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Over the Edge
-Fang gives a flashback to Day 5 at the Euride Energy Plant, when Dajh got branded.
-She and Vanille woke up in a daze in this new world. They didn’t remember their Focus.
-Vanille is PISSED. She just saw Dajh turned, and finds it reprehensible. He’s just a kid! This helps explain to me why she cared so much about Hope.
[Later edit: Or not. She started helping him before Anima branded him. But even then, maybe seeing Dajh made her just want to help a kid.]
FANG: “We grin and bear it like good l’Cie, or the fal’Cie just start making more. Like that girl the other day.” No doubt she’s referring to Serah. They feel like not fulfilling their focus caused her branding.
-Fang sends her off, guarding Vanille’s escape. “Now don’t you worry. I’ll come and find you, no matter where you go.”
I SHIP THE EVERLIVING FUCK OUT OF THESE TWO ALREADY LIKE HOLY SHIIIIT
[Later edit: I’m reasonably sure they’re not sisters. If they are… my bad, and I retract it lol.]
-Fang’s strangely determined to help Vanille not become a Cie’th but has shown no concern for herself. Does she have a different Focus maybe? Or maybe she hasn’t been branded yet?
-Raines and the Cavalry found her soon after, but she never stopped looking for Vanille.
“I couldn’t find her. Her, or our Focus.” So she was branded at that time.
-Back to the present. Lightning slaps her, in blame for Serah.
FANG: “That it?”
LIGHTNING: “You sure better hope so.”
-Now they’re off to Felix Heights, via a lower part of the city.
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Datalog
-Day 3: Escalation. Fang and Vanille found Serah within the Pulse Vestige, branded already. The door to the Vestige opened when Fang and Vanille awoke, and Serah walked through.
They cared for Serah until she recovered. And they ASSUMED – a big assumption imo – that Anima branded Serah because they forgot their Focus.
Wait. If they forgot their Focus, why did they get the crystalline sleep reward? Maybe that’s not actually the reward for completing a Focus.
-Day 4: “[Fang’s] own brand was scorched and showed no sign of changing, but Vanille’s mark was still active.” So perhaps Fang completed her Focus but Vanille didn’t. Or maybe they both had the same Focus, but Fang was somehow forgiven and excused from it.
Like, how was Fang’s brand “scorched?”
They went to the Euride Gorge plant because it was crucial to Cocoon, Pulse’s enemy. They hoped proximity would trigger memory of their Focus.
-Day 6: Fang met Cid Raines. He offered his protection. She accepted.
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Over the Edge (continued)
-Found a weapon called Gae Bolg: “Once the property of a hero doomed to wade through blood…” [Non-rhetorical question: is this referencing some famous character?]
-Fang became a l’Cie to fight Cocoon, this floating “nest of vipers.” I’m really excited to see a Pulse city.
-So they did complete their first Focus, as indicated by turning to crystal. She just can’t remember what that Focus was.
These Orion mechs look bird-like.
Also, that SUCKS that they got another Focus after completing the first!
FANG: “Pulse and Cocoon can rot for all I care. If I don’t find our focus soon, Vanille’s gonna be a Cie’th. I’ll tear down the sky if it’ll save her.”
OH COME ON, THIS IS BASICALLY A CANON SHIP
-Fang’s name is Oerba Yun Fang. Vanille is still just “Vanille.” That makes me wary. It may indicate some shenanigans with her family name, like she’s someone important’s daughter or sister or something.
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Until She Wakes
-Lightning wants Fang to call her Light. She’s getting more comfortable with herself.
-The l’Cie brand gets more arrows and then an eye as you get closer to become Cie’th. That’s a horrifying ticking clock.
-Fang wants to get Vanille back to Gran Pulse. That’s her mission.
-Lightning feels untethered. “I’m stuck trading blows with the Sanctum, but that’s no plan.” There’s no endgame for her.
-Fang is super encouraging and supporting. Maybe her sister can be her enddgame, her reason to fight.
-Scene change to Snow, waking up. He tries carrying Hope away, but he’s too weak.
-Oof. He sees the knife on the ground. Stows it in his pocket.
-Strangely, that gives him renewed determination to carry Hope.
-And back to Lightning and Fang.
-The datalog says that severe psychological trauma can advance the brand. That’s fucked up. Frigging ableist fal’Cie.
-This combat music is quite peaceful.
-Switch back to, climbing up a ladder with Hope on his back. Credit to the sound design and art. This looks EXHAUSTING.
-Hope awakens, and Snow apologizes. For Nora, for putting her in danger. “I know that. Let me make things right.”
-He even gives back Light’s murder knife. Offers to take the punishment if Hope chooses to give it.
-This scene is powerful. Hope acknowledges revenge won’t help, and yet Snow offers it up whenever he wants it.
-Something I especially like about it is how Snow’s honesty about his own feelings validates Hope’s feelings.
-Ruh oh. They’re catching their breath when the boss returns.
IT SMACKS TF OUT OF SNOW! Hope steps up to solo it.
-uhhh… am I meant to win this? I’m barely chipping away at it.
-Phew. Lightning and Fang arrive.
-An intense, fairly long fight. Takes a few full stagger phases before going down.
HOPE to LIGHTNING: “Operation Nora… didn’t work out.”
AWWWW SHE HUGS HIM FDJKSLFHDSJKLFDHS, SHE’S SO FUCKING GREAT
-She even helps Snow up. “He’s too stubborn to die.” She’s come to understand how important he was to Serah, how much she was blaming him when she shouldn’t. (Even if he can still be obnoxious.)
-Vanille’s voiceover comes: “Knowing you’ll always be welcome, no matter how much has changed. That’s what having a home is all about.”
Extra poignant now that it’s confirmed how far from home she really is.
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Chez Estheim
-We arrive at the Estheim residence. It’s a swanky place.
-Hope approaches the door nervously. His dad, Bartholomew, answers.
-He has to break the bad news about Nora. Rough task for anyone, let alone a traumatized kid.
-YAY! Bartholomew doesn’t care that Hope is l’Cie, accepts him anyway.
-Fang watches this from outside. She sees his acceptance and smiles happily.
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Next time: Party at Hope’s house.
