Woops, I spent a ridiculously long time on this... :x

Forspoken • (dev. Square Enix)

how it started vs how it’s going

SUSURRUS

Oh yeah, @cruelfeline I found the cloak entry about the First Tanta fighting something with allies:

Nice and vague, could have been anything, but I'm still choosing to believe that was Susurrus. First Tanta fought him directly, her seven warriors kept the Rheddig or any minions he summoned at bay.

And just for kicks I checked the other equipment entries to see if I could find anything for sure about these "seven trusted warriors," and I found... less than seven lol

Or at least less than seven that explicitly state these people had a connection to the First Tanta. There's nine cloaks and four necklaces that were sealed in the Labyrinths, any of them could have belonged to those warriors.

“Don’t point at it.”

Forspoken (2023) - Luminous Productions

Is there a consensus on how Sussy and Frey could be... physical? Not even just in /that/ way but in general. Illusion world body? Gold fragment no-face body? (Can they kiss?) Little gold bird form?

...does she just smooch her wrist?

"You fucking possessed me again? I told you to cut that out!"

"If you'd rather we died, I'll keep that in mind next time."

"What? I... I was dying?"

"Yes, you got sloppy and left yourself open to a rather devastating blow that I couldn't block for you. Do you know how hard it is to control an unconscious human body?"

"So, wait, you just... took over? And brought me to safety? I call bullshit."

"Call what you want. I didn't have to do it, you know. I could've caused all sorts of mischief puppeting your body around."

"So why didn't you?"

"You may find this hard to believe, Miss Tanta, but I do care about your well-being. There's only so much I could've done before you bled out and I'd get sucked back into your arm or something. Can't do much rampaging as a corpse's tattoo."

...

"Well... thanks for not letting me die I guess."

"Any time."

(I may have made this a bit too messy lol)

Forspoken's ending and post-game both pose the same general question: why in the world does Frey let Cuff live? And why does she just... go on talking to him? Interacting with him? Bantering with him?

yes, one could just assume that the developers weren't going to take away Cuff as a game mechanic and also weren't going to record a huge amount of voicework to totally alter their relationship, but shhh we're looking at this as-is from an in-world, character POV

One way we can look at it, I suppose, is by assuming that Frey cannot kill Cuff. Either because he is unkillable, or because she simply does not have the strength to. Perhaps this - binding Cuff again - was truly the only option, and she's simply making the best of an unfortunate situation. If she has to be his prison warden, she may as well make good use of him.

But. Well. We have no confirmatory indicator of that. It's not like Frey tries to kill Cuff and visibly fails, learning that she has no choice but to imprison him again. She just... doesn't seem to try at all. In fact, throughout their battle, she tries to de-escalate things with him, at least twice. She behaves as if she doesn't want to kill him, regardless of her ability.

Why? He horrifically harmed the people and the land of Athia. He harmed and eventually killed her mother. Had a hand in harming and leading to the deaths of what would have essentially been her aunts. He caused the conflict and strife that directly resulted in her being orphaned and left to fend for herself in New York City. Plus... he's just very, very annoying.

So why not kill him?

One can't know for sure, obviously. I expect only the writers know. But, for me, the potential answers are key to what make these two characters and their relationship such a highlight of the game for me.

Cuff is, from what we can tell, the closest companion Frey has ever had. She doesn't seem to have had any friends in NYC. Her Athian friends, while very much present and affectionately thought of, cannot follow her out into the rest of the world where she spends most of her time. Only Cuff can do this. And so Cuff ends up being the one she talks to the most. He ends up being the one who is always there, always present when Frey experiences both triumphs and disappointments, victories and losses. He was there when she first came to Athia. He supported her during that time, ulterior though his motives were. He was there when she struggled with her role in Athia, when she first killed another person, when she learned of her mother's identity. His behavior wasn't altruistic in the least, but he was there. He was, for better or worse, her sole source of stability and even comfort when she was going through incredibly harrowing life experiences.

He was also her teacher. He taught her how to survive in Athia, how to use her powers of traversal and combat. He gave - and gives - constant feedback during battle that is useful, despite being drenched in unnecessary attitude. He taught her about Athia itself, about its cities and people and landscapes and culture. Everything she has become, she partially has him to thank. Again, his motives were anything but pure, but the fact of it is that he is the one that taught her so much of the information and skills she uses to stay alive. He was invested in her, in a more focused way than anyone else ever was.

There's also this sense, to me, that Frey makes a connection between Cuff's acts of violence and her own prior poor behavior. Not in severity, obviously, but in motive. In emotional root. There is a moment between the two of them during their final battle where Frey identifies and acknowledges his anger towards and resentment of the Tantas, seemingly likening it to her own. And another where she admits that, while she may not fully understand him, she can assure him that he is not alone. Suggesting that she sees her old, angry, abandoned self in him and his behavior.

Considering all of those things, it makes some level of sense, why Frey spares Cuff. Why she binds him again, rather than killing him once and for all. She is essentially playing for him the role that Judge Maya Bird played for her: giving him a chance to work through his anger and resentment in a way that doesn't involve destruction. By giving him his own very involved sort of community service. And she's saving the life of the person who, for better or for worse, has been the closest and most intimate friend she's ever had.

Now, from the other side of things: why does Cuff continue to protect her, advise her, and teach her? Why continue to assist yet another Tanta who has imprisoned him and kept him from fulfilling his life's purpose.

On the one hand, there are the practical aspects of the situation. Cuff, as far as we know, is very tightly bound to Frey now. Potentially even more so than he was before: he's gone from being a piece of jewelry to being an actual tattoo. It is possible that, should severe bodily harm come to her, he would suffer as well. If she were to die, he might die, too.

Furthermore, any chance he may have of fulfilling his goal hinges upon driving Frey mad. To do that, given that she is very much wise to his intent, he would do well to lull her into a false sense of security. Continuing to help and support her would facilitate that.

But beyond those practical aspects... well. Hard to say, given that we know much less about Cuff's emotions than we do about Frey's, but there are possibilities.

For one, I feel that it's very likely that Frey has been perhaps the only person who has spoken to and treated Cuff as just another person. Maybe not always politely, but still: she talks to him like she'd talk to anyone else. Casually converses with him. Sometimes jokes with him. Asks him for his opinions on various matters. I expect that this is a new experience for him. His only other identity has been as this ancient weapon, this monstrous, vengeful machine-demon. He was created and then re-released by the Rheddig for the sole purpose of destroying Athia; I doubt they had a nice chat with him before sending him off to do his duty. And in Athia, he was only ever seen as an agent of apocalyptic destruction. Once imprisoned by the Tantas, it's highly unlikely he ever had anything resembling a friendly conversation with them.

With Frey, he has an admittedly fraught but at least semi-stable, not-entirely-antagonistic relationship. He has, to put it in the very simplest terms, someone to just talk to. As a person. Not as a war-machine-demon-creature. And while it's hard to say if that means anything to him, given how duplicitous he is, it's not totally farfetched to believe that it can mean something positive. He certainly does enough casual talking to suggest that he might enjoy it!

So he continues to protect and assist her. Perhaps because he has to, in terms of self-preservation. Perhaps because, in spite of himself, he appreciates having someone around that can listen to his perpetually annoying commentary and offer her own back. Perhaps even, stretch though it may be, because what she said to him during that final battle meant something, even if he doesn't quite know what.

It's such a bummer that this game reviewed poorly. I feel like it ruins any chance for a sequel, and these two characters and their relationship are so fascinating to me.

I wish we could see them continuing to depend upon and influence one another. I wish we could see their relationship grow.

Forspoken in a nutshell. (for all you Cuff appreciators out there～！)

Forspoken • Cuff's Susurrus betrayal

i know some mutuals are playing the game right now, so rambling with Forspoken ending spoilers under the cut:

thinking about the bodysharing elements with Frey and Susurrus bc i am insane abt bodysharing lol... and just thinking like. Susurrus is clearly living inside Frey's body now, but does he have any control over it? COULD he gain control at some point? Even just like, the arm that he's bound to or something? Also do they have any mental connection? They must to some degree, right, since Frey is the only one who can hear him? The longer they're together, will they end up merging more into one being? Could Susurrus "front" in Frey's body? And the scattered lore bits say that Tantas live way longer than non-magic humans - after spending potentially centuries (or even longer ?) together, will they have trouble discerning where one ends and the other begins? As everyone around them ages and dies and it's just the two of them, on and on and on, will they start to forget what life was like when they were separate? Will Susurrus die when Frey does? Or will Frey live indefinitely because of Susurrus' lifeforce? Will they eventually both become so detached from the mortal experience that they're like something else entirely? Some new form of existence, two magical entities acting as one, somewhere between human and demon, that's never graced the world before?

day five of femslash feb! im gonna make a hub post either tmrw or the day after for all of these, but there's also a series on my ao3 if u wanna catch up! rlly liked what i did with this one <3

Ventured onto the Forspoken subreddit despite the indigestion that place gives me because of all the hate pretending to be "valid criticism," but it reminded me today is Forspoken's birthday!

So have a bonus photo dump of some of my favorite shots, some of which I haven't posted yet :D