![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
minimosey[ Character's Name ] : Cloud Strife
[ Character's Age ] : 15
[ Series ] : Final Fantasy VII
[ Canon Point ] : after Zack changes his hair and gives the cadets a pep talk in Crisis Core.
[ History ] : Cloud was born in Nibelheim to a small family. He was the only child and his father died when he was young, leaving just him and his mother. She's shown as encouraging and accepting but (like any parent) not perfect and not always knowing what her son wants. No indication of extended family is given. For whatever reason, Cloud didn't get along with the other children in Nibelheim and had a friendless childhood. He comforted himself with the thought that they were childish and he was "better" than them, but really he was just too shy and awkward to find acceptance in the group. He couldn't even approach Tifa, who was always surrounded by others. Though he had a big crush on her, the closest he ever got was watching her play with other kids through a window.
Then, when Cloud was nine years old, Tifa's mother died. The young girl was devastated by the loss, wanting more than anything to see her mother again. Local legend said that spirits could linger on the other side of Mt. Nibel, a nearby mountain with treacherous paths populated by monsters. Desperate enough to overlook the risks, Tifa headed up the path. Her friends turned back, but Cloud had spotted her at a distance and followed. The two children were fortunate enough to escape death, but both took a rough fall; while Cloud only got scraped knees, Tifa hit her head and fell into a coma for days. The finger of blame for the reckless excursion was pointed at Cloud by others, including adults, and he took the incident hard. He blamed himself for not protecting Tifa and grew angry and frustrated, leading to an explosive temper that landed him into a number of fights. Eventually he heard about the elite army of SOLDIER and its leader, Sephiroth and pinned his hopes on joining--to prove himself, and to impress Tifa. At age fourteen, he called her to the well to tell her his intentions of leaving for Midgar to join. She asked him to promise to be her hero and rescue her if she was ever in a pinch.
However, he never did become a SOLDIER, instead serving in the company Shinra's regular army. This was glossed over in the original game, but Before Crisis and Crisis Core have shown him in several missions. In Before Crisis he flouts a Turk’s directions several times in a headstrong attempt to save Professor Rayleigh, whom he’d been ordered to protect. In the end, they save the professor through both their efforts, but end up losing the secret SOLDIER data--the reason the Turk had been ordered to risk the professor's life in the first place--to the rebel group AVALANCHE. Still, they part on friendly terms; the Turk even addresses him as "Cloud, future SOLDIER", having been impressed by his innate skill with a broadsword. (He took one from an enemy and struck down two men in his first blow. The boy's a bit of a berserker, as the later and more infamous Nibelheim incident would show.) However, Cloud's internal thoughts indicate he's already tried to get into SOLDIER without success. Despite the rejection, he still has some hope, and sometimes the thought of it spurs him on: "Even a lowly soldier like I can do something. If I can't even save one life, I don't belong in SOLDIER. I'm going to fight!"
In Crisis Core, a chance assignment to a mission in Modeoheim leads to him meeting Zack. Despite Cloud's awe at Zack, only two years older but already a SOLDIER First Class, the two bond over both being country boys from villages that have a mako reactor and "nothing else out there". The two continue to run into each other on assignment and Zack treats Cloud with nothing but friendliness. He even singles out Cloud during a motivational speech by putting a hand on his shoulder. Though Cloud doesn't react at the time, a later e-mail shows Zack's talk left a strong impression on him. They aren't close friends at this time, but Cloud greatly admires Zack and is still aspiring to become a SOLDIER like him.
[ Personality ] : Cloud is described as fighting at the drop of a hat as a boy, and in BC and CC we still see that frustration and thirst to prove himself simmering underneath. In BC he acts recklessly in his desire to prove his strength, entrusting the professor to his fellow regulars so he can fight the attacking AVALANCHE members. In CC he says wistfully, "If only I were a SOLDIER..."
He is very focused on his goal of getting into SOLDIER to become respected and to impress Tifa. It's notable that he can talk back and even snap orders to a Turk, a member of Shinra's more covert operations and definitely above the rank of a mere infantryman, but he always acts respectfully to Zack, who's only two years older than him and never makes a big deal out of rank. Part of this is their budding friendship, true, but it has a lot to do with Zack being a SOLDIER First Class, what Cloud dreams of becoming. He's in awe of the fighting group and tries to find out from Zack more about what it's like to be one.
With his fixation on becoming stronger to be accepted, it's little surprise that Cloud doesn't have a very high self-esteem. As a SOLDIER he'd be someone worth noticing; as it is he considers himself just "a normal grunt". When he returns to Nibelheim at age 16, he's so ashamed of not making SOLDIER that he hides his face from everyone underneath his mask and says as little as possible to Tifa, even though he still has feelings for her and she's the tour guide for the group. He's not even confident about going home to see his own mother and ends up asking Zack to come along with. He didn't get along well with most of Nibelheim in his childhood, and he doesn't want to open himself up for ridicule or disappoint the two people dearest to him.
Also unsurprisingly, Cloud's lack of friends have made him a rather reserved teenager. Zack is his only friend as far as we see, and even he's somewhat distant as a friend. The promise to Tifa and his feelings for her is something Cloud kept locked up even when Zack saw there was something weird going on between the two of them. And he's awkward when invited for some casual hanging-out and dining, only saying "maybe" he'll come along too.
This isn't to say Cloud's a completely depressing stick-in-the-mud (though occasionally he tries). He's got a slight sense of humor that mostly likes to tease people. This is shown best in the original FFVII, where he makes fun of Aerith telling him she could be in SOLDIER, tells Barret he looked like a bear wearing a marshmellow, and on the date with Yuffie deliberately stretches out the silence to make her sweat, but it's present in CC too, when he meets Zack and laughs at Gongaga's name because it sounds like something from the sticks. He responds to the first signs of friendliness easily and after a job well done he's much more buoyant, such as when he tells the player Turk that they should meet up again after they save Professor Rayleigh. ...Now if only those moods could last.
Also, despite his desire to prove himself causing some recklessness, he cares a lot about protecting others and keeps a watchful eye out. One of the clips shown of him in Crisis Core has him calling out to Zack for him to get down so he could shoot down a monster before it ambushed the SOLDIER, and while he initially entrusts Rayleigh to his fellow grunts, he takes it upon himself to make sure the job of guarding her is carried through, even after seeing the others cut down by death magic and despite the player Turk telling him to get out of the way.
Last but not least: he is such a Sephiroth fanboy at this time.
[ Strengths/Weaknesses ] : Cloud's strengths are his determination and physical strength; despite being rejected from SOLDIER he's still hopeful to make it in, and as an unenhanced fourteen-year-old he's strong enough to swing a broadsword and cut two men down with it. Though he likely couldn't use the weapon for an extended time, that's still pretty crazy.
His primary weakness is low self-esteem, which manifests in a variety of ways: shame, desperation to prove himself, and hesitation to open up to others. Also, motion sickness makes trips on vehicles stink.
[ Sample ] :
Cloud was lying flat on his back when he awoke--it was how he usually slept, even if no position was truly comfortable on the cots. And right now he was truly uncomfortable. He was wet and he didn't know why, so he wanted to open his eyes and look; he was also so tired it was like half his body was telling him to shut up and go back to sleep. Was he sick? Or had he been sick? There was a muffled groan at the thought; the last time he'd felt wet and sick, he'd been on a boat.
He did not want to be on a boat again. It was humiliating and it sucked, especially when one of the SOLDIERs noticed his nausea. Whether their reaction was disgust or pity, it still burned.
...Still, he didn't remember getting on a ship...
He finally won the battle against sleep and opened his eyes. For a full minute, he looked up bleary-eyed at the sky. Then he closed them and rolled onto his stomach.
This had to be a dream. That school of fish flying way up high proved it. After two minutes, though, he realized if he was having a dream of flying fish and other bizarre sights, staring at the ground was a boring way to spend it, so he got up. The houses of coral were still there, and so was the 'sky'--actually the ocean.
"More interesting than the usual ones," he mumbled to himself. Vivid, too; he was starting to doubt he was actually asleep. There was that underwater tunnel in Junon, after all...but why would he be there? And this was definitely not part of Shinra's military. Nah. More likely someone was jerking him around and improperly using the training room's simulators for a prank. A weird and elaborate one, but still a prank. Cloud sighed and hoped that whenever this joke's punchline hit, it'd be just his squad getting a laugh and not the rest of the army.
[ Character's Age ] : 15
[ Series ] : Final Fantasy VII
[ Canon Point ] : after Zack changes his hair and gives the cadets a pep talk in Crisis Core.
[ History ] : Cloud was born in Nibelheim to a small family. He was the only child and his father died when he was young, leaving just him and his mother. She's shown as encouraging and accepting but (like any parent) not perfect and not always knowing what her son wants. No indication of extended family is given. For whatever reason, Cloud didn't get along with the other children in Nibelheim and had a friendless childhood. He comforted himself with the thought that they were childish and he was "better" than them, but really he was just too shy and awkward to find acceptance in the group. He couldn't even approach Tifa, who was always surrounded by others. Though he had a big crush on her, the closest he ever got was watching her play with other kids through a window.
Then, when Cloud was nine years old, Tifa's mother died. The young girl was devastated by the loss, wanting more than anything to see her mother again. Local legend said that spirits could linger on the other side of Mt. Nibel, a nearby mountain with treacherous paths populated by monsters. Desperate enough to overlook the risks, Tifa headed up the path. Her friends turned back, but Cloud had spotted her at a distance and followed. The two children were fortunate enough to escape death, but both took a rough fall; while Cloud only got scraped knees, Tifa hit her head and fell into a coma for days. The finger of blame for the reckless excursion was pointed at Cloud by others, including adults, and he took the incident hard. He blamed himself for not protecting Tifa and grew angry and frustrated, leading to an explosive temper that landed him into a number of fights. Eventually he heard about the elite army of SOLDIER and its leader, Sephiroth and pinned his hopes on joining--to prove himself, and to impress Tifa. At age fourteen, he called her to the well to tell her his intentions of leaving for Midgar to join. She asked him to promise to be her hero and rescue her if she was ever in a pinch.
However, he never did become a SOLDIER, instead serving in the company Shinra's regular army. This was glossed over in the original game, but Before Crisis and Crisis Core have shown him in several missions. In Before Crisis he flouts a Turk’s directions several times in a headstrong attempt to save Professor Rayleigh, whom he’d been ordered to protect. In the end, they save the professor through both their efforts, but end up losing the secret SOLDIER data--the reason the Turk had been ordered to risk the professor's life in the first place--to the rebel group AVALANCHE. Still, they part on friendly terms; the Turk even addresses him as "Cloud, future SOLDIER", having been impressed by his innate skill with a broadsword. (He took one from an enemy and struck down two men in his first blow. The boy's a bit of a berserker, as the later and more infamous Nibelheim incident would show.) However, Cloud's internal thoughts indicate he's already tried to get into SOLDIER without success. Despite the rejection, he still has some hope, and sometimes the thought of it spurs him on: "Even a lowly soldier like I can do something. If I can't even save one life, I don't belong in SOLDIER. I'm going to fight!"
In Crisis Core, a chance assignment to a mission in Modeoheim leads to him meeting Zack. Despite Cloud's awe at Zack, only two years older but already a SOLDIER First Class, the two bond over both being country boys from villages that have a mako reactor and "nothing else out there". The two continue to run into each other on assignment and Zack treats Cloud with nothing but friendliness. He even singles out Cloud during a motivational speech by putting a hand on his shoulder. Though Cloud doesn't react at the time, a later e-mail shows Zack's talk left a strong impression on him. They aren't close friends at this time, but Cloud greatly admires Zack and is still aspiring to become a SOLDIER like him.
[ Personality ] : Cloud is described as fighting at the drop of a hat as a boy, and in BC and CC we still see that frustration and thirst to prove himself simmering underneath. In BC he acts recklessly in his desire to prove his strength, entrusting the professor to his fellow regulars so he can fight the attacking AVALANCHE members. In CC he says wistfully, "If only I were a SOLDIER..."
He is very focused on his goal of getting into SOLDIER to become respected and to impress Tifa. It's notable that he can talk back and even snap orders to a Turk, a member of Shinra's more covert operations and definitely above the rank of a mere infantryman, but he always acts respectfully to Zack, who's only two years older than him and never makes a big deal out of rank. Part of this is their budding friendship, true, but it has a lot to do with Zack being a SOLDIER First Class, what Cloud dreams of becoming. He's in awe of the fighting group and tries to find out from Zack more about what it's like to be one.
With his fixation on becoming stronger to be accepted, it's little surprise that Cloud doesn't have a very high self-esteem. As a SOLDIER he'd be someone worth noticing; as it is he considers himself just "a normal grunt". When he returns to Nibelheim at age 16, he's so ashamed of not making SOLDIER that he hides his face from everyone underneath his mask and says as little as possible to Tifa, even though he still has feelings for her and she's the tour guide for the group. He's not even confident about going home to see his own mother and ends up asking Zack to come along with. He didn't get along well with most of Nibelheim in his childhood, and he doesn't want to open himself up for ridicule or disappoint the two people dearest to him.
Also unsurprisingly, Cloud's lack of friends have made him a rather reserved teenager. Zack is his only friend as far as we see, and even he's somewhat distant as a friend. The promise to Tifa and his feelings for her is something Cloud kept locked up even when Zack saw there was something weird going on between the two of them. And he's awkward when invited for some casual hanging-out and dining, only saying "maybe" he'll come along too.
This isn't to say Cloud's a completely depressing stick-in-the-mud (though occasionally he tries). He's got a slight sense of humor that mostly likes to tease people. This is shown best in the original FFVII, where he makes fun of Aerith telling him she could be in SOLDIER, tells Barret he looked like a bear wearing a marshmellow, and on the date with Yuffie deliberately stretches out the silence to make her sweat, but it's present in CC too, when he meets Zack and laughs at Gongaga's name because it sounds like something from the sticks. He responds to the first signs of friendliness easily and after a job well done he's much more buoyant, such as when he tells the player Turk that they should meet up again after they save Professor Rayleigh. ...Now if only those moods could last.
Also, despite his desire to prove himself causing some recklessness, he cares a lot about protecting others and keeps a watchful eye out. One of the clips shown of him in Crisis Core has him calling out to Zack for him to get down so he could shoot down a monster before it ambushed the SOLDIER, and while he initially entrusts Rayleigh to his fellow grunts, he takes it upon himself to make sure the job of guarding her is carried through, even after seeing the others cut down by death magic and despite the player Turk telling him to get out of the way.
Last but not least: he is such a Sephiroth fanboy at this time.
[ Strengths/Weaknesses ] : Cloud's strengths are his determination and physical strength; despite being rejected from SOLDIER he's still hopeful to make it in, and as an unenhanced fourteen-year-old he's strong enough to swing a broadsword and cut two men down with it. Though he likely couldn't use the weapon for an extended time, that's still pretty crazy.
His primary weakness is low self-esteem, which manifests in a variety of ways: shame, desperation to prove himself, and hesitation to open up to others. Also, motion sickness makes trips on vehicles stink.
[ Sample ] :
Cloud was lying flat on his back when he awoke--it was how he usually slept, even if no position was truly comfortable on the cots. And right now he was truly uncomfortable. He was wet and he didn't know why, so he wanted to open his eyes and look; he was also so tired it was like half his body was telling him to shut up and go back to sleep. Was he sick? Or had he been sick? There was a muffled groan at the thought; the last time he'd felt wet and sick, he'd been on a boat.
He did not want to be on a boat again. It was humiliating and it sucked, especially when one of the SOLDIERs noticed his nausea. Whether their reaction was disgust or pity, it still burned.
...Still, he didn't remember getting on a ship...
He finally won the battle against sleep and opened his eyes. For a full minute, he looked up bleary-eyed at the sky. Then he closed them and rolled onto his stomach.
This had to be a dream. That school of fish flying way up high proved it. After two minutes, though, he realized if he was having a dream of flying fish and other bizarre sights, staring at the ground was a boring way to spend it, so he got up. The houses of coral were still there, and so was the 'sky'--actually the ocean.
"More interesting than the usual ones," he mumbled to himself. Vivid, too; he was starting to doubt he was actually asleep. There was that underwater tunnel in Junon, after all...but why would he be there? And this was definitely not part of Shinra's military. Nah. More likely someone was jerking him around and improperly using the training room's simulators for a prank. A weird and elaborate one, but still a prank. Cloud sighed and hoped that whenever this joke's punchline hit, it'd be just his squad getting a laugh and not the rest of the army.
