N I B E L H E I M E D

unapologetic ff7 trash. cloud strife is the man. remake can go suck an egg.

[yinza]

Romancing Barret Week - Day 1: no gettin' offa this train

Not till we get to the end of the line.

[Image Description: Digital artwork of Tifa, Barret, and Cloud, shown from the shoulders up. They stand lit from below by the green light of the final descent into the depths of the Northern Crater. They lean their foreheads close to one another, their eyes closed and their expressions solemn. /end ID]

[omezamenokoucha-deactivated2022]

“Night Riders”

Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII REMAKE © Square Enix Fanart only. No copyright infringement intended. Do not steal, edit, use for 18+ content or make any profit with this render, please.

CREDITS

Models belong to Square Enix

Other meshes belong to their respective owners

Big thanks to daemon1 and SSPD077

Posed in XNA Posing Studio XPS (developed by XNAaraL) and Blender (thanks to johnzero7 for the tools)

Rendered in Marmoset Toolbag 3

[thisisnotfortears-deactivated20]

I wish Final Fantasy VII fans would free themselves from the notion that there’s such a thing as “real Cloud” or “fake Cloud” and acknowledge that even when Cloud has deluded himself about his past and is trying to act out a persona he is still Cloud. His need to create a tough guy persona and delude himself into believing he was in SOLDIER are crucial elements of who he is as a person. He’s not Zack or Sephiroth or anyone else walking around in a Cloud suit — he’s simply Cloud coping poorly with unimaginable trauma.

I get that people never will let it go for various reasons but it’s just so exhausting to see people talking about ‘real’ versus ‘fake’ Cloud when it’s all Cloud. It’s the source of so many bad takes about him and honestly it’s a massive disservice to him and all of his relationships. Whatever you ship — Cloud/Tifa, Cloud/Aerith, Cloud/Zack, Cloud/Sephiroth, whatever — it’s impoverished by the idea that for a large portion of the narrative Cloud is somehow not a real person and that his actions are not representative of himself and his feelings.

[wombywoo]

ffvii fashion baby 

[rachelhueyart]

vroom vroom!! he was SO COOLLLL!!! 

[hueyoart]

Honey boy & girls.

[lightningstrikes-art]

[nibelheimed]

Does anyone else remember the old days of kink/prompt memes and big bangs on Livejournal?

I miss that shit. Most creative days of my life, that era.

[robasarel]

[fury-brand]

Cloud very obviously cares very deeply about both Aeris and Tifa. The nature of those relationships are pretty different and which one you prefer is really a matter of preference. Aeris is the wiser, emotionally mature type who is immediately perceptive about Cloud and able to pry him out of his shell, and Tifa tends to operate more on Cloud’s emotional level (which is why they’re both kind of a mess). I think Cloud admires her and gets attached to Aeris in a way he doesn’t quite have words for and can’t even begin to express until he’s lost her. He certainly loves her in some way, and in my opinion it’s in a way that isn’t as straightforward and easy to pin down as an exclusively romantic connection. I think he puts her on a pedestal, and it’s pretty similar to way he used to put Tifa on a pedestal. There’s a streak of mutual idealization in Cloud and Aeris’ relationship that prevents them from settling into the most genuine versions of themselves, and that’s part of the tragedy of that relationship being cut short. Tifa gets to come down from the pedestal and more of a person, she and Cloud have the opportunity to be truly vulnerable with one another; that opportunity with Aeris is denied to Cloud. At the time of her death, he couldn’t open himself up even if he wanted to.

Ironically, I think the fact that Aeris replaces Tifa in that spot on the pedestal helps Cloud and Tifa’s relationship to become more genuine, and the two have opposite trajectories. Aeris and Cloud have an immediate connection while Tifa and Cloud used to have a lot of distance between them. As their journey together becomes more serious, distance grows between Aeris and Cloud. It doesn’t dim their affection for each other, but that scene at the Cosmo candle where Cloud reaches out and tells Aeris he’s here for her marks a pretty pivotal moment - she reasserts that she’s alone in this matter, and after that point it becomes even more difficult to reach her. She’s not really given to being vulnerable in the first place, but the point of their date scene is that it’s her own promise to Cloud - that she hopes they can someday open up to one another, truly. As it is, she keeps him in intimate confidence but at arms length.

Meanwhile, Cloud and Tifa get a chance to really hash it out and go through the ugly truths about their relationship that need to out before they can ever begin to have a genuine connection. The Promise was frivolous and fanciful and based on an uncomplicated and idealized version of the both of them, playing parts. A shared understanding of how messy and human they both are lays the groundwork for a real relationship, whatever form you think that takes.

But a relationship with Tifa doesn’t mean Cloud isn’t going to love Aeris forever, either. He is. And he’s going to feel the loss differently from the rest of the party and mourn her in a way that represents the unique connection he had with her, and her idealized self, and the self she never quite shared with him all, and what might have been between them at once. And you can see that love as romantic or platonic the same way you can view his feelings for Tifa, but there’s no denying them and there’s no denying that they don’t preclude him from having a relationship with Tifa either.

It’s just… these relationships are interesting and whether Cloud loves Tifa or Aeris is not. He does. Which relationship you like, and whether you see that love as fully realized and romantic or flirtatious but ultimately brotherly is a matter of personal preference and perspective.

[fury-brand]

This isn’t showing up in the tags because it is too powerful a truth

[nibelheimed]

@beatrushbeauty​ said: “Couch” // SEND A WORD AND I WILL WRITE A DRABBLE OR HEADCANON BASED ON IT

Due to a combination of factors, Cloud has always been a light sleeper. Between his days in the Shinra infantry and traipsing across Gaia in search of Sephiroth, Cloud has gotten used to having to catch sleep wherever he can and subsisting on very little of it.

On good nights, he can put his head down and he’s out within minutes. Not deeply—little noises will wake him, always on alert, always ready to go—but it won’t take him long to nod off again.

On bad nights, when he’s restless and sleep doesn’t come easily, he wanders. He’ll open the fridge, eyes roaming the inventory with no real intention. He’ll sit on the door step, watching the stars. He might even pull on his boots, walk a few laps around the block.

Most times, those restless nights will end with the first one up—usually Vincent, or Cid, or Barret—discovering him there on the couch, chin dipped onto his chest, snoring lightly, where exhaustion finally took hold

[beatrushbeauty]

(( @nibelheimed and I have spent like.. three weeks just WRECKING each other over IMs and now we’re actually writing stuff so that we can wreck YOU, too! ;D

You’re welcome, world.))

[nibelheimed]

Starter for @beatrushbeauty​

The clink of glass splits the silence open. He pauses, then drops another glass into the bowl. Clink. Another glass, clink. Clink. Clink. Clink.

The quietness is a sharp contrast to the lively atmosphere that had enveloped Seventh Heaven not an hour ago. It was the lazy recovery after a gathering, with energy spent, spirits high but tired. The reunion of friends who had not seen each other for too long.

Cloud wipes at the insides of the glasses idly, noting the sharp tang of wine, the richness of top shelf whiskey, and the distinctly sweet fruitiness of a juice that most of the bar’s patrons would turn their nose up at, on account of its lack of alcohol content.

Seventh Heaven was no stranger to these gatherings. Sometimes, whenever the little miracle happened that everyone happened to be in the same place, the walls stretched and held them all together, cosy and claustrophobic but just like old times. More often, a solitary visitor popped their head in in passing. 

This time it had been Cid and Shera.

Over a delicious casserole, cooked to perfection by Tifa, they’d caught each other up on the minutiae of their lives. Inevitably, Cid and Cloud had broken off to discuss engines and oil and motorbikes. Tifa and Shera had listened, amused by their zealous enthusiasm for all things machine.

Their discussion had been cut short when, after pouring Cloud and Cid a measure of whiskey and herself a glass of wine, Shera had declined Tifa’s offer and instead requested a glass of fruit juice instead.

❛ Actually, ❜ Shera had said then, placing her hand atop Cid’s. ❛ We have some news. ❜ Her other hand came to rest on the slight swell of her stomach, now made apparent beneath the flow of her sundress.

If there had been laughter and joy in Seventh Heaven before then, it was nothing compared to afterwards.

Marlene had been downright thrilled with the news, all but pushing everyone out of the way to put her own little hand where Shera’s had been. She listened intently when Shera told her how the baby’s ears would have grown enough now to be able to hear things from outside of her belly, and took that as her cue to lean close, talking gently, making promises to play together as soon as they could.

Cloud was happy for them. He truly was — still is, even now as he washes the same cup over and over and over, buried deep in the thoughts churning in his head.

But as the evening drew on, as Tifa cooed over the sonogram Cid pulled from his wallet (which, it turns out, had been the reason for their trip to Edge in the first place: Reeve had arranged for them to use the WRO’s medical facilities) and asked all about the pregnancy so far, a fog had pulled itself down over Cloud’s shoulders.

He’d tried his best not to let it show. The corners of his lips stretched upwards slightly in a lazy smile, even as his jaw clenched and his teeth ground, straining, begging, ❛ Don’t let go. Don’t stop. Keep smiling. Don’t ruin this. ❜ Even as Cid had slapped a hand on his shoulder as he stood to head for the guest bedroom, drunk on whiskey and pride, and said, ❛ Might be your turn next, son ❜, that smile stayed because it had to.

Now the smile was gone, the fog pressing heavier and heavier.

The sound of Tifa’s footsteps creeping down the staircase, returning from settling Marlene and Denzel into bed, pulls him from his head. He wipes his hands down, forgoing the dishes that he’d excused himself for, the excuse he’d needed to get away. ❛ Tifa? ❜ he calls, the word dragging itself from his throat, thick and heavy.

He pulls a clean glass from behind the bar, measures another two fingers of whiskey on the rocks. Knocks it back. Measures again.

He can’t quite look her in the eye when she steps in. His gaze settles on the corner of her lips. He breathes in—

❛ There’s something we need to talk about. ❜

[nibelheimed]

Day ?????? of @beatrushbeauty and I hurting each other in DMs *chef’s kiss*

[nibelheimed]

@beatrushbeauty​ said: “Absence” + “Hum” // SEND A WORD AND I WILL WRITE A DRABBLE OR HEADCANON BASED ON IT

In the moments where Jenova’s influence is strongest, Cloud gives in. The fight leaves him. He hands himself over to her will completely.

At the time, deep within the Temple of the Ancients, Cloud...liked it. Relinquishing himself to Jenova’s will brought with it a strange sense of calm.

In some ways, Cloud is absent then. His slate is wiped clean. Gone are the memories that plague him; gone are the worries that he doesn’t matter, doesn’t mean anything to anybody. He’s Jenova’s puppet. He isn’t a failed experiment. He’s useful now.

Post-Meteorfall, complete silence bothers Cloud. Not straight away. But as it lingers and stretches out, a growing unease settles within him.

The absence of sound takes him back to the absence of himself. Takes him back to that unsettling calmness. Back to Jenova.

Her influence is gone, of course. She can’t control him again. He can’t let her control him again. 

Even so, the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. His shoulders stiffen. His stomach churns.

After a little while, he begins to fill the void. He puts his mug down a little harder. Taps his foot against the flooring. Raps his fingertips on the side. And, perhaps surprising to anyone who might overhear, he hums.

All little telltale signs that he’s still in control now. He’s still here.

[alleyspata-deactivated20170924]

REMEMBER KIDS !!   some very important relationships are PLATONIC.   some are maternal, paternal, friendships, siblingships.   they do not all have to revolve around romantic/sexual attraction.   please don’t ever think that i wouldn’t write with you if you didn’t want to bring a romantic/sexual ship to the table. I LOVE PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS.   THEY ARE UNDERRATED, UNDER EXPLORED, AND LOOKED PAST WAY TOO OFTEN.    THEY CAN BE THE MOST IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP TO A CHARACTER.   PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.

[nibelheimed]

When Cloud left for Midgar, he and his mother were not on good terms. The persona he’d built for himself, the belief system he bought into — that he was better, that he was more mature; the anger and frustration that bubbled beneath the surface — seeped into his life at home, too.

She was too fussy. She treated him like a kid. She chastised him for getting into fights.

There were arguments. The more she tried to discipline him, the more he resisted. And resented. He spent most days out of the house — out of that suffocating, claustrophobic environment — wandering the mountains, swimming in the lakes, returning only once the dark of night had fallen.

She didn’t want him to join the military. Couldn’t he find a nice village girl? Settle down?

The more she pushed, the more he pulled. The more she pleaded, the harder he dug his heels in.

He was going. That was that.

When Mother’s Day comes around, it brings with it a wave of shame and regret. He wishes, more than anything, that he could go back and put things right between them before── 

Wishes he’d taken his helmet off and swallowed his pride and stepped over the threshold on the day that──

He finds solace with Tifa, on those days. He knows she finds it difficult too — he followed her up that mountain, after all — and it’s good to be around someone who gets it. Who’ll let him just be quiet. Who’ll listen when he says, “Hey, you know, I just remembered when Mom and I—”. Who hurts in the same way that he hurts.