Mentally lying on my bed and kicking my feet like a schoolgirl while joyously waiting for more Zack and Cloud sketchies ❤️ In your AU is Cloud completely conscious and aware when he first breaks out of his coma? Or is there a sort of in-between zone for awhile? If there is, is Zack overjoyed or worried out of his mind (or both)? Does Cloud struggle with allowing somebody to take care of him?
Sending you virtual hugs should you want them or a crisp and respectful nod of the head if not!
IM SORRY this ask only just showed up in my inbox but it says it's from march 24th?? tumblr killing me with daggers,,,,
This is going to be a long one sorry!! I'll explain the stages of his coma first, and then the stages of waking up from it.
In the beginning, while they are on the run, Cloud is in.. something close to a catatonic state. He can perform basic instincts, such as blinking, swallowing, the small stumble-steps he's shown doing in gameplay, and making small noises. In my au/headcanon, this is because of the Mako keeping his body up and functioning in spite of his intense poisoning. Because of the Mako, his muscles also don't atrophy during this period. He has no memories from this era at all.
After this, a little before the battalion but mostly after, his body begins to heal from his Mako poisoning. Which is good. but the lack of the access Mako leaves his body with far less functions. He begins to lose the ability to eat, becomes unable to even stumble, his eyes shut and don't open again. He falls into a full comatose state. Which, although it is very scary for Zack, and takes a lot more work and medical equipment, is actually a good sign for his healing. Fighting off mako poisoning this far is already rare.
(In this segment, he is kept fed and hydrated through his IV, but he switches to an NG tube after he wakes up, due to the inconvenience of the IV and continued difficulty swallowing.)
His first signs of waking up were a few weeks before he opened his eyes. He began responding to stimuli, ears flicking at noises, hands tensing, eyes occasionally opening but not for long. It's at this stage that he also starts having nightmares, and becomes more aware of his environment. He has blurry memories from this era, but in the moment he was mostly just confused and distressed, and didn't process it. this took up most of the few weeks.
After some time, he began to have more moments of consciousness and rational thought. He could start to respond to simple questions or requests such as blinking or closing his hands. He only vaguely remembers this. It lasts a few days
when he actually began to wake up, initially he was incredibly upset and confused, not being recovered enough to actually process the situation. This resulted in him lashing out, not knowing where he was and initially not recognizing zack, he struggled and tried to pull his tubes out. This was the final stage to his waking up, only lasts an hour? possibly a few hours? and he was finally fully awake after this!!
When Cloud woke up from his coma, his body was incredibly weak from being bedridden so much. His muscles had atrophied severely over the few months, which put him in a wheelchair as they worked on him recovering.
In this stage, he is mostly determined to improve again. He feels a lot of gratitude towards Zack for taking care of him so much, and a lot of frustration towards himself for not recovering faster.
his next stage was crutches, he recovered his arm strength faster than his legs. He begins to pick up on zack overworking himself, but he's unsure how to approach it, and often ends up saying the wrong thing. (He still uses an NG tube in this era, but he begins to be able to eat on his own, so he doesn't have it in for much longer)
His next stage is using a cane, which he ends up using for a long while. Even after his muscles have recovered, he maintains knee/hip pain for the rest of his life. He also has migraines and memory issues like in canon. At this stage, he begins to get frustrated with Zack more and more. He appreciates Zacks help, but feels frustrated with feeling like Zack doesn't trust him to take care of himself, and upset with how Zack prioritizes Cloud so much over himself. Due to these frustrations, he grows more confrontational. (<- comic linked is not 100% canon to this au, just an example.)
Zack is overjoyed that Cloud is awake. He thought Clouds return to consciousness would help his fears and guilt ease, but for some reason he finds himself more worried than ever. He always backs off when Cloud says he wants space, but he finds himself worrying about what Cloud is doing now that he isn't able to be monitoring him all the time, and then guilty for feeling so worried.
So I watched the Director’s Cut versions of Rebel Moon Part One & Two, respectively renamed Chalice of Blood and Curse of Forgiveness, exactly one week ago, the day they were released.
As a person who generally doesn’t enjoy the idea of watching films that are over 2.5 hours, really isn’t a fan of gore, and thinks sex scenes are uncomfortable and unnecessary 95% of the time, I was rather apprehensive, to say the least, since those three things are precisely what the two movies promised. Still, I managed to watch them on the same day even though the fact it was hot outside and consequently almost 30°C in my room probably didn’t help me not to feel unwell for a good portion of my viewing experience :’)
However, there’s a fourth thing the new version of the films promised, and this, on the contrary, is exactly what I love and probably what kept me going: more lore. I won’t go into too much detail so as not to spoil major plot points here, but I think Chalice of Blood and Curse of Forgiveness kept all their promises.
Some characters get a proper introduction (notably Aris and Nemesis), or more screen time so we understand them and what they do (mostly the Priests, Hawkshaws, and Jimmy), or a better, more satisfying, sometimes more emotional ending. We also get completely new scenes and characters, and that too greatly helps the narrative, whether it’s by adding more backstory, taking the time to explain someone’s motivations more clearly, revealing how some people reacted to certain events, or detailing how something works.
Also, some of the “mistakes” viewers complained about, for example the spaceship being powered with coal or somebody not missing any teeth after we clearly see them get knocked out, are fixed in the Director’s Cut. It turns out those things were not illogical, they were just censored for the PG-13 version…
As for the sex scenes, while they weren’t indispensable, I have to admit they do serve a purpose. The two “main” ones have a character in common, so we can see how different that person feels and acts with each of their two partners. The scenes need to exist together because they’re only really interesting when you compare them, but that’s how they tell a story. Never in my life had I been so happy to see someone successfully remove a bra, haha! There’s also, of course, the one that involves tentacles, which was–thankfully–milder than I thought it would be, and another unexpected one that happens off-screen but was a rather nice and cute surprise, in my opinion.
And, yes, aside from giving us more blood and more sex, we also get… more wheat! I really don’t mind, though. In fact, this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I’d watch one hour of the cast (actually) harvesting crops in slow motion over just one minute of heads exploding any day :’)
While they’re still not perfect, I think Chalice of Blood and Curse of Forgiveness are improved versions of A Child of Fire and The Scargiver. I still like Part Two better than Part One, but overall, as promised, we get more information about the world, the characters, and their stories in the Director’s Cut. Sometimes, it’s just a new line of dialog or a short interaction that’s added here and there, but it really does a service to the films and makes them, although they’re much longer (especially the first one), feel more coherent, more compelling, and less rushed.
At the end of the day, I think what I most appreciate about Rebel Moon is still that it was brought to life with a lot of care and passion. The two art books, Wolf: Ex Nihilo: Cosmology & Technology and Wurm: Ex Materia: Heroes & Monsters, confirm how painstakingly made and well-thought-out everything was, and I will always love and respect this about this project.
Keeping on with omegaverse au, what do you think their scent is like? Does it change after they mate? Does the mako affect it permanently?
ooh! i actually haven’t thought about scents much!
but what i think each of their scents is:
- genesis: definitely the typical “sweet” type of omega smell, but i don’t think its like a *sweet* sweet, like sugary/honey kind of sweet but more like a cinnamony kind if smell, or possibly a fruity scent
- sephiroth: i think he has an oddly sweet smell for an alpha, like more of a sweet vanilla type of smell that you would expect from an omega, and i think he would also have a bit of a calming scent too, something like lavender
- angeal: i feel like he would have a bit more of a stereotypical “manly” scent, like something woodsy, with maybe a slight hint of a floral smell
- zack: i cant help but imagine his being sort of a beachy scent, like i can’t describe it any other way, the words aren’t coming to me but it is such a specific scent, and i really hope it makes sense, i’m so sorry if it doesn’t
- cloud: the most stereotypical omega ever, his scent is like sickeningly sweet honey
and i think their scents don’t necessarily change when they mate, but i think their scents are typically pretty strong when they aren’t mated, like to attract a potential mate, and after mating their scents become more subtle
as for the mako, if anything i feel like it could possibly make their scents more pungent(?)/stronger, and maybe makes their scents effect the people around them more, but i actually dont think it really changes their scents themselves much, other than possibly giving their scents a bit of a slight mako smell, like an undertone thats distinct to only people with mako exposure
I’m enjoying FF7 Rebirth more than Remake so far (I was so sick of being in that uglyass city), but as someone who is not familiar with the og FF7 the sudden party member affection system absolutely blindsided me
With a silly smile, Tifa reaches into her own packet of UNCOOKED noodles and breaks off a piece. She savours the crunch and locks eyes with Zack, knowing that there are still men with good taste out there. // HAHA I’m sooo sorry I couldn’t help myself.
"Aw hey, not fair," Zack says with a soft smile. "I'm all out." He might complain but it doesn't take away from the sheer delight of being on the same team as Tifa. He bumps shoulders with her, something of a warrior bond forming.
I finished final fantasy vii rebirth and. Some mixed opinions.
The main good points: as a Sequel to original FF7? Its good. The women are all written well (which was a concern considering Kairi and Lunafreya in past games), and everyone was in character just fleshed out more (with 2 slight exceptions). What the game did best was accomplish an open world game, world spanning adventure, stick fairly well to some main highlights from original ff7 (which is what people wanted for ages) and with new stuff thats fun if you like the world, very little wasting of player time (so much better than ff7 remake). It did open world well, pacing well, side quests and mini games well, characters well, combat well, and overall gave the feel of what square enix was maybe Hoping and Wishing to successfully accomplish in a mainline game for years but either hasnt been able to achieve on a technical level or fumbled in the past. (So no time wasting dungeons like ff7 remake, fleshed out open world with stuff you enjoy doing so more than ff15, open world so more than ff13, and combat that feels like things theyve learned and improved on well). How it feels to play? Great, fast paced, no dead time, all enjoyable game you came to play. (With the exception maybe of Cait Siths box mandatory mini game and the aerith in ancient temple magic platforms thing but they both werent too difficult to push through if you dont enjoy them).
The bad? Mostly... if you treat Rebirth as a SEQUEL to original ff7, these arent major issues. They just annoy me as a player of the original ff7 game. Because i know plenty of people will ONLY play ff7 Remake and Rebirth etc, and never know the original characterizations. So 2 characters were slightly unlike their original ff7 selves, and instead more like their Advent Children (and general non ff7 appearances) selves: aerith and sephiroth. Sephiroth's character being NOT like ff7 originals is more irritating personally. Because yeah... i get it. As a sequel to original ff7, this Remake/Rebirth Sephiroth might be from the future (so he is Advent Children esque version of himself), hes had time post losing his way to really get all mysterious and hyperfocus on cloud and be a looming vague pest. But the thing is... in the original ff7 the reason we learn hes used to be a SOLDIER war hero, is so the cast and you are confused why he kills Shinra people. Then you and the casy figure: well cloud remembers sephiroth finding out hes a monster cause of shinra, justifiable for sephiroth to hate shinra. Unflrtunately Sephiroth also decided to hate ALL HUMANS. Then you later find out maybe Jenovas controlling Sephiroth/one with him etc. But the key here is you find out at some point in original ff7 that sephiroths goal is mainly Destroy World because Hes not Human. Rebirth... does not clarify this very important and very BASIC point ever. Maybe it assumes its so basic that as a ff7 fan you should know.. but plenty of new players wont. Rebirth clarifies yes sephiroth may be Jenovas kid... but the whole MOM, im an ancient like Jenova! Oh Jenova isnt an ancient oh well fuck humans anyway! Either way fuck humans ill kill them all! None of those Very basic sephiroth motives are clarified much. I felt Rebirth did good explaining the Gi and the black materia. But to make Sephiroths motives so vague, why he wants to end the world SO VAGUE, why hes in clouds head (the black robes are everywhere but the game HINTS theure sephiroth clones but never actually spells it out eevn though its a BASIC KEY DETAIL). Now... because Rebirth is a sequel, it makes sense... if hes Advent Children Sephiroth he already knows he isnt an ancient, knows hes Jenovas kid, knows he wants to fuck with Cloud specifically now and the world generally but not necessarily so singlemindedly desperate to just kill all humans. So yes, Sephiroth is in character for his future self... but i feel like even with him less SINGLE MINDED and freshly with Jenova, clarifying some basics of his Original old timeline motives... would be helpful to new fans. So it annoyed me. I think the biggest Not Good writing decision in Rebirth was to never fucking clarify Sephiroths original basic goal: im not human like mom, hate humans, kill world. I suspect the writers either thought players KNEW so hinted instead of being on the nose (but to new players theyll just be CONFUSED), or they plan to explain those basic things in game 3. Which seems stupid to me and shouldve been explained earlier.
And Aerith. As a sequel? She remembered the other timeline which explained some moments she was calmer than original ff7. She forgot, then toward the end of Rebirth she seems to have remembered the other timeline again and that she needs to die and X happens etc. So her being calmer based on the plot they wrote for Rebirth? Makes sense. However... i deeply miss her Original FF7 personality where as an Ancient she freaks out a bit LIKE sephiroth, paralleling him, that shes not human, a freak, that it all rests on her as only one ancient left. Their overwhelm parallels each other. Aerith is more scared in original ff7 of being the only ancient, of what it means, of finding out more. That fear is slightly there in Rebirth but WAY LESS. its only a little in cosmo canyon and almost gone in the Ancient Temple. In ff7 expanded universe theyve changed her character over time to a calmer wiser goddess type like in Advent Children, and so yes in Rebirth when she remembers the alrernate timeline it makes sense she'd be calmer like her future self. However... i miss original ff7 aerith. I miss her initial shock, loneliness, fear of the weight on her shoulders, not being sure what to do. Her and Sephiroth, because of Rebirth writing them to know more, act more like their future selves and so. While it is in character and logical to the Rebirth plot. Its also sad to me that anyone who only plays Remake and Rebirth simply wont see what they were like WHEN these revelations were brand new shocks to them, forcing them to react and grow and fear. I dont think Aerith is written bad, i just think because this game is in reality is a Sequel im just personally mourning that it didnt have that as much of the original Aerith's personality who was afraid and discovering. Mostly her Rebirth personality is similar to original ff7s. But in some high tension moments shes way calmer and wiser than in the original. I miss getting to see some of that before to after character growth.
Oh and. The aerith dies scene. Does it make sense in context of Rebirth written as a sequel? Sure. Is it impactful? Not as much as the original. In Rebirth, theres a scene where Cloud is losing control and listening to Sephiroth and attacks Tifa, causing Tifa to fall into mako. That scene is high stakes and emotional and lands WELL. Later in Rebirth, when Aerith actually dies, Cloud has not lost control and isnt the one who killed her. Its fine, as a sequel to ff7 i get the choice to make him able to stop himself from hurting her. But it does make the scene less impactful: now cloud will NOT be blaming himself for her death, will not be struggling with the guilt and fear, and will not be as terrified of losing control again. Since he wasnt the one who attacked her. And since he saw her ghost/something post death, hes not even sad or grieving her. He thinks shes fine. These 2 things will result in a WILDLY DIFFERENT cloud moving forward than the original ff7 one who very much was distraught and horrified he did that. So like... as a sequel its fine these changes were made. But death wise... i wouldve prefered like, cloud drops her from up high qhile struggling with whispers, or doesnt get to her in time and sephiroth stabs her when shes too far away. The way Rebirth did it, cloud was near her, she gets stabbed anyway. It seemed to me almost like the writing was trying to vaguely or softly kill her, like somehow making it vague would make it hurt less. Yeah it did hurt less... but id rather if a character i love dies that its a Worthy Scene for them to die in. A strong meaningful scene that makes me cry, that felt like the loss it is. The Rebirth scene... couldve done its plot as intended and just make Cloud farther away or something and it wouldve been better to me. Maybe the writing point was Cloud thinks its fine, and its still not, and he cant even feel distaught because he cant tell if she died or if things are fine? Thats the only angle i can see where maybe the death scene did what the writers wanted? Anyway. Aeriths moms death made me sob, Aeriths death did not. It is what it is. I feel like Tifa, crying in my heart off screen, the game acting like Cloud like its fine and it looks fine to him but im confused like Tifa aa to why hes (the game) treating it that way. Lol.
Overall? Um 4/5. 8/10? Really solid square enix game, Amazing as far as final fantasy 7 SEQUELS go. It has one main weak spot in treating Sephiroth fully mysterious when a few clarifying details could help the game stand on its own Better (and make Sephiroth a stronger enemy character instead of a vaguer one). The other weak spots are more my personal preference and mourning the parts of ff7 original i miss and had wished were in this, but as this is a Sequel in a parallel timeline i dont feel the parts effect Rebirth on its own merit. It IS the best Square Enix game ive played in ages, at least since Final Fantasy X or XII. I thought it was better than FF13, FF15, definitely better than ff7 remake (i hate time wasting dungeons and bad pacing its a dealbreaker), and than kh3 (although kh3 was quite good for a kh sequel). I get to play FF16 next, which will hopefully be as good as Rebirth or better! Since its also on the PS5 and clearly from Rebirth, the square enix main team can do excellent combat, open world, level design, mini games, side quests, and good pacing now. So i'll just have to see if ff16's story is better. And i am guessing it hopefully will be, since Rebirth as an ff7 sequel has some weirdness to its plot quite typical of ff7 extended universe stories like Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus. Whereas ff16 is a brand new plot, so they have nothing preventing them from a tight excellent written story except themselves. I am curious how BIG ff16s world will be though. Because ff7 Rebirths world was MASSIVE and very full of stuff, tons of mini games, cool stuff to find or do or little character side quests. If ff16 also takes me 60 hours to beat the main story its gonna be thw longest final fantasy main title ive ever played.
Rebirth is very replayable if you enjoyed it. I will probably replay ff7 original soon.
Thinking about the Azula scenes, and...oddly, despite my complaints earlier...I think they could have used more dialogue. Not exposition dialogue, but EMOTIONAL dialogue. Azula venting to Ty Lee, Ty Lee responding.
Kinda like the episode where she had the bow and arrow.
But a little more back and forth.
Problem is that this requires writers who can write gripping dialogue AND have faith in the actors and actresses to deliver said dialogue under the guide of a strong director. Which is...a risk with young staff who haven't had a lot of experience.