Why the last moment between Cloud and Tifa in ‘Case of Tifa’ is way more important than we thought.
(or Personal thoughts #3)
Today I offer a different perspective on ‘Case of Tifa’, one that I believe hasn’t been done before. Far from being anti-Cloti or anti-Tifa, it will shed light on how Tifa really can be romantically clueless and why Cloud’s last smile to her regarding Denzel is in fact a very meaningful moment.
There are a
whopping six times in the novella where Cloud offers his
personal strength and presence to Tifa and indirectly seeks assurance from her as to
where he stands in her life and whether they have a future together. Five of these times I heavily believe she
failed to provide him with
enough of the validation he sought.
Woah that’s a pretty big statement! Wait a minute you said, isn’t it Tifa who is insecure about the family status and whether Cloud loves her? Well yeah, she sought external validation from Cloud
once - we’ll get back to that.
Attempt 1: Cloud smiles, says he will succeed in living a new life, because he will have Tifa with him in a unique and different way.
“After this … I think I’ll be okay.”
Cloud was silent for a long time before he spoke again.
“Because I have you this time.”
“You’ve always had me.”
“What I mean is kind of different,” Cloud answered with another smile.
We aren’t told if Tifa verbally responded, or even indicated whether she agreed with him in any way. This novel was written from her perspective, so we’d expect an important exchange after Cloud’s comment to at least be mentioned right?
Attempt 2: Cloud comforts Tifa at Aerith’s grave, not knowing how she feels about it. She does like it - but doesn’t really tell him that or know what to do.
She felt Cloud’s hand on her shoulder. He was holding onto her firmly as if he didn’t want her to go anywhere. For now, I’ll just let myself cry as much as I want. I’ll leave the rest in his hands.
I just didn’t know what I should do.
Not much encouragement for Cloud there, it must be hard enough comforting a crying girl without knowing that she is crying over another murdered girl whose death you feel was your own fault.
Attempt 3: Cloud quite directly expresses his desire to build a ‘normal life’ with Tifa.
“Yeah, let’s go home” Cloud agreed.
“Where to?” Barret asked.
“Our suspended reality.”
“What the hell do you mean by that?”
“Our normal lives.”
“And where do we have something like that?”
“We’ll find one.” Cloud looked at Tifa and said, “Right?”
“Yeah!” cried the cheerful Marlene. Tifa nodded too, but just like Barret, she wondered where they had a normal life.
Tifa’s nod is probably not strong enough to convince Cloud, and as we see not even strong enough to convince herself.
Attempt 4: Cloud reminds Tifa again that he intends to be there for her and lift her up.
When Tifa and Cloud were alone, Cloud said, “It’s not like you to be troubled by your thoughts.”
“It’s… Just the way I am.”
“No. You’re much more cheerful and strong. If you’ve forgotten the way you were then, I’ll be there to remind you.”
“You really will?”
“Probably,” Cloud said blushing.
Like Cloud’s first try, we are given no indication that any agreement transpired between them after that.
Attempt 5: Cloud offers his presence and personal help to Tifa with opening the new business at Barret’s suggestion.
“Times like that are important, ain’t they? Hey Tifa, what do you think?”
Tifa couldn’t answer right away. She understood what Barret was saying. But opening up a store felt like going back to the times of AVALANCHE.Cloud spoke up.
“Tifa, lets give it a go. If it gets too tough, we’ll just quit.
Again, look at Cloud’s emphasis on the ‘us’ in his plans to start a venture with Tifa.
Attempt 6: Cloud looks to Tifa to see how she feels about him being invited to the family.
A family.” (Tifa)
“Yeah.” (Marlene)
Marlene cheerfully answered in response to Tifa’s murmur.
“I’ll put Cloud in our family too.” (Marlene)
“I appreciate that.” (Cloud)
After Cloud thanked Marlene’s innocent offer with his serious face, he looked at Tifa. Tifa nodded a little.
I dunno, maybe this is affirmation, but to me nodding a little doesn’t really show enough enthusiasm.
So I feel that if Case of Tifa was written from Cloud’s point of view, it would be heart-wrenching. There would be many ‘I told her I’d be there to cheer her up, but she looked ahead and didn’t say anything.’ How sad!
This made me consider, the part where Tifa asks if Cloud loves her and he doesn’t directly answer is often used to state that he - doesn’t. But she has been doing the same thing to him numerous times before this moment.
“Do you love me?”
Cloud woke up, a perplexed look on his face.
Since it’s from her point of view, we can’t be sure why he reacted like that. For all we know, he had that dubious look on his face because he couldn’t believe what he just
thought he heard her say!
The reassurance Cloud sought from Tifa is successfully given in their final moment of the novella, which contains signs of a revelation.
“Aerith didn’t bring Denzel to you.”
“Ahh, I only thought that…..”
“I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Aerith brought Denzel to us.”
Cloud gazed at Tifa and finally smiled.
Here’s the cute insta-net definition of the word gaze:
look steadily and intently, especially in admiration, surprise, or thought.
Bringing a young child into your life is not just a once off gesture you perform in honor of your deceased friends. It is potentially a lifelong venture and commitment. Tifa’s insistence that Aerith brought the child to both of them reveals many things to Cloud; that she does see a future with him and wants to share a significant part of it, that the responsibility to live on and live well was her ‘assignment’ too and she would be right there with Cloud through its duration.
YAY for the first time, Cloud is satisfied with the answer Tifa gave him. They are on a role. Notice after this moment, Cloud didn’t refer to Aerith’s church as ‘his place’ anymore. My suspicion is that prior to this he wasn’t convinced by Tifa that she really wanted him around or that he truly belonged in the family so he mildly excluded himself.
Too bad that he got sick and freaked out shortly after without telling Tifa his reason for leaving. But that’s Cloud and Tifa for you, they don’t tend to speak out their feelings, they do that thing where they
commune with each other.
http://clotilove.tumblr.com/post/ 143305948110/why-the-last-moment-between-cloud-and-tifa-in