FFVII – Part 5: Aeris

Summary: Cloud lands in Flower Girl’s flower church. They introduce themselves and flirt a bit. Her name is Aeris. They escape the church, pursued by Reno 911.




Number 5 Reactor

-I can either say “SAVE ME” or “SAVE YOURSELVES.” I go with the latter option for Cloud.

-Cloud falls. It’s awesomely cinematic, like so much of FFVII.

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Sector 5 Church

-Cloud wakes up. We start out not seeing anything – just dialogue on a black screen. Confused dialogue as well, and it’s hard to tell whether we’re seeing Cloud talking to memories in his head or to an actual caregiver. My guess is both.

-Hey, it’s Flower Girl! A garden is growing, and we’re in a literal church. Really, REALLY cool setting.

-Apparently, this is the only place in all of Midgar that flowers can grow.

-LOLOLOLOL

Cloud is given an option to say whether he remember Flower Girl.

A part of me really wants to go with #2, but I’ll do #1.

-Flower Girl acts weird about materia. She says she has it, and knows what it’s for, but it won’t work. It belonged to her mom.

-Her name is Aeris. And she’s playable!

-While she introduces herself as the flower girl, he is kind of pompous: “Yeah, I do whatever’s needed.” Really dude? (I feel like that’s becoming his tagline. “Cloud: Really, Dude?”) She actually laughs at this. I think I like her.

-Some guy walked into the church and is standing in the doorway.

-Aeris asks if Cloud has ever been a bodyguard. Huh?? Something tells me you’re not just a random flower girl to be asking that. What is it, then? Exiled/imprisoned princess of Midgar?

-She asks him to escort her home as bodyguard, offering to go out on a date with him in payment. I guess I was right about the love interest thing.

-WHOA. Cloud walks up to the dude in the church, and we get the sense that for him past and present are merging again. Like, he says “You don’t know me” to the guy, and the screen flashes white as he remembers someone in his past saying that.

-The guy is Reno. He’s Aeris’s brother? (He calls her “sis.”)

-We escape through the back.

-Reno, to himself: “They were… Mako eyes?” There was some allusion to this back in the conversation between President Shinra and Cloud too, about Cloud being affected by Mako in some way. He pursues, but respects Aeris’s wish not to step on the flowers by telling his soldiers that.

Sorta.

-This church is kind of awesome. It’s ruined, and it looks like a pillar or missile of some sort that’s still there is the cause.

Best monsters ever.

-They catch up. “The Ancient is getting away!” WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

-AND THEN THEY MACHINE GUN HER DOWN.

-Oh. Phew. I forgot that in the FF world, getting hit by a hail of machine gun fire just means you fall down but you’re actually okay. Was gonna say, like, you JUST let me name the damn character.

-She’s trapped down there, and it’s up to me to decide how to help. I keep telling her to run, but nowhere to go.

-lol – I push a barrel off the rafters. It falls harmlessly to the ground below, not hitting any soldiers. Aeris continues to win my heart by giving Cloud this “Dude, Really?” She has to fight off the guard.

-Her melee attacks may suck, but her magic does not. Fire! Burn, baby, burn.

-I try the barrel thing again, and it works as well as before. By which I mean, not at all. “Oh, Cloud. What are you doing?” Worst. Bodyguard. Ever. She fights, wins, and we escape.

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Church Roof

-Look at how cool this setting is!

-They’ve been after Aeris before. They’re the Turks, a Shinra scout organization that seeks out SOLDIER recruits. I guess SOLDIER is part of Shinra then.

-Aeris claims they’re just after her because they think she’ll be a good recruit. I call bullshit on that, Ms. Ancient One.

-We run further up on the rooftops of the slums. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: this is beautiful.

And fairly unique! This is unlike any setting I’ve seen before. Maybe it’s closest to something like the human city in “The Matrix, or “Island of Lost Children.” It’s metal and grungy and enclosed and wonderful.

-Aeris notes from the glow in Cloud’s eyes that he was in SOLDIER. Infused with Magitek… ahem, Mako.

-Let’s go to Aeris’s home.

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Next time: Chez Aeris.