what they wanted. Their first big job—against a giant, billionaire corporation at that—of course they needed to wind down their nerves if they were to have their best performance tomorrow. Barret probably knew that she understood the stakes, and that was probably the only reason why he finally, begrudgingly consented their demands.

They returned upstairs, where Marlene was keeping the few guests in the bar company. Tifa knew she shouldn’t put the girl to work, but she’s actually quite the genius. Keeping the stove off and every knives and other sharp utensils out of reach, Tifa only needed Marlene to take orders for food that she had already prepared in the kitchen. Marlene understood that perfectly and she never once made a problem.

At the sound of their footsteps climbing the stairs from the basement, Marlene looked up from her seat at the counter. Her face split into a bright smile at the sight of her father. “Daddy!” she squealed, spreading her arms wide.

“There’s my little girl!” Barret exclaimed, scooping Marlene up to his arms and giving her a big bear hug.

“That’s probably the only time you’d see a great big goofy smile on his face,” Biggs muttered under his breath, eliciting chuckles and snickers from the rest of them. They went to take their seats on one of the tables, while Tifa walked behind the counter to prepare their drinks and meals.

“Thanks, Marlene!” she said as she passed the father and daughter. “I’ll take it from here.”

Marlene’s reply was a grin and a wave and Barret walked over to his team with her riding on his shoulder.

Behind the counter was one of her favorite places. Not too near the crowd that their chattering and laughter were deafening, yet not too far either that she felt lonely. The perfect in-between place and at times, she could lose herself wiping the glasses while listening to the hum of conversation in the background. Not now, though, as now she had to prepare a pitcher of not-too-strong-but-not-too-weak drink, something that could ease their worries but still had them sober through the night.

Tifa was busy concocting one such drink that she didn’t realize someone had taken a seat at the counter.

“You holding up good, Tifa?”

Tifa almost jumped in surprise when she heard Barret’s voice so close. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. For someone so big, sometimes he could be so stealthy—or was it because her mind hadn’t been truly present?

“What do you mean?” she asked, getting back to her work.

She could feel Barret’s eyes on her for a while. Maybe she did know what he was talking about. She had told him what a girl from a backwater town like Nibelheim was doing in a metropolis city like Midgar—the abridged version at the least. But she pretended not to know, and Barret finally grunted.

“Well, if you’re good then that’s fine.”

Truth be told, she was as good as could be. Avalanche’s presence in her life helped a lot. The bar was as good as their home with how much time they had spent together in it. They were practically like her family now if she thought about it. So yes, she was holding up quite good.

“And about our plan,” Barret went on. “Do you have anything to say about it?”

“Do you want me to say anything about it?” she asked.

Barret clicked his tongue in irritation. Tifa glanced at him from the corner of her eyes before getting back to preparing their drinks. She didn’t answer until she finished pouring everyone’s drinks in their respective mugs. “I’ve said it before,” she finally said. “I’m not too fond with the bombings, but I can’t think of any other way right now, so I’ll follow your lead.”

Barret huffed and offered no reply. Tifa took that as cue that the topic was closed, so she brought the drinks on a tray to their table, where they accepted their drinks graciously. Barret joined soon after while Tifa brought them their snacks. They had saved her a seat and Wedge was telling her to join but Tifa just smiled and said she needed to take out the trash.

It wasn’t much of an excuse, but she felt she needed to take a breather around the town for a few moments. Why she wasn’t too keen with their mission was that bombings meant fire, and fire reminded her of that day. Sure she told herself that she didn’t want innocents to get hurt, but was that really the reason? In her heart, Tifa knew that the real reason was she didn’t want another Nibelheim incident to happen.

The barking of a dog interrupted her reverie. When Tifa came to, she realized she had strayed from her neighborhood and reached the train station. A dog was barking at a man slumped over the sidewalk, with one of the station guards standing over him.

“Hey,” the guard called. The man’s reply was a groan. “Hey!” the guard called louder, shaking the man’s shoulders.

The slumped man seemed to wince in pain, followed by more grunting and groaning. The only response he could utter seemed to be just that.

The guard bent down to look at the man’s face. “Hey, you all right?” he tried again to no avail.

A drunkard? Tifa wondered. Maybe she shouldn’t get too close. But the man’s face was contorting in pain as he groaned and panted, pounding his head or clutching his chest. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t really leave him be, not now that the guard seemed to have given up and left him by himself. The dog started to whine, sitting on his haunches and nuzzling the man’s listless hand on the ground.

Tifa approached the man tentatively. On closer inspection, the blonde hair and the blue sleeveless garb seemed familiar. She crouched down before him. “Are you all right?” she asked, softly.

The man didn’t answer. He only grunted as he had his head down, his eyes shut, hands pressed over his head, fisting over his hair, as if there was a pounding headache he wanted to be rid of. Tifa pursed her lips.

Tifa gently touched the man’s shoulder again and slowly, quietly, said, “Hey.” She bent down her head to look at his face, and as the man slowly opened his eyes and met her gaze, Tifa froze, feeling a tug of familiarity at the face.

…you’ll come save me, all right?

“…Ti…fa?”

That voice. It jogged her memory.

He shut his eyes again, his head falling back, his whole body tensing at some invisible pain. A silent scream followed by a groan, Tifa panicked when she saw him about to hit his head with all the force he had. She grabbed his arms and held him back. He was so strong that it took all the energy she had in her to stop him from hurting himself. She should call a doctor, but she couldn’t leave him here by himself. The guard was nowhere to be found.

Then before she knew it, his body went slack again, his chest heaving with exertion.

Tifa bit her lip. “Come on. You can’t stay here,” she said. “Let’s get you to a doctor.” She moved around to his side, was already moving to put his arm around her shoulder to lift him up, when an indiscernible mumble that sounded so much like her name stopped her.

She looked at him, at the hair plastered to his head with sweat, at the face slowly rising up to meet her, at the glazed yet glowing blue eyes. He was looking at her—really looking at her—as if he knew her. Clarity entered his eyes by the second, and slowly, his lips formed a wearied smile.

“Tifa,” he called again, somewhat weakly.

And in her mind flashed a memory of a water tower. Tifa! He’d called her. Seven years was a long time and boys had their voices change around that age.

“Cloud?” she asked tentatively.

The grin on his face grew and the pain and exhaustion she had seen in his eyes melted away until there was no more trace of them. She let go of his arm.

“Yeah, it’s me!” he said, and his eyes were bright, and his grin was lopsided, and it brought back all the memories she had tried so hard to lock away. But it wasn’t the fire nor the deaths—it was the warm and happy times, the smiles of the townspeople, eating dinner with her father, playing the piano in her room. Her friends, and…Cloud—the boy her age who lived next door, whom she would sometimes spot from her window. Before she knew it, tears sprang to her eyes and she had pulled him into her arms and hugged him tight.

All the pent-up feelings she had held for years came bursting out. She hadn’t realized it until she met him, but Tifa had come to miss him over the years, wishing constantly to find him somewhere, to meet him, to make sure that he’s all right. But now he was here, and she hugged him tight, fearing he might leave her again.

Cloud winced and groaned at the sudden embrace and Tifa leaped back, her hands up and eyes wide, forgetting how much pain Cloud had been in a moment ago. “Sorry, did I hurt you?”

“No, that’s OK,” he said, though she could see the grimace on his face as he tried to shift to a more comfortable position. “I mean, it’s been so long, right?”

That grin again. That boyish, lopsided grin. It pulled at her heartstring and made her eyes wet with tears.

Cloud cocked his head to the side, concern lining his face as he said, “Tifa?” She noticed the hand reaching up to her face just as a tear slid down her cheek.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, wiping away the tears and forcing herself to smile and nod. “I’m just—” so happy to find you here. The words were lodged at the back of her throat and for some reason, she suddenly felt embarrassed for thinking such things. “I’m fine,” she corrected herself. “Anyway, what happened to you?”

I looked everywhere for you, but I couldn’t find you anywhere.

Because she had noticed the hollowness in his cheekbones and a gauntness in his face. She had seen the pain in his eyes and the way his body seemed listless just a few minutes ago.

But all Cloud said was, “I’m fine,” and, “Help me get up.” And she did, and she watched as he leaned on that big sword that seemed familiar somehow, and maybe he was fine. Or maybe she just didn’t want to think otherwise. Because Cloud was back. Cloud was with her. And there was no word she could find that could describe how happy she was.

Cloud swayed on his feet, and Tifa immediately had her hand on his arm, only to feel how feeble he seemed. His muscles seemed to be wasted. He looked so thin!

Tifa bit her lip. Who was she kidding? No matter how she wished it to be otherwise, Tifa knew that Cloud was far from “fine”.

Cloud thanked her with a smile, but Tifa only tightened her grip. He looked at her and noticed her concern. “I’m fine, Tifa, really,” Cloud tried to convince her. “I just got dizzy. Nothing a meal couldn’t fix. Besides, we haven’t seen each other for years.” He paused, and for a split second, Tifa noticed his face contorting in pain again, before he said, “Five, was it?”

Tifa froze.

Five? If memory served her right, it had been seven years since they last met. Five years meant the fire incident. Did she remember wrong?

She looked at him and could find no deceit. Had he really been at Nibelheim at that time? She would remember if she had met him somewhere else, wouldn’t she?

Tifa had thought that having Cloud back in her life would mean feeling more like home. She did, for a short while. She was so happy to have her childhood friend back—she didn’t think she would meet anyone from Nibelheim ever again. Having him with her made her feel like she could finally breathe. The oppressing atmosphere was finally subsiding. Everything would finally go back to normal.

However, there was something different about Cloud. Tifa couldn’t tell what. An uneasiness about his behavior and inconsistent memories that she wondered if it were all her imagination and that she was the one with the inconsistent memory. And when he suddenly announced that he would be leaving the city the next day, Tifa felt that solid and warm ground she had finally found after all these years started to crumble once more and she did everything she could to make him stay.

***

Tifa told herself that she only did that because she needed to keep an eye on him, because he wasn’t well, but maybe that wasn’t all either. The uneasiness that had gnawed at her was only an excuse to be with him.

If she were truly being honest, Tifa didn’t want to be separated from him again. He was the last connection to her lost childhood. But, more than anything, she wanted to stay beside him, because not once in the five years she had lived in Midgar had she felt more at home than that moment she found Cloud delirious in the train station.

~ END ~

#thank you cloti #cloti fall festival 2019 #cloti #final fantasy #final fantasy vii #clotiweek #clotiweek 2019 #ff fanfic #fanfiction #my fanfiction #my story #ff7 fanfic

11 notes · View notes

aerithsaves · 7 years

Text

New ship Tag: Aeris and Cloud Take to the Skies

Why a new tag? As suggested, a new tag for positive posts about the two characters might help with the current resurgence of LTD discussions, people telling other people to get over the LTD/that they don’t care about the LTD/can’t we all just get along, and other assorted strife the pairing frequently gets saddled with. So, here is my suggestion (and I will try and post some stuff to get it started).

Why this tag name? A lot of posts, tags, blog titles and so on fixate on the relationship or the character’s roles within FFVII and associated media which feels quite limiting. Instead of that, I would like the focus to be more on alternate universe ideas (because canon) and new adventures/outcomes/opportunities. Specifically I’m also trying to invoke Aeris’s interest in the Highwind and Cloud’s willingness to help her fly in it – something they never did, but could have if things had turned out differently.

So. New tag. I can’t really dictate rules or anything but please:

Yes

Aeris/Cloud as a couple (focus on the pairing)

Reasonably obvious, but please try and feature them both equally or focus on them together for the most part. Please try to avoid Tifa’s death being part of the setup (yes I am guilty of this, but not doing that kind of thing anymore)

Aeris/Cloud casual hook-up

It can just be sex, not love. Sex-friends, one-night stands, past lovers who meet up again, etc are all fine.

Aeris & Cloud as friends (if this does involve another ship, then focus should be on their interactions more so than the ship)

Platonic shipping is important. I can’t remember who said it, but why not ship two characters in every sense – not just romantically. This includes work colleagues if that makes a difference to you

Aeris/Cloud as part of a polyamorous configuration (though focus should be on the two of them or equal across participants)

With Tifa, with Zack, with Zack, Tifa & Sephiroth, with whoever!

Aeris/Cloud as a couple after past relationships (the two of them moving on together)

The past relationships is likely to be Zerith all things considered (please do not bash that ship), but in AU anything is possible. Please do not use this as an excuse to attack Cloti.

Aeris /Cloud as a couple prior to other relationships (the focus has to be on the two of them again though)

The pairing breaking up/Cloud moving on with Tifa or someone else is fine, but please don’t use this as an excuse for spite and attack the Aeris/Cloud pairing or whatever the subsequent one is. Also please demonstrate why the relationship was good before it fell apart. No doomed relationships from the start please.

FFVII (1997)

Naturally. The best resource for Aeris’s character and her interactions with Cloud. Plenty to draw on; meeting after the first mission, falling into the church (more so If you ignore Crisis Core), the bodyguard deal, staying the night, Aeris walking Cloud home, Wall Market as a whole, rescuing Aeris from Shinra, party make-up as they start travelling (if you select her), talking about the Highwind, talking at Costa del Sol, Gongaga (if she’s in your party), Aeris learning about the Cetra at Cosmo Canyon, stealing the Tiny Bronco (if she’s in your party), Gold Saucer date (if the outcome), party make-up for the Temple of the Ancients, Cloud’s dream, Aeris’s final smile.

FF Tactics

The flower girl might have no name, but the reference is clear. Life in Ivalice: go!

Kingdom Hearts

I haven’t been keeping track that well, but I get the impression Cloud wasn’t actually looking for Aeris this whole time (as clarified by Final Mix). Feel free to disregard this (AUs!). Subject to future change obviously, but KH and KH2 offer a few, small interactions for now.

Advent Children

Fine if Aeris is alive via some mechanism (AU, resurrection, whatever).

Future Releases

Eg. FFVII Remake. The only requirement for shipping is both characters are alive and well in the same time period and actually meet (crack-shipping does mean you can skip both these requirements, but in general they are helpful). So even if the Remake or some other spin-off canonises or appears to canonise a pairing, this is no reason to ship or not ship something or to no longer enjoy the pairing. Take the positives. You can ship a character with more than one other character even if the relationships are mutually exclusive!

Proof of canon/Proof of ship superiority

It does not matter. You like what you ship. They like what they ship. You are incredibly unlikely to change their minds no matter what the argument/evidence and vice versa. Original authorial intentions, accidental canon, retcons, change of writers; doesn’t matter! Stick to the ship and your interest in it. Canon is completely optional.

Digs at other ships involving one or both characters

As above. Please don’t trash a linked ship for any reason, and don’t accuse them of abuse or anything similar

No self-sacrifice, no suicide, no love beyond death – keep them both alive for the relationship

Given Aeris’s plotline (near certain to remain the same in the Remake) it’s preferable to not have Cloud perpetually mourning/unable to cope (or if Aeris is doing this if an inversion setup is your thing). Positive remember? Cloud can be deeply into Aeris and then move on after as above, and again AUs allow you to ignore the tragedy.

Ultimania/interview quotes/latest translation controversy (whatever it happens to be when you read this)

Even if the authorship of the books were certain (that detail is very iffy), post-canon releases/explanations tend to shut down avenues of speculation rather than leaving them open/giving more scope for exploration. Plus there’s at least one language barrier and scope to slant a translation any way you want. Also half the time the ‘canon’ of these books is less statement of fact and more leading speculation/unused ideas from development. So none of that please.

Also the notion of pre-planning everything is very much in vogue and people like to think writers always do this, so naturally there is a tendency to imply or assume pre-planning from writers. What they say afterwards does not have to affect anything. Also language barrier again. Translators also have biases – both admitted and unconscious – and good translations are more art than science. A translation into any other language does not have more weight than the original or any other translation.

No Tifa bashing of any kind

Tifa is not an obstacle to be overcome or removed. She is a character in her own right, and if Aeris and Cloud are paired together this should provide opportunities for development for her that does not involve Cloud as much (or it can totally. Cloud and Tifa can be amazing friends.

Please don’t just pair Tifa up with someone else to neaten things up (and if you decide to put her with Barret you should also feel obligated to develop that ship) or just leave her on her own because you don’t like her). Aeris was/is Tifa’s friend. If Cloud hates Tifa/Tifa hates Cloud or Aeris then you are doing this wrong.

Parallels to other FFs/media

Running themes in FFs tend to extend to Cid, Chocobos, Moogles, spell/summon names and crystals. There are occasionally other character/similar place names used more than once. But. Childhood friends to lovers is not a huge focus of the series (the majority of main couples do not express this trope). Neither is love after death.

But even if these were recurring and important motifs the piggy-backing of one pairing on a different game’s pairing is somewhat frustrating and should be avoided (plus: Rinoa/Squall is more of a mix of Aeris/Cloud and Tifa/Cloud than either of them in isolation. I have reasons). In addition, something from a different fandom who seem to share parallels with the ship has little bearing on the ship itself (but could be inspiration for an AU)

Racism, sexism, bigotry of any kind

Just no.

Cheating

To clarify on the Aeris/Cloud after another relationship or before another relationship or the casual hook-ups – please do not have one or other cheat on their partner with another character (whoever this would turn out to be). Nor should this ever be the reason for the relationship breaking down, and no undiscovered adultery either please.

So if you want to be positive about the pairing – and are able to do so in a manner that does not involve taking pot-shots at more popular pairings (as much as this may be painful to admit if you’re into this pairing, we are in a minority and this might not change) – please use this tag.

#aeris and cloud take to the skies #aerith gainsborough #cloud strife #final fantasy vii #ffvii

16 notes · View notes

silver-wield · 4 years

Note

Omg. Your body language analysis is so on point it makes me go uwu. If you're still doing it, will you make one for the scene where Cloud catches Tifa while Barret shoots his damnest at the heli? I have my own analysis but very curious what's your take on it.

Heya, I'm guessing you don't mean the scene with the hand catch, but the one after it where they reach Barret's position on the stairs. Although I have many thoughts about Rude too and why he first of all directed Reno's attention to Tifa, but then noped them away when Reno was about to shoot her. He had an interesting microexpression – teeny facial tic – that hinted something different to the OG “he's crushing on her” angle.

A lot of these “action touches” get discounted by you-know-who because in those situations it's impossible not to touch? I don't get the reasoning and I'm not gonna try and figure out just what counts and what doesn't. It's non-optional. Isn't that the only argument that matters?

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven't played (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it's gonna be a long one so prepare to scroll.

Also, this is one person's interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that's cool and we'll agree to disagree.

You're also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I'm grabbing them from Youtube and it's frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Other analyses if anyone's interested.

Shinra HQ vision scene (Cloti/plot analysis)

Chapter 3 (Cloti reblog)

Tifa character analysis

Aerith Resolution (plot analysis/theory)

Train graveyard (not really an analysis, but I got some sweet screenshots of Cloti)

Clotiscrew tunnel analysis

Cloti reunion analysis

The Promise Analysis

Andrea's approval (Cloti ask response)

Now, strap in and enjoy the ride.

Quick recap. Cloud and Tifa are reunited after that hand catch scene (smug? Me? Nau) and they're heading up to find Barret after seeing Jessie “die”. The mood is not good. This is not romantic, okay? This is war.

Ok, so already we have touchy touching here. You can argue it's high tension/stress moment and Cloud is making sure Tifa's safe, but he doesn't do that with Barret, is all I'm saying.

Cloud's got hold of her entire arm, not just her wrist or hand, he's got hold of her as securely as possible giving they're in motion. He doesn't want to lose her. She's got her arm on him, braced and using his body as a shield, which he is clearly fine with because he positions her partly behind him while he turns to check the threat from the stairs – possible further collapse of the platform they're now on. He's protecting her. Obvs. I shouldn't have to spell this out. It's not romantic, but it's telling of their trust and reliance on each other as partners. This is a clear pair.

Ok, so moving on from Cloti – cause action scene and this isn't a romance game – we get Tifa hearing Barret behind her. She turns and there's her concern for her friend. Obviously, she cares. It's her entire motivation for leaving the safety at the bottom and hauling her ass up those stairs.

Her face here hits me hard in the feels. She's so grim and worried and doesn't want to lose anyone else. She's caught up to Cloud, but then she lost Jessie – right in front of her and she couldn't do a thing about it. Now, she sees Barret facing down a helicopter.

Take that in. It's a dude – ok he's got a machine gun on his arm – fighting military spec weaponry on a fucking helicopter. Of course she's frightened and worried that she's about to see him get shot. Someone else she couldn't save.

Remember, FF7 has themes of loss and failure. The heroes don't always win or if they do there's a cost. How much of that threads into Remake is still to be seen, but since this scene is following canon we can assume it stands for now.

Tifa's character is often motivated by the desire to not lose people. She even says as much to the Shinra middle manager that she doesn't want anyone else to die. She stops Cloud killing the security agents and Johnny. This is a girl who fights because she wants people to live, not die.

Ok, so now we've got her running to reach Barret, leaving the safety of her bolt hole beside Cloud, who immediately turns and is all wtf when he sees her playing chicken with a chopper. Tbf, Barret doesn't sound that pleased about it, either. It's a crazy impulsive move likely driven by the desire to not lose her friend. If they're together they can stop whatever's coming. Tifa is very teamwork oriented if you recall all her actions from chapter 3 and how demoralised she was when she had to agree to disagree with Avalanche.

Cloud for his part doesn't take too long to dive to the rescue again. I think by now he's pretty much fulfilled that childhood promise and this is way more than just helping out a colleague or friend. He's not hesitating for a second to put himself in front of her with nothing but a sword for a shield.

Sorry, I just stopped the vid on this moment and it looks so damn cool I couldn't resist adding it. All it does is reinforce the above statement that Cloud has zero reservations of putting himself between Tifa and certain death. He's her hero without even stopping to think about it. The framing is stunning. Barret in the background, Cloud in the middle distance and Tifa in the foreground. Cloud has lined himself up with Tifa so that she's as protected by his position as he could possibly get. That takes skill. Tifa's half crouched to make herself a smaller target, but Cloud's body language is open, defiant. He's basically saying “come at me”.

Ah and now I'm sure some people will be all “but Cloud left her in the middle of the platform”. Well, yes, it's called diversion. He's the bigger target, the better target. And by making the chopper follow his progress, he's taken its sights away from Tifa's position. It now has less chance of hitting her when it next fires. Remember, Cloud knows tactics. He's not a dumdum. You can see that on his face as he's deciding his next move. The chopper won't wait for him to stop and explain what he needs to do, it's gonna fire. He's gotta move quickly. He also needs to trust that Tifa can get herself out of trouble. So many people's complaints about how she's not a damsel and should take care of herself. Well, this is Cloud trusting her not to be a damsel. He helped her out, and now he's gotta rely on her helping herself too. If he took her by the hand at this moment and dragged her along with him, she probably would've died. Tifa got herself to his position alone, she's clearly capable. He knows how much ass she can kick.

After that we've got the typical checking for danger and guy banter. I'm loving the development of Cloud and Barret's relationship. They went from outright hating each other to friends over the course of this game. It's beautiful and develops even further in their resolution – I love their one, it's so sweet and sad and such a guy bonding moment. Male friendship is important too, especially to Cloud who doesn't have many friends.

Now, despite the banter, Cloud's head turns at this point, back to Tifa. He's made sure the immediate area is safe, checked in with Barret and now it's back to his primary focus.

I love that Barret calls himself the leading man. It reminds me of Balthier in FF12.

And you'll see that Barret is still in the middle of that line while Cloud is stretching his hand out for Tifa. Could be a “I gotta grab my teammate” move, but I mean, really? Are we that delusional? He didn't have to do any of this. He could've relied on Tifa to get herself over there and not put out a hand for her. Barret didn't grab him. You could say that Barret doesn't like Cloud enough for that, but it's a high action moment. They're comrades and being shot at. Any helping hand is appreciated. Maybe Barret thought Cloud was capable enough not to need help. But then wouldn't the same apply to Tifa? Why does she need helping just cause she's a woman? She can kick ass.

And what about Barret? His attention isn't on Tifa at all. His focus is the helicopter, so he's either relying on Tifa to be ok without that level of help or he's expecting Cloud to support her.

Yes, she is literally throwing herself into his arms. That's how much she trusts him to catch her. Again, Cloud is going for a full arm grab – a hand or wrist isn't secure enough in this situation and he wants to keep her safe.

Tifa. Well, she looks scared. Shocker. She just got shot at by a helicopter. Ofc she's scared and leaning on Cloud. She's taking strength and reassurance from him. I mean, she could've just grabbed his arm and pulled herself to safety. There's no need for this depth of touch.

You'll notice this all happens within miliseconds while Barret says that leading man line. This is very quick action, very decisive. No hesitation on anybody's part.

I mean, this is full upper body contact between them. I don't know what else to say about it. There's no need to get this close. He could've pulled her over and then let go. He didn't. They both prolonged contact. This is relief they're ok for the moment. They’re united in how they feel.

Oh look, eye contact. I've pointed out before that Cloud doesn't do eye contact with people very well, but he does with Tifa, no matter the situation. Looking at this I'm like damn get a room. It's an intense look between them and even though there's shit hitting the fan around them you can see they have attention for each other, too. He's pulled her to safety and now he's meeting her gaze to gauge if she's ok. She nods. He nods. Back to the action. They don't have time for a drawn out romantic bit. They've got more serious things to think about, but even during the most high tension action scenes they have this energy about them that speaks to their close bond and affection. He's comfortable with her touch in every situation – if I'm wrong about this then someone point it out to me so I can see plz. He's still got his hand on her after they separate from their action hug and then when he drops his hand he braces it against the pipe beside her. Still close to her, though not actually touching.

After Barret asks if they're ready, Cloud looks around then looks at Tifa again. Did he need to do that? Idk, but he didn't look at Barret before they hauled ass.

Conclusion:

Kinda obvious. Even in high tension situations Cloud has part of his attention on Tifa. He's hyper aware of where she is and whether she needs him at any given time. It's sweet af how much he focuses on being her hero without even really knowing why. This instinctive need to protect her comes from the real!Cloud part of him. The one that made the promise to her. The one that has a crush on her.

Some people can say these kind of moments don't count because Cloud has no choice(?) but to touch her, but actually, he has no reason to touch her the amount he does. There's ways to execute these moments without this much unnecessary touching. He does it this way because of an instinctive need and desire to touch her this much. It's what he wants to do.

#final fantasy 7 remake spoilers #final fantasy 7 remake analysis #cloti #action romance scenes #battle couple #there's really no need for them to be this touchy #unless they wanna be #they act like a couple already

148 notes · View notes

silver-wield · 4 years

Note

I want to know what your thoughts are on the optional Aerith resolution scene? Particularly around the time where Aerith says the "love" line?

Awww man, you're gonna make me watch that? Lol

Ok let's do this then.

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven’t played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it’s gonna be reasonably long.

Also, this is one person’s interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that’s cool and we’ll agree to disagree.

You’re also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I’m grabbing them from Youtube and it’s frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Other analyses if anyone’s interested.

Shinra HQ vision scene (Cloti/plot analysis)

Chapter 3 (Cloti reblog)

Tifa character analysis

Aerith Resolution (plot analysis/theory – I should probably update this since I’ve had other ideas since then)

Train graveyard (not really an analysis, but I got some sweet screenshots of Cloti)

Clotiscrew tunnel analysis

Cloti reunion analysis

The Promise Analysis

Andrea’s approval (Cloti ask response)

Leslie analysis (not mine, but a good read)

Cloti action touching

Aerti friendship analysis

Cloti body language chapter 3

Cloti healthy disagreement

Cloti post heliboss battle (chapter 15)

Clerith playground scene

Cloti body language plate fall

Cloud and Barret friendship

Now, strap in and enjoy the ride.

Recap time!

So, Aerith's been taken by Shinra and the group is still feeling the after effects of the plate fall. Everyone's pretty demoralised and after they visit deep ground and Cloud gets the aborted flashback of himself inside a chamber being experimented on, he says to Elmyra they should go save Aerith before the same fate befalls her.

Elmyra asks they sleep on it.

During the night Cloud “wakes up” to see a ghostly Aerith heading downstairs. He follows her outside and they talk on the hill top where the lifestream can be seen glowing in the background.

It’s important to note that Cloud has literally just gone through both the train graveyard and seen a bunch of ghosts and the plate collapse where he’s seen a load of people he cares about die.

Cloud looks surprised. Hmm I wonder why....

Yeah, this is a no brainer opening. Aerith shouldn't be there and he doesn't think he's asleep at this moment. He looks around and figures out it's a dream, but isn't totally sure because how often does anyone have cognisant dreams?

You can see the doubt about if she’s a ghost or not and she doesn’t clear that up, so Cloud’s left wondering if Aerith’s dead already. The following conversation doesn’t reassure him.

Aerith's “Maybe. You tell me,” doesn't actually help here. If Cloud's having doubts about how real it is – and she's aware of his fake persona and wants to know the real him – then causing further doubt in his mind seems counterproductive. It's like she's implying an illusory nature to their relationship. It also feels like foreshadowing the moment Cloud thinks he’s not real.

She's also not looking at him when she says it, so even if it was a teasing moment between them, she's automatically set a distance between them. Because eye contact matters, remember? When someone can't meet your eye it's for a reason, whether they're uncomfortable or hiding something or whatever. Eye contact is a conscious connection between two people. Deliberately not making eye contact has meaning too.

Aerith exposition. Lots of fidgeting. No eye contact. She seems like she's making small talk to avoid something. Even when Cloud faces her head on she quickly turns away again to stare off into the distance. Cloud remains in her peripheral vision only. When Aerith does turn to reassure Cloud, he looks away.

And after is the immortal line “Don't be silly” in response to Cloud's sarcasm. I mean, isn't she supposed to be the sweet one? So wouldn't her saying silly fit with her vocabulary? Or should she have said something like “Cloud, don't be a fucking moron” because she swore that one time and everyone erupted into cheers over it? Let's say it is a callback to Claudia, who somehow had a prophetic vision of Aerith being “the one”. Aerith didn't say “silly goose” which was the exact line Claudia said, so technically Aerith's only half of what Claudia suggested. If Tifa says “goose” at some point does that validate her being in the running too?

Yes, I'm being facetious. Point is, unlike the promise between Cloud and Tifa when it was Tifa reusing her own words, this relies on Aerith having meta knowledge of what Claudia said to Cloud when he was 16 and Aerith was with Zack. So, with that in mind, why would Aerith care what Claudia had to say about some other guy she doesn't even know when she's already got a boyfriend? The implication of this is that Aerith already knew everything that would happen to Zack and she'd already moved on from him to Cloud before they ever met and yet she kept writing letters to Zack the whole time.

But then after meeting Cloud she decided to take him up on the slide and talk about her dead boyfriend...as a way to let him know she's single?

This is Cloud's face when Aerith says in a perky voice “You worried about me?” This is the bit where he says “Of course.” It's a very neutral expression tbf. There's not anything being given away and the way he says the line is very simple too. Nothing suggests he's revealing a big secret to her or that he's embarrassed by his concern. I'd say it's SOLDIER!Cloud at rest since we know from the devs that Cloud still puts on a front with Aerith because he doesn't know how to deal with her. Which is typical for Cloud since he's emotionally 16 and never dealt with girls.

That perky persona visibly drains from Aerith's face and body language. Her posture sags, she breaks eye contact, she looks sad. This is the image of someone who isn't happy to hear that Cloud's worried about her. Now, if she was into the whole ship wouldn't she be happier to hear that line from him? She's regretful and turns away again, using her body as a barrier to any possible intimacy.

I'm sure people disagree, so imma explain. If she'd turned her back that would be an outright rejection. She'd be fully closing herself off. By turning away, she's indicating the conversation isn't over, but her degree of attention on Cloud is less than if she'd face him head on. If she stayed facing him, then that builds intimacy since face to face is open body language which can have several interpretations – some of which I've mentioned before like confrontational when Cloud steps up to Rude. When it's between a couple, it's suggestive of building intimacy and trust.

And when Cloud takes a step towards Aerith, she steps away again, towards the lifestream in the distance. Not permitting the closing of distance is a sign she doesn't want to encourage intimacy with him. That she walks towards where the lifestream is means that's where her attention and focus is. Whether that's an overarching plot reason or from a “Zack is there” reason is up to your interpretation.

Another immortal line. Considering Aerith just stepped towards where we can see the lifestream and that she's taking up her priestess pose we can reasonably assume she's thinking of Zack, unless you're once again subscribing to the theory that she's meta!Aerith aware of her own death and speaking of that. In which case, yall need to make up your minds whether she's one or the other because you can't swap between the two when it suits you just to justify your arguments.

When Cloud says “I'll remember that” in response to Aerith's advice that “every moment matters” it definitely comes across as one of those character building life lessons that Cloud's had over the course of the game. He got one from Barret about how not everyone has a choice to run away, one from Marle about listening to others and caring and now he's got one from Aerith about making the time they have count. These are mentor moments.

But more importantly, look who Aerith's looking at when she says that line. It's not Cloud, not the lifestream. Us. The players. She is talking to us. This isn't just wisdom for Cloud, it's for us, too.

After a 9 second pause from Aerith, in which she looks at the ground, Cloud offers a suggestion of what she wants to say next. She seems very lost in thought during this time, and almost reluctant to speak. Considering she always seems to know what to say in any given situation, this is off. This very long pause is the longest she's been silent in the whole game. It's notable. She almost seems to be warring with herself as her eyes narrow and she subtly shifts from side to side.

I may well be wrong about the length of time she’s silent. It could be 7 seconds in a callback to the 7 seconds it took for Sephiroth to drop and kill her in OG.

I'm one of those who does subscribe to the whole OG!Aerith vs meta!Aerith theories – which I stick to throughout every scene involving her so don't even try and @ me and say I'm a liar – and to me, this looks like OG Aerith trying to assert dominance over the situation, while meta Aerith wants to refuse.

When Cloud speaks, Aerith looks grateful for the cut in. It pulls her out of that warring state, while he's trying to look cool and mature still lol (dork)

Okay, so that whole speech she gives about thanking him is definitely coming off like she's aware of things she shouldn't know yet. This may be what OG!Aerith was trying to prevent her from saying. This isn’t something that Cloud should know yet, after all.

After some physical humming and hawing, eyes downcast, then glancing away and we get a shot of her feet – remember all of this is intentional to build a story here – she looks up and we get this line that's making certain people freak out with joy.

Quick lesson on intonation.

Intonation is the rise and fall – the pitch – of how you say certain words. The way you say them gives them their meaning. You can say the same words in many different ways to convey different meanings and/or emotions.

I've previously focused on Aerith's choice of the word “can't” here because this is the key word in the phrase.

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how certain people are interpreting this line to turn it into a positive. The word “can't” is synonymous with an impossibility. It means “there are specific reasons why this isn't possible.”

Aerith didn't say “Don't” as in “you shouldn't”. She said “can't” as in “not able to”. She is telling Cloud that he's not able to love her. The specific intonation on the word “can't” supports this evidence. If yall wanna examine it more closely then I suggest you turn the sound down slightly so it's actually harder to hear the whole sentence and see which words have more emphasis. Can't has specific emphasis, which wouldn't be there if she wasn't stressing the word.

As for her facial expression. I mean, this doesn't look like the earlier one where she's sad or regretful. This is matter of fact. She's telling him this as a kindness because he's not yet aware of the reasons that she is.

(Note: I didn't say which specific reasons because some of yall say it's her death and others say it's Tifa, so that's up to you. There's reasons, is my point).

So up until she said that, Cloud was actually looking at her. But this made him turn away in dismissal. Not with embarrassment. He's not caught out and flustered. He's SOLDIER!Cloud, remember? He's all front and super cool facade.

This isn't the first time a girl has thrown herself at him. Jessie did it too, only more ott. Cloud's used to brushing off girls and does it without effort.

I'm sure up to this point some people have been screaming about how biased I've been and unfair and this is so cloti (excuse me while I roll my eyes).

So, if I'm biased why am I about to point out that the above screen is real!Cloud popping in for a visit? This is him overriding the SOLDIER persona to question if Aerith might have a point. But not about her. About Tifa. Because within the previous few hours, Cloud and Tifa shared an intimate moment. And it wasn’t soldier Cloud who did that. It was real Cloud. Aerith is calling attention to real Cloud’s feelings for Tifa, which makes him look to the house where Tifa is sleeping. He gets soft eyed and starts to smile, but then seems to want to question himself, which we know isn’t a good idea. Real Cloud and Soldier Cloud aren’t ready to meet yet.

And while real!Cloud is busy debating with SOLDIER!Cloud about Aerith's words, she's approached completely silently – because, ykno, she's not actually there – and he's caught sight of her hand in his peripheral vision. The second she touches him he jerks back looking surprised. This wasn't a telegraphed move where he saw it coming from 10 feet away and chose to do nothing.

I also question that if he can feel her hand here then it's solid, but when he goes to grab her it's not? So, she chose to let him feel the first touch, but then rejected him grabbing her? Or is it more likely that having caught sight of her hand in his peripheral vision he didn't actually feel her touch his face then or the time after because Aerith's not there. There's no actual physical interaction between them.

This is pity. Not much else to say about it. Meta!Aerith knows Cloud's future and that by introducing these future concepts to him, she's causing confusion ahead of the time it should happen. She feels bad about that and probably about her OG behaviour that she had no control over thanks to the Whispers forcing her to go against her real nature.

Well, I was going to say that Cloud going to grab her wrist – not her hand – is just further proof of her intangible presence. She isn't someone he can hold onto. But having grabbed this screen it's clear he wouldn't have grabbed her wrist at all either. His hand is open and aimed at her forearm and already passing through her well before he tries to close it.

And the reason why goes back to the ghost thing. Cloud thought she wasn’t there in person, that she might be dead or it’s a dream, but then she touched him. So he wants to grab her the same way he did Jessie in the pillar, to try and keep her alive. But his hand goes through her and he’s left looking confused again.

“Do I get a say in all this?”

Well now. That's a bit different. I'm sure like everyone else we've all been convinced that Cloud said “Don't I get a say in this?” like he's arguing with Aerith's decision. That he's admitting he's already in love with her.

“Do I get a say in all this?” is a totally different kettle of fish.

Don't connotates a confrontational tone. It's argumentative. It's rejecting whatever previous statement was made.

Do is a question. It's inquisitive. Placid. Neutral. It's neither confirming, nor denying the previous statement. It's merely asking for more information.

Funny how those little word replacements some people use end up twisting the narrative.

Cloud’s not just speaking about Aerith’s most recent statement either. He’s talking about the whole conversation they just had. The possibility that she’s dead or dying and he doesn’t get any choice about it. This is a throwback to the OG theme of life and death and how the dying get to say goodbye and decide how to leave, while the living don’t and have to figure out how to move on from it afterwards.

Anyway, Cloud has his back to us, so we don't even know if that's coming from SOLDIER!Cloud or real!Cloud, so that's up for debate and I won't even bother since he's got his back to us and we can't see either way.

And then we've got the cool SOLDIER!Cloud (screen) telling Aerith he's gonna save her. We already know that Cloud does his best to sound cool and confident when talking to Aerith because he doesn't know how to be himself around her. This is the kind of line you'd expect to hear from him.

She replies, “If that's what you want.” which is also very non-specific. It's a neutral statement that leaves things up to Cloud. It could imply an answer to the previous question he asked, since the two do stand beside each other and make sense. However, the interjected “It's almost morning” line breaks this up and makes it less of an impactful statement from her. She's done her upmost to neutralise any romantic context from this scene.

Conclusion

If yall saw romance then okay, you must be right.

I sure af didn't. I saw a regretful Aerith telling Cloud things he shouldn't be aware of yet, feeling more regretful for confusing someone who's already suffering from mental illness and then making non-committal statements that neither reject or encourage his attention.

Maybe she's regretful for her own sake as well, knowing what she does about him and still doing this to push some future narrative only she's aware of, but I wouldn't say this is romantic. It's clearly some kind of goodbye from her. Cloud, for his part, looks confused and guarded through most of the scene. There's one moment when his real self peeks out to question Aerith's meaning, but then he's gone again. We can't say for any certainty that his question was asked by his true self or his SOLDIER persona and without visual context I won't speculate.

#final fantasy 7 remake spoilers #final fantasy 7 remake analysis #Chapter 14 resolution A #Cloti #Zerith #Tagging you guys cause you might find it interesting #Not gonna tag the other guys

107 notes · View notes

silver-wield · 4 years

Note

To the last anon, the original game didn't really give equal opportunities for ships either due to the illusion of choice. All the changes in affection occur before the Gold Saucer date. Once you leave the Gold Saucer, there's nothing else you can do to change each character's affection level. Idk where you got the idea that SE wasn't going to play favorites, because if that were the case, there would be no official guidebooks that state Tifa and Cloud realizing their mutual feelings for each other, or any implication that Cloud and Tifa live like a married couple taking care of two children who see them as mother and father and not an aunt; uncle/big sister; big brother. The Highwind scene happens regardless of how many points Tifa has and her and Cloud noticeably get closer after the fact. Jessie was never an actual option because she was originally a one-off character. I mean, she dies a couple hours into the game. And also, if we're going by who you go with during the Gold Saucer date as reason to believe the game is making your ship canon, then that would mean the other ships are just as canon as Cloti and Clerith. I love Barret, so I don't have any problems with that ship despite not being canon, but at this point in the story Yuffie is 16 and Cloud is 21. The implication of making those two canon would be gross and not cute at all.

It's okay. That's Jairus. He's famous over on twitter for nagging 7R to bring back Jessie, give her more exposure, give her a pak doll, a date at the GS, a dress, make her be with Cloud and so on.

He even wrote a list of demands. It's hilarious!

He also decided that Jessie can fight like Tifa cause she kicked that grunt in the opening and Biggs says she punches people when she gets mad, and he reckons Yuffie will save her during the pillar collapse.

He's like a mini cult lmao

#Ship war #For the fandom

3 notes · View notes

iaintyourbro · 4 years

Note

idk if you’ve answered this before but what is ur interpretation of clouds line “do I get a say in all this?” / Aerith’s resolution.

Hey anon.

I can take this line a few ways. I’ll also go over what other people have said and why I don’t agree with it.

First I’ll do what I don’t agree with:

That Cloud said that because he already had fallen in love with her and wanted to confess this. Cloud in Remake is Cloud - there’s no meta, he isn’t like Sephiroth and Aerith where he seems to know things he shouldn’t - he’s just Cloud. Cloud is Cloud. What he says is not meant to be cryptic or weird. At the point this conversation takes place, Cloud has known her for less than three days. Three. Days. The first day he spent being annoyed half the time, telling her he wanted to go home, telling her he didn’t want to stop. He softens up to her when she talks about Zack (”The first guy I ever loved.”) You can take that as he didn’t feel like she was a “threat” or “thirsty” like Jessie was, or you can take that as he’s like okay now I want a chance. I don’t take it as I want a chance, because he doesn’t seem to pursue her. Especially after Tifa shows back up. Also, since he has one of his attacks when she says Zack, his subconscious may have told him to stop being a dick to her since it was Zack’s girl. So in this case, no, I do not think that line means, “I’ve already fallen in love with you and I want to tell you that.” Not even a little bit.

I also don’t agree that this was simply fan service for CA fans. No, Aerith’s importance is way past what’s going on with her and Cloud. That resolution is designed as a foreshadowing playground regarding the OG story. She references her demise, Cloud’s persona issues, and even the Highwind Scene that is Cloud and Tifa’s “moment” towards the end of the game. So she references a major plot point - her demise. Cloud’s character arc - persona issue. Cloud’s love life - Highwind Scene. The plot, the protagonist, the protagonist’s romance. Not fan service.

What are interesting theories that I’m a Maybe on:

Aerith feels bad about what happened in OG, so is trying to prevent it this time. The reason I’m iffy on this... Love is a really strong word to use for something that was so subtle that a lot of people never even picked up on it. I personally never saw any romance between Cloud and Aerith. They tried - and that was where it probably was like meh for me. They were trying to force that narrative to get you to be upset about what happens to Aerith. This probably worked for most people. Hence the ship wars... Cloud knew her for a month, while under severe mental distress, and there aren’t many forced interactions between them. (If they forced interactions like they are in Remake with Cloud and Tifa, this one would make slightly more sense), but gets shot to hell when the whole “Cloud was living in an illusionary world the first half of the game, by the way.” part.

Aerith was being arrogant and assuming that he already had. I think this one is somewhat comical, because to somebody who has no idea how the story of the OG goes or anything else about FFVII, this would come off as her being full of herself. However, as trolly as Aerith can be, I don’t really think she meant it that way. I do think she meant it to have an impact. A strong impact. Dropping the L word gives a strong impact.

Theories I Like:

The Fourth Wall Break. Aerith is telling us not to fall in love with her as a morbid way of foreshadowing what her fate is. The devs even said, if you played OG, this would pull at your heartstrings because you know what’s going to happen to her.

Cloud was frustrated that she kept speaking for him. A lot of times during Chapter 8, Cloud would tell her no and she’d just ignore him and do what she wanted. This is a basic response to something like “No, I want to say what I think.” This one seems basic since it has to do with Aerith, who definitely is the character with the most mystery. So I doubt it’s this, but it’s a basic explanation for Cloud being like wtf to her.

He was thinking of Tifa. Now, I’m not saying this solely because I’m a Cloti shipper. I’ve seen some very convincing posts on this. I did go back and watch the scene again myself to verify what was going on and Cloud does look at the house a lot during that Resolution. Especially after she makes the love comment. So he, in his mind, already had an answer. All three resolutions are canon. Tifa’s takes place in the middle of Barret and Aerith’s. Cloud had already had his embrace with Tifa at this point.

My favorite one: Of course that Cloud is thinking of Tifa.

The One I Lean Towards as Being Most Likely: Fourth Wall Break... it’s the least shippy of all the options. Aerith is the most mystical of all of the characters, she’d be able to do a successful Fourth Wall Break without ruining the story.

Now, in Japanese, he says something along the lines of, “That’s awful one-sided” Not a direct translation, but he was pretty much saying that was a one-sided statement. you could take this the same way you could take “Do I get a say in this?” It’s a little harsher in Japanese, in my opinion. He’s calling her out on her shit for being one sided. In English it’s a bit of a softer blow where he replies with a question.

16 notes · View notes

dansantcaparet · 7 years

Photo

Aerith Gainsborough starts off with more love points than Tifa Lockhart for a reason. And that reason is very simple: Square Enix wanted Clerith to be the primary love story of Final Fantasy VII. If that wasn’t the case, both Aerith and Tifa would have started the game with an equal number of love points. And if both ladies are tied by the time of the Gold Saucer date, the tie goes to Aerith.

As with all love triangles, you have to give both options a way of working out. That is why Cloud can choose to *optionally* rekindle a childhood crush with Tifa through a *variable* scene. However, just because this is an option due to the inherent nature of a love triangle, doesn’t mean it is the primary or canon love story of Final Fantasy VII. It simply means Tifa is an alternative to Aerith if you choose to play the game that way. But when one girl is given 20 more love points from the very beginning, it is not hard to see which girl is the primary love story of Final Fantasy VII.

If gamers played Final Fantasy VII once or twice back in 1997, they probably got the Clerith date and the low-affection Highwind scene. And even if they got the high-affection Highwind scene, the non-optional hand reach between Cloud and Aerith follows shortly after. The big difference here is Cloud and Tifa’s final scene is variable, whereas Cloud and Aerith’s final scene is non-optional. Aerith is primary [non-optional]. Tifa is secondary [variable].

Further – Cloud and Aerith’s non-optional “Promised Land hand reach” was given a “homage” in Advent Children, a theme further explored in Clerith cameos such as Final Fantasy Tactics.

Everyone that played Final Fantasy VII back in 1997 remembers Cloud and Aerith’s love story. It played out before our eyes during the entire first disc and was back again for the finale. It was clear to the majority of gamers back in 1997 that Cloud and Aerith were the intended lovers of Final Fantasy VII – the official Amano artwork speaks for itself.

Cloti’s say Cloud only liked Aerith because “he thought he was Zack.” They reduce the entire Clerith ship to a mere plot twist, saying Cloud and Aerith’s love story was just another example of Cloud’s jumbled memories. In other words… Cloud only fell in love with Aerith because he thought he was Zack, Aerith’s first boyfriend.

According to them, during the lifestream sequence, Cloud discovers he took on parts of Zack’s history/persona, which leads him to realizing he never loved Aerith because it was actually him thinking he was Zack. Subsequently, this re-triggers his love for childhood crush, Tifa Lockhart. Clerith is now reduced to a mere plot twist.

Unfortunately, rediscovering an *unreciprocated* childhood crush that led to a *strong-armed* promise doesn’t automatically translate into present-day romance. Nor does it mean Cloud’s eternal feelings of love for Aerith suddenly vanish. Cloud can both re-discover a childhood crush *and* maintain eternal feelings of love for Aerith. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

If you can believe it, though, Cloud and Tifa fans go even further and say Square Enix declared the high-affection Highwind scene canon due to largely unknown and unread books mostly sold in Japan. Admittedly, these books do give the high-affection version of the Highwind scene preferential treatment in some places. However, nowhere is the high-affection Highwind scene stated to be the ‘normal’ outcome like the Cloud x Aerith Gold Saucer date is. Preferential treatment doesn’t equal canon, whereas something being stated as the ‘normal’ outcome does make something canon [like the Cloud x Aerith Gold Saucer date].

Given that this is a love triangle, there has to be a way to play Final Fantasy VII the Cloti way. So the answer is yes… you can optionally rekindle a childhood romance through an intentionally *variable* Highwind scene. This is, after-all, a love triangle – Square Enix is required to make Tifa a possibility. But the secondary love story is given a *variable* scene while the primary love story is given a *non-optional* finale regarding the Promised Land.

Everyone in 1997 witnessed Cloud’s heart break when he was holding Aerith’s lifeless body in his arms. Cloud and Aerith had just received a romantic wedding prediction from Cait Sith, went on a ‘normally’ occurring date at Gold Saucer, and spent numerous romantic moments together. Cloud and Aerith’s entire star-crossed love story developed before our eyes – spanning all of disc 1. This clear-cut Clerith love story is why there has been an intentional and systematic campaign to delegitimize, discredit, and downplay disc 1 of Final Fantasy VII.

So although you can play Final Fantasy VII the Cloti way (because this is, after-all, a love triangle)… that is clearly not the way Square Enix wanted you to play it on your first playthrough. Cloud and Aerith’s love story was simply too essential to the main themes of Final Fantasy VII – themes of the Planet, the lifestream, life, death, and the Promised Land.

Everything from the official Amano Clerith artwork, to the Final Fantasy TacticsClerith cameo, to Aerith starting off with more love points than Tifa, it is clear Cloud and Aerith were the intended couple of Final Fantasy VII back in 1997. I have a sneaky suspicion that even the majority of Cloti’s played Final Fantasy VII the Clerith way on their first playthrough.

Recently, I asked my friend DJ about Final Fantasy VII, and what he said about Cloud and Aerith was interesting: “All I remember is that she comes back at the end and they are going to meet inside the planet.” He didn’t even remember the Highwind scene between Cloud and Tifa (and it’s notably absent from the official Final Fantasy VII strategy guide).

Despite Aerith being the intended girl for Cloud, many male gamers seemed to hate Aerith’s spunky, confident personality. And with the release of Crisis Core, these Aerith-haters looked to turn an unsuspecting generation into Cloti and Zerith’s by reducing Clerith to a mere plot twist.

This fan-made theory ignores two key points, however:

1. Cloud remembers a genuine and “real” flashback in Aerith’s house, proving Aerith reaches the “real” Cloud during their disc 1 interactions.

2. The “real” Cloud remains heartbroken over Aerith long after he regains his memories (“I remember Aerith a lot.” ~Cloud during disc 2)

We know by simply observing Cloud’s legitimate and “real” flashback in Aerith’s house that the “real” Cloud was falling in love with Aerith throughout all of disc 1. Aerith was able to evoke the “real” Cloud to the surface and reach his core. That was the entire point of their disc 1 interactions – to showcase that Aerith was reaching the “real” Cloud and brining him to the surface.

We also know by simply observing Cloud’s behavior after he reagins his memories to know that he is eternally heartbroken over Aerith Gainsborough:

“Delivery Item – Bouquet Destination – The Forgotten City Client Name – Elmyra Gainsborough … But, going back to the place where he parted from Aerith might mean that his sorrow and regret was going to tear his heart again.” ~Case of Tifa; Square Enix

After Cloud regains his memories, he remembers Aerith often, fights to avenge her death, and wants to find her in the Promised Land. Cloud remains heartbroken over Aerith throughout the entire compilation, something Tifa is confirmed to become jealous of. So don’t ever let anyone tell you Zack makes Clerith illegitimate. He doesn’t. Only recently have Tifa fanboys tried to remove Barret from the family he created in Case of Tifa, tried to make Denzel [a boy Cloud believes was brought to him by Aerith and later fights with Tifa about] seem like some biological child of Cloud and Tifa’s, make an optional scene that receives preferential treatment only [never being stated to be the ‘normal’ outcome like the Clerith Gold Saucer date] seem like the canon version, and completely ignore Nojima’s quotes about Cloud and Tifa not working out, saying it probably has nothing to do with Geostigma or Sephiroth. Clerith has always been obvious to anyone with common sense. Aerith moved on from Zack [as she states on her date with Cloud and through official Square Enix quotes] and Cloud continues to love Aerith even after regaining his memories – thinking of her often. And remember, Cloud’s heart ‘cracked’ when Aerith died, and his heart was pulled at again when he visits Aerith’s grave according to Square Enix. Cloud becomes distraught and drinks after visiting Aerith’s grave and fights with Tifa, leaving Tifa wondering if Cloud even loves her. Then Tifa get’s jealous when she see’s Cloud living in Aerith’s Church after she strong-arms Cloud into admitting he believes Aerith led Denzel to him.

At the end of the day, Cloud and Tifa fans wouldn’t be working so hard to discredit disc 1 if it didn’t make Clerith canon. However, due to the 10 romantic disc 1 Cloud x Aerith moments, Clerith was canonized back in 1997. Cloud and Aerith’s love story is essential to the main themes of Final Fantasy VII – themes of love and life beyond death and within the Planet, the lifestream, and – the Promised Land. I can’t wait for the Final Fantasy VII Remake to expand on Clerith moments that are microcosms of much bigger themes explored throughout the compilation.

Cloud and Aerith’s non-optional, star-crossed love story played out before gamers in 1997. By Square Enix deciding to give Aerith more love points, and declaring her date with Cloud as the ‘normal’ outcome (something that has never been declared for either Highwind scene), it is clear how Square Enix wanted gamers to play the game if they could only place it once. Retcons such as Crisis Core don’t change this.

“I think I’m beginning to understand. An answer from the planet…the Promised Land…I think I can meet her… there…” ~Cloud Strife; Final Fantasy VII

“The ending scene of the battle with Bahamut, the scene where Aerith reaches out her hand, is homage to the last scene from a previous production. It was Tetsuya (Nomura)’s idea….” ~Nojima; Reunion Files; Square Enix

Eternal Love is Real. The Promised Land Does Exist.

#final fantasy vii #final fantasy vii remake #cloud strife #aerith gainsborough #clerith #final fantasy 7 #final fantasy 7 remake #final fantasy #square enix #squaresoft #cloud x aerith #cloud x aeris #cleris #clorith #1997 #otp

84 notes · View notes