Cloud getting in fights?

[sekiharatae]

Hey...

Anyone have anymore back story regarding Cloud getting into fights as a kid?  I got the impression -- from his words -- that he's the one who started the fights, but he's not the belligerent type.  So I'm wondering if that's the wrong impression (i.e. he was involved in fights, but he didn't start them) or it's the right impression, and I'm missing something?  Or, alternatively, I have the right impression and they just didn't elaborate on it, so I should feel free to make up my own Cloud-plausible reason.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/jane_drew_/]

Having never played, I don't know if my chiming in here makes sense, but the two comments above make sense-- in particular the idea that Cloud got more likely to start fights after Tifa's accident. I kind of picture Cloud getting picked on constantly, but reaching a point where, rather than waiting for the other kids to start with the shoving and tripping and whatever, he would just bare his teeth and leap in, with no regard for the size or number of his opponents.

So, getting beaten up or being the target of fights before Tifa's accident; post-accident, really short fuse? Factoring in the idea of the puny blond outsider kid wanting to join SOLDIER as a source of mockery for the other kids, and... yeah, I can see that.

JD

[sekiharatae.livejournal.com]

chime in all you want! =)

Definitely makes sense. I just want to introduce a... softer reason. Phooey.

[qwi-xux.livejournal.com]

The part you mentioned, and Windrider expanded on, was the exact part I was thinking of--that Cloud had started fights after Tifa's accident because he was angry and blamed himself.

Is there a particular reason you wanted to introduce a softer reason? I think one of the things that adds to Cloud as a character is that he is not always soft. Obviously, Cloud blaming himself is something he's struggled with from childhood through adulthood. As a child, it wasn't like the other kids didn't pick on him, but he was still...well, normal. I mean, he was normal in the sense of a kid who acts up for a reason that other people might not understand unless they do some deep digging. He was quite a different kind of child than Denzel or Marlene, but I'm sure it helped teach him some life lessons. You know, "Don't make my mistakes" sort of lessons. Or maybe given him eyes to see that if a child seems to be a bully or is angry all the time or...whatever...that he/she could very well have a deeper reason behind it.

[sekiharatae.livejournal.com]

There is a reason, but I can't really go into detail w/o spoiling what I'm working on (and I like to shock and amaze surprise you all with my plot twists).

There's another question I could ask to approach it differently, but I think it would probably be too obvious then. Phooey, again. =(

[(Anonymous)]

just have to throw in my two cents (ca-ching) - I think JD nailed it on the nose (pixalated Cloud points to nose in a 'me?' moment). You can even see a bit of it in the beginning of FFVII as Cloud deals with Barret (I'm particularly thinking of the time down in the pinball hideout at Seventh Heaven where he gets right up in Barret's face (and up on his toes to do it too!)). Short fuse, 'I'm done being pushed around' mentality (there's nothing like having been put in a mental cage in your youth to make you damn determined to never, NEVER let anyone put you back there again and I say that from experience and yes, the reactions to an attempt can lead to violence). Cloud was a bit of a bad boy in his youth. He seems to mellow and be more 'himself' after the Lifestream dip with Tifa. Nothing like knowing who you really are to make other people's opinions irrelevant. By AC/ACC he seems - well, depressed - but also much calmer and less (confrontational/fly off the handle/belligerent/pick one). At that point the only time he seems to get emotional in a fight is when someone he considers under his protection is threatened (Tifa, when he goes to get the kids from Kadaj, Sephiroth trying to -again- do in the planet, the twins trying to take him away from his family by killing him). He's short with the Turks but he hears them out even though they were his enemy less than two years ago. He shows a surprising amount of sympathy toward Kadaj in the end battle and even when he's fighting the other two siblings in the motorcycle tunnel, there's not a lot of emotion on his face and he's obviously focusing past them and on getting kadaj with his jenova sample. Honestly? I just think Cloud finally figured out who he really is in the Lifestream and made peace with it and I think he matured. Between the two, I see him being much calmer and relaxed by CoT, ACC (sans depression) and DoC. And - yeah - being more aware of the kids because of what he remembers from his own childhood. But during his youth - hey, how much can you poke a stick at a wolf before it starts to snarl back? Childhood Cloud could either be a scrapper and fight back or he could let the other kids and adults convince him he really wasn't worth anything and give in. If it helps - while both he and Tifa remember him getting into fights all the time - neither one of them ever said he was a bully. - Tam

ps

[(Anonymous)]

oh - and AFTER a good night's sleep, I realize - there's really nothing like going through hell to make the day to day annoyances seem pretty mild and not worth getting upset over anymore.