#{ she long ded }

[pain-is-too-tired]

"Hey dad, would you show up for me now?

Just to bury your little boy in the ground"

Lonely by Palaye Royale

Chris getting claimed only after he's out of the Labyrinth. Just. 😭

[trash-nerd]

i swear to god if one more fucking member screams at me for nothing im fucking quitting

[seburath-aryes-ancunin]

Just something a little funny.

I thought it was funny seeing all the people write fanfics of Tavs and Astarion a d they call him Star or Stari. With Aryes she doesn't call him anything like that.

No she calls him Rio. Why?

Well when they met (pre-vamp Astarion mind you) Aryes was young, as in 6-7 and she had lost a few teeth (not spoiling how but it wasn't natural causes.....) she couldn't say his name properly. It would always come out as Azzarion or asarion.

So he gave her permission so call him Rio since that was the only part she could speak if she needed him.

In return, he called her Ashes which turned into Ash (he called her Ashes as a joke because as the time she was shedding her scales so her shed scales looked like ashes because they are ashen colored)

And they kept those names even after they were reunited.

Aryes never calls Astarion her little star or anything like that. She calls him Rio and her Silver haired prince.

Funny enough the others have nicknames for her too.

Karlach calls her Ari (a call back on my original/alt spelling of her name Aries).

Gale calls her Nightingale ('as dark as the night sky with eyes as bright as the moon' as he once told her)

Lae'zel calls her a dragon (she also told her she smells of home and wasnt immediately hostile to her on the first meeting).

Shart, Volo and Wyll usually call her by her name. Although Shart sometimes calls her Ari if she's around Karlach. Volo called her dragon a few times but she made a joke about it (something about 'dragon his ass out of the camp') and he stopped that and called her by her name from then on.

Halsin calls her Shadow because she's so sneaky. He adores her but sees her more like a sibling (she's not interested in him. She has a vampire and Rizzard)

But yeah just some interesting lore for Aryes.

[gender-euphowrya]

i may have fucked up

[fieryland]

Wanna see when stepbro!Eren almost got caught while locking his pretty stepsis in the mating press. He would be so hot ugh. Bonus point if he doesn’t really care and secretly wants to be founddd😣 im ded

Mmmmmmm he’s such a mating press kinda guy cause he loves holding his little sis down nice and secure so that she can’t hide when they get caught. Especially when their parents come home mid-fuck and Eren doesn’t stop pounding her tight cunt. They’d call for them to take the groceries out the bag but he’s moaning and groaning even more, cooing at his pretty stepsis that’s too fucked out to comprehend a thing. “Look, baby, they’re callin’ for us. Want me to show them how you like getting this pussy fucked, hm?” he grins at the teasing, skin glistening with sweat and excitement as his hair falls over his shoulders— hair tie long gone.

“mmmm-” she moans underneath him, locked between his forearms. His pace was relentless, hitting every spot so good she swore he could split her in half on his fat fucking cock. His hands on her face and nose nudging her cheek, he spoke. “What’s that, sis? You want it?” he laughs through his words, accentuating the sound of his balls slapping against her ass which put them that much more at risk. “gonna make ‘em watch you cum all over your big brothers cock like a little slut, yeah? ‘s that what you are?”

“Y-yeah, i’m a slut.” she nods in his hands, babbling instead of talking, too focused on chasing her high for god-knows which time.

“Fuck— yeah. My slutty little sis.” He doesn’t stop fucking into her, not then, not for a while. He was using her hole like a literal fuck toy, her slick bubbling around his length in the form of a white ring. With Eren pridefully smiling at her and his hair falling in front of his face, he was too pussy-drunk to notice the knocking on the bedroom door.

“Eren? Where’s your sister?”

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for ditching my boyfriend in a shady area? (even though he ditched me first and i was scared?)

pretty much what it says on the tin. personally i think i am absolutely not the asshole but we’ll see i guess.

we were on a road trip through the states when the car started making a weird sound, so he pulled over.

(keep in mind, it’s dark and we’re in the middle of fucking nowhere)

the exact problems with the engine aren’t relevant, but he said it wasn’t working properly and there was steam coming out of the engine, so i say call AAA.

he says “no, they’ll take too long.”

i say “so what do you think we should do then???”

he. fucking. says. “i’ll stand on the side of the road and see if someone’s willing to help us.”

at this point i’m starting to freak out like NO no no there’s been so many reports of crime here we are not about to ACTIVELY ENCOURAGE creeps to come get us.

i say “i’m not doing that” but apparently that was the wrong thing to say because he’s all like “don’t worry i will :) stay with the car and make sure it’s safe :) love you babe :)” god

now i’m like this is straight out of a fucking horror movie right. i am scared out of my goddamn mind. he gets out of the car and i am left ALONE just trying to avoid looking out the windows into the darkness.

he opens the door again and i get the fright of my life but he just says “i’m gonna go with someone to get fuel. stay here and lock the doors :)” like WHAT THE FUCK please please don’t do this you cannot leave me alone but hes already shut the door and i’m not going outside so i lock it like he says.

he’s gone for TWO FUCKING HOURS and i was scared out of my goddamn mind. there were creepy sounds the Whole Time and every little thing was petrifying and headlights kept passing by and it was horrible.

anyway eventually i get out and check and man door hand hook car door

What are these acronyms?

[youuuimeanmee]

SxF Chapter 95 Thoughts

The drought is over.

And HOLY MOLY

AAAAAA I know we're nearing the end-semester gala but I never thought we'd get it on THIS chapter AAAADHJDJSKDN

When I saw the chapter is 21-pages long, I made sure to savor it well sskskjs

"Guardians will not be attending the gala." DAMMIT. Oh wait, Twillight can just disguise himself as a volunteer. I forgot.

Lol this is really not good for Damian's poor little heart.

WOHOO Becky cute!!

Huh, looks like Henry and Martha had a history together. Maybe they used to be classmates in Eden? Or something else, maybe.

The party is different than I expected. I thought ALL students will mingle in one place. I thought we'd meet Demetrius here. Oh well.

Damn this is depressing. Reassignation class based on academic performances. It's really happening. Anya will be separated from Becky. Hopefully their classroom will not be that far off 🥲

Damn Damian. Looking fine there, like a true young chaebol.

ANYA IS CUTE!! She's a princess!! 😭💕 I was surprised with her hair, I thought she'd keep the haircones. It's almost like as long as the little bundle of her hair is protected, any hairstyle is fine. Her dress though... It's darker than I expected; I thought she'd go with light color. But this is fine too. She's cute either way. (lowkey reminds me of a little witch, lol). It's also cute how she and Damian looks matching with black-and-white outfits, hehe. (Then again, this is b&w manga. Will their outfits have different color in the colored illlustration?)

Nicee Ewen, you do know when to give credits when it's due.

Nah Damian you're just making up shit now. You have excellent eyes, you know her dress is not cheap.

Of course Damian would fo anything for any imperial-scholar related. Cute.

Now this is interesting.

Some people say it's a reference to Harry Potter, so I wonder if some of it will turn out to be true. Especially the last two: "the cursed underground maze in section 4" and "the sealed chamber in the tower of wisdom." Sounds like hella suspicious places for a school filled with top political figures in the country. What if those are the places Donovan entered often? Hmmm. *sus glance* Wonder if DamiAnya gang will tackle the 7 mysteries like in Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun and see something they shouldn't see like in Promised Neverland, lol.

Anya, you got this! It's the name you learned in the school's interview! She already forgot, lol. But at least she got the "Ben" right!

Wonder if any of these kids will become Anya's new classmate, lol. Endo really used his break time brainstorming new characters here.

OMG IM DED. Narcis Hubrisse. Brayzen. These fucking fitting names I swear 🤣🤣🤣

Yesss you go Becky. Set your standard high. Don't mingle yourself with these lowly boys.

YAAASS. A GENTLEMAN ASKING ANYA OUT. YOU GO BOY. Even if it's a facade at least it's better than these Hubrisse and Brayzen boys.

OH.MY.GOD. FFFUUUUCKKK AJDNSKDBKDJDJSKHDUDJXNJDKDHDJJSJKSJSJSYEEEESSSSSS

HE'S HEREE HE'S FUCKING HERE. His hairstyle is ugly but HE'S HERE. I was wondering if we're gonna meet him soon. I was righttt, he iss gonna be a recurring character. I mean look at the name reveal from chapter 93. Look at that damn edgy hair. Hopefully he will be Anya's new classmate. But I never thought he'd put an interest in her as a runner-up in the classical language test. What is his background? How is he so good with the classical languange to even reach 90-ish points even though it's rarely taught? Does he have a connection with Anya with his gift in classical language and weird hairstyle? Why does he have such unsettling bow tie? I need to knooww

And he even pull off such a strong reaction from Damian too, skskjsksk. 2nd ML candidate? Lmao

Good to know Arnold's family is B tier. Not bad.

Twillightt you got soft. Letting Anya and Damian do whatever they want? What happen to the mission?

Lowkey sad to see Anya trying hard because Twillight didn't trust she would do a good job in plan B.

Oh mah gahh these preciouss kiddss 😭True homiess 😭😭💕💕

At least this will ensure Anya to get her place fair and square.

I wonder if Twillight realize Anya is approaching Damian for the sake of world peace she mentioned. Or he's simply motivated with Anya's motivation.

But at this rate, the dance will be over the moment Damian got his partner, lmaoo

Great comeback chapter! 🔥🔥🔥

*Edit: Screw what I said that Arnold might be the 2nd ML. I don't trust his hairstyle, his droopy eyes, his bow tie, and his polite manners. So far we've seen only adorable children but he could be evil for all we know. Better be cautious than sorry.*

[protemporescitor]

"But she ded tho" (a.k.a. the dumbest argument against Clerith) - A rant

To expand on my previous post, in which I posited the crazy, far-fetched theory that in a fantasy setting mayhap death is not the relationship brick wall that it would be in a more grounded, realistic one*, I just want to bring up a few points to further buttress this off-the-wall notion.

"Cloud can't be with Aerith. She's dead!"

We've all heard it a thousand times. It is the argument most commonly levelled against Clerith. It is also the worst (and laziest) one.

It's often delivered in a declamatory and glib fashion, as though it were some sort of obvious conversation ender. Q.E.D. End of debate. The ultimate gotcha. "Checkmate, Clerith fans!" the haters think to themselves, chortling and patting themselves on their backs for this profound insight. (Insert tasteless and juvenile comments about Aerith being "shish kebab-ed" by Sephiroth as desired.)

And all I can think is "That's it? That's your best argument? That's some weak tea, man."

Despite its myriad flaws, this idea continues to radiate throughout the fandom a good quarter century after the original title's release, as though it had never once been challenged. It is a feeble and untenable position, a house built on sand, and one that deserves to be thoroughly demolished. With Rebirth on the horizon, and all the shipping wars nonsense rising from the grave once more as a result, it is high time, if you'll forgive the expression, that we laid this cliché to rest once and for all.

(*Note: Even in a more "realistic" setting lacking any kind of fictional afterlife, this would still be a gross oversimplification of the story's themes of loss, regret, and yearning, as well as entirely ignoring the idea of love transcending death, but we'll set those concerns aside for the time being.)

Lastly, before we begin: This is not an anti-Zerith / CloTi screed. Those pairings both have an undeniable canonical basis. My aim here is simply to demonstrate that the notion that Cloud and Aerith are forever separated by death is rendered invalid by virtue of the type of setting that their story takes place in. (Something that, frankly, one would reasonably assume to be perfectly obvious. Alas, such is not the case. And so I find myself yet again pointing out the glaringly obvious.)

Now, without further ado, let's begin:

Part 1. Before (the Compilation) Crisis

In the beginning, there was the year 1997, and Squaresoft had just released their latest title. And lo, it was good. We spent days and weeks following our favorite polygon people around their embattled little globe. We fought, laughed, cried, and struggled up until the Meteor Crisis reached its crescendo, and the credits rolled. Gosh, what an ending! But what did it all mean? How did things REALLY turn out? Did we get a happy ending at all?

According to some, Cloud lived happily ever after with his childhood sweetheart, Tifa. According to others, he continued to roam the earth in search of his Promised Land to be reunited with his tragic lost love, Aerith. Yuffie swiped everyone's materia (again). Cid finally went to the moon. Red XIII opened a haberdashery in Costa del Sol, or something. No-one really knows for sure.

And so, the fandom began to spread to every corner of the internet in search of answers. Thus began the age of dissension. Opinions clashed across fanzines, blogs, and fanfic country alike. Wild fan theories abounded pertaining to special codes, methods, and blood rituals capable of bringing back our erstwhile flower girl. The fan-made media bubble surrounding the game turned into a lawless land of misinformation and vicious disagreement. None were spared.

A brief digression on why said rumours persisted for as long as they did (CAUTION: Massive spoilers for Chrono Trigger).

One side proposed a simple solution. A way to cut the proverbial Gordian Knot of our fandom. It was quite obvious, really. Just staring everyone in the face. The flower girl was dead, and that was that. Thus, there was only one possible conclusion to our narrative. Cloud's feelings on the matter were, of course, irrelevant. With Aerith out of the picture, the only logical choice left to him was to settle down with Tifa, and that was that. Never mind the themes of doomed, tragic love and the possibility, strongly hinted at throughout the game and outright confirmed during its ending, of existence after death.

Overall, direct evidence for said afterlife was scant, but not entirely absent from the story. As an example, at one point during her childhood, Aerith speaks to Elmyra, trying to comfort her, saying that the spirit of her husband wanted to come visit her, confirming that an afterlife presence did indeed exist. But for some, this simply wasn't evidence enough. And so the war raged on. Which brings us to…

Part 2. Advent Children: The smoking gun

Remember back when a certain portion of the fan base insisted that Gaia erased all the humans at the end of the story, on the flimsy basis that we don't see any during the game's brief post-credit scene? Well, that little theory was neatly undone by subsequent releases in the Compilation, showing regular ol' humans still roaming around Gaia in all their everyday human-ness. Hence, it is rarely brought up these days. Would that the pernicious notion of "but she ded tho" could follow in its footsteps, given that the same film roundly contradicts it in every way possible.

For starters, the film inexplicably bring two characters, Rufus and Tseng, hitherto assumed to be dead, back to life, probably in an effort by Square to shoehorn as many recognizable members of the cast into their animated feature as they could. But that's not all. Next we have three characters that everyone agreed were deader than doornails ALSO making appearances, first in flashbacks, and then directly influencing the world of the living. Zack speaks to and encourages Cloud during his struggle. Aerith reaches out to him (quite literally) from beyond the grave and assists him in defeating Bahamut. And of course Sephiroth pops back into existence just in time for his contractually-obligated boss fight near the end of the film. All three demonstrate quite clearly and definitively that death is not the impenetrable barrier to continuing interactions between the living and the dead in the world of Final Fantasy VII, as a certain segment of the fan base would have everyone believe it is.

To be blunt, I don't know what level of dense you'd have to be to keep up this so-called "argument" in light of this information. Advent Children reiterates what most of us already knew, that our story takes place in a fantasy setting* with a confirmed afterlife existence.

(*You'd think that the name of the series would clue people in.)

The notion that death represents, within the context of said setting, the ultimate end was already softly contradicted by the original game's narrative, and then (because that was apparently too subtle for some people) flat-out annihilated by the existence and events of Advent Children. It should have long since ended this nonsense. But somehow, it didn't. These revelations, obvious though they are, remain ignored for some reason. And so, the cycle of willful ignorance continues.

But we're not done yet. We now move on to more tangential, but still relevant arguments against this line of "reasoning".

Part 3. Stop Hitting Yourself: Why "but she ded tho" is insulting to everyone

And I do mean everyone. Let's examine this, shall we?

It's insulting to Cloud.

To suggest that he loses interest in Aerith the moment she sinks beneath the waters, or that he is obligated to move on simply because she is no longer among the living, with no mourning period, no time to work through his guilt and grief, is to portray him as shallow and uncaring, something that goes against virtually all the characterization that he's been given throughout the story. The line of thinking apparently goes "Well, she's gone. That sucks. She was cute, too. Better move on to the next available piece of meat."

Sounds pretty gross when you write the quiet part out loud, doesn't it?

It's insulting to Aerith.

"Didn't even toss the b@#h a Phoenix Down, just dumped'er in the water LAWL"

I'm sure you've all come across comments like that at some point, usually originating from some errant redditor or blogger. Thinking themselves fine fellows and enlightened, above-it-all gadflies, they provide us at length with this and other prime specimens of 14 year-old internet edgelord "humour" that carries about as much edge as a perfect sphere. Remarks like these serve little purpose beyond confirming my suspicion that our fandom is indeed plagued with illiterates who can't tell the difference between the terms "revive" and "resurrect", and insist on conflating game mechanics with storytelling. And you wonder why some people are confounded by words like "flammable" and "inflammable".

(All right, I'll put the salt down. For now.)

"The party's designated white mage dies, oh no, that's so sad, boo-hoo, life goes on," I hear you say.

But boiling Aerith's role down to one of merely that of a temporary party member who kicks the bucket halfway through the story, never to be heard from again, both cheapens her purpose within the larger narrative and denies the clear effect that she continues to exert, directly and indirectly, on it and the other characters after her passing.

Though Aerith may have departed the world of the living, the story makes it abundantly clear that her influence on it has not ended. There are hints here and there that she still tries to assist her friends from the afterlife. As an example, when the party rediscovers Cloud in Mideel after assuming that he might be lost for good, a villager sums it up best with the following remark: "That boy must have one hell of a guardian angel."

It's only mentioned as a vague hint in the original story, but it is clear that some beneficent force is acting on Cloud and Tifa's behalf, aiding them in their survival and uniting them in the Lifestream in order to help Cloud recover his memories. Later supplemental material confirms that to have been Aerith's doing. If that's not enough to convince you, though, the original game's ending leaves little room for ambiguity as to Aerith's continuing influence. When Holy sputters and fails, she coaxes the Lifestream itself to intervene, burning away the calamitous meteorite, helping her friends put an end to the planetary crisis long after her own demise. I suppose the lesson here for silver-haired godhead wannabe villains is this: Strike her down, and she shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

So the idea that Aerith's participation in the story immediately comes grinding to a halt upon her death is both puerile and easily demonstrated to be false. But even if that were the case, downplaying her lingering influence on Cloud and the other characters in this manner would still be ignoring the creators' intent. Whether one interprets Cloud and Aerith's relationship as romantic or merely platonic, it is clear that her death, the loss of one of his closest allies, is something that wounds him deeply, and scars him forever. Two years on, he still pines for her company and desires her forgiveness for his perceived failures. She clearly occupies a special place in his heart, and her memory and legacy live on within him, spurring him on as he wanders the planet, searching for some way to meet her again, defying the impossible. (Which, as we all know, isn't going to happen. This is, after all, Final Gritty Reality we're talking about here.)

Ah, but all of this is a moot point, you say? Even if he did wish to be with her, preferring the company of the last Cetra over that of his childhood friend… well, too bad. That's no longer an option. We can spout all of this verbiage about "soul pain" this and "star-crossed lovers" that, but at the end of the day, Aerith is still dead, and that's that. At least, that's what ardent CloTi fans will insist, no matter what. So, what is Tifa to Cloud, then, by their own logic?

Which brings us to perhaps our most salient, and most overlooked point, at least as far as CloTi shippers are concerned. If all that wasn't enough for you, you may want to consider that it's deeply insulting to Tifa, as well. Grievously so, in fact. Quite possibly more so than any other character in this whole equation. And the reason why should be plain as day if you stop to think about it for a fraction of a second.

Here's the thing… if you can't articulate why you think Cloud would prefer to be with Tifa in spite of Aerith being alive, then you are essentially declaring her the "winner" by default on no other merits than the fact that she's still sucking down air. Stating "but she ded bro" means relegating Tifa to the role of a consolation prize. I don't think I could ever hurl such a staggering insult towards her as her biggest fans keep doing, without even realizing they're doing it.

Ask yourselves, is that really what you want for your supposed favourite character? To frame her as being doomed to eternally play second fiddle to her fallen friend? Cloud's "plan B"? The "side piece"? Someone who only stands a chance if her rival in love is literally six feet under? I'm sure she'd be thrilled by the high regard in which her own fans seem to hold her. (Hey, you said it, not me. It's not my fault if you don't take the time to actually consider the ramifications of what rolls off your keyboard. But by all means, keep insulting your own favorite character just to put down a ship you don't like.)

In closing, if we unearth the subtext and reframe it to highlight what people are, in essence, saying, it's this: "It's a good thing that she-who-shall-not-be-named bit the dust, because otherwise our beloved Best Girl Tifa (tm) wouldn't stand a chance."

It's a simple enough question: Why do you think that Cloud and Tifa belong together? What, in your mind, makes them a good fit for each other?

"Well, the competish is dead." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for your best girl, now is it?

Part 4. "Heads, I Win. Tails, You Lose": A brief word on hypocrisy

In fandom, it's often the loudest and most obnoxious voices who tend to drown out the more reasonable ones, those of fans who are just minding their own business and grooving on the thing that they like. Which, unfortunately, renders this next part a necessary component of the greater argument that I'm trying to make. Multishippers and sane, reasonable CloTi and Zerith fans may consider themselves exempted from the following harangue.

The rest of y'all, buckle up.

The too-oft repeated refrain of "but she ded tho" entails a twofold hypocrisy. The first part is:

Case of Tifa: Fan hypocrisy regarding death.

Strident anti-Clerith fans, with their usual level of maturity, will often bring up Aerith's demise in a gleeful, mocking tone that can best be summed up as "ding dong, the witch is dead!" And if the shoe were on the other foot? If their Best Girl Tifa (tm) were the one pushing up daisies instead of Miz Gainsborough? Would they be quite so cavalier in their attitudes?

Who wants to bet that these fans wouldn't be making this "argument" so loudly if it was their ship that was in question? Consider this scenario: Suppose that the remake trilogy does the unthinkable and has Tifa die in Aerith's place. What then? Would they accept that "but she ded tho" is, at best, a double-edged sword, one that applies equally to their own favourite ship were their fortunes to be reversed?

Something tells me that's not the case.

But if you think that's hypocritical, you ain't seen nothing yet. This first point pales in comparison to…

The Zerith Exemption: Fan hypocrisy regarding the afterlife.

You know what my favourite thing about this whole debacle is? When people inform me that because they are separated by death, Cloud and Aerith have no hope of ever being together again. They will then unironically pivot to shipping Zack and Aerith, two characters who are together in the MOTHERFUCKING AFTERLIFE.

It's wild. How do you even compress that much cognitive dissonance into one skull? We're talking about mind-melting, Olympic medal-worthy levels of mental gymnastics here.

Now, before someone accuses me of being morose, I'm not suggesting that Cloud hop off the nearest cliff just to be with his beloved (Aerith would not approve of him throwing his life away, for one), just that when he reaches the end of his natural life (which may not be too long, given the cells eating away at his body), he can finally be reunited with her in the afterlife.

Many ardent CloTi shippers see themselves as bound by law to uphold Zerith as a shield against the dreaded Clerith plague. But to proclaim, implicitly or explicitly, that the afterlife encompasses one but not the other is not an idea that can be taken seriously. It remains an utterly bizarre blind spot, one that beggars belief.

On a related note, there is the infamous misconception that is…

Part 5. The ZaCloud Fallacy

While this is not directly related to my main point, I nonetheless find myself compelled to address this issue. There is a long-standing confusion that bedevils our fandom, one that has its roots in the Shipping Wars (tm). I am, of course, referring to the ZaCloud Fallacy.

We owe this particular misapprehension to Crisis Core, a prequel/gaiden game that was released ten years after the original FFVII. Already, its existence can mess up the timeline, so to speak, as, strangely, people tend to treat it as a sequel rather than a prequel, and as though it were adding new and vital building blocks to the world of FFVII instead of merely distorting the original story while retreading it with a far less interesting cast of characters. It also retcons major elements of the original story that it shouldn't have (such as the events taking place in Nibelheim five years prior to the main narrative), lazily steals Clerith scenes only to rehash them with Zack and Aerith, and forces players to endure, at length, crimes against literature, courtesy of Genesis.

It's an odd prequel, to say the least, given how heavily it relies on the original story for context. Sequentially, it may take place before FFVII, but it can only be fully appreciated with the original in mind; it cannot be treated as a stand-alone story. The worst thing about Crisis Core existing is that playing it first can outright ruin people's perception of the original narrative by spoiling several major plot elements and even lessening them in the process. Crisis Core's writers are especially guilty of cheapening dramatic moments like Zack's last stand by transforming it from a quiet, tragic, harrowing scene about sacrifice to an utterly over-the-top and emotionally overwrought trainwreck. It all merely serves to add to the confusion, especially for gamers who started with this title instead of the original.

But if that were not enough, Crisis Core's reckless meddling with the story combined with the acrimonious and all-consuming nature of the shipping wars has resulted in one of the most nonsensical misconceptions in the entire fandom. During Crisis Core's ending, Zack implores Cloud to carry on his legacy, thus giving rise to the erroneous assumption that Cloud's behaviour in disc 1 is merely that of him "being Zack". Clerith-hating fans, in particular, pounced on this idea as a way to put a safe distance between him and Aerith, characterizing their interactions, whether platonic or romantic, as merely a case of Cloud utilizing Zack's memories and personality around her (Never mind that Zack and Cloud's personalities are as different as night and day).

It is a fundamental and willful misreading of the story, a gross oversimplification of a more complex and granular truth in service of a fan-originated meta-narrative, one that has been assembled in order to reach the conclusion that Cloud and Aerith's relationship is null and void, and that therefore the romance between him and Tifa remains unchallenged. (Never mind that the story is intended as more than just some playground tug-of-war romance). To maintain this lie is to do violence to the story by destroying Cloud's character arc and reducing him to a virtual non-entity until the very end of the game.

Having already been rebuked in regards to this pervasive delusion, certain fans have tried to hedge their bets by suggesting a second, more advanced version of this idea. ZaCloud Fallacy 2.0, if you will, which states that Cloud is only in Zack Mode (tm) when he's around Aerith. I don't even know what to say about that sort of nonsense. To paraphrase Charles Babbage, I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such an assertion.

I'd go into this in more detail, but YouTube creator LinkOnTheBrink has already covered this topic extensively in their superlative video essay "How Shipping Can Ruin a Narrative".

It may seem like I'm trashing Zack or Zerith here, but I'm really not. That was never my intent. So let me be clear about this: I like Zack. I just hate Crisis Core and what it's done to this fandom. If you prefer CloTi and Zerith to everything else, I don't much mind. Ultimately, this isn't about shipping wars nonsense, but protecting the narrative from such nonsense.

And that leads us to…

Part 6. I Against I: Where the fandom went wrong

We all know that the infamous FFVII Shipping Wars (tm) are as stupid as they are inescapable. Anyone who's spent any time at all within this fandom has inevitably run afoul of them and their detritus at some point, whether they've chosen to participate in them or abstain from the whole debacle. But there's a reason why this acrimonious dispute has raged on for as long as it has. Much like Blade Runner fans would argue until they were blue in the face about whether or not Deckard was a replicant, fans of this story have been squabbling about CloTi versus Clerith for ages for similar reasons. (Zerith got roped in as a "political wedge", I would argue, as much as a pairing in its own right.)

It's more than just a war over shipping, it's a war over canonization, over character motivation and psychology. Of how we ultimately interpret the story and its characters. Given the vagueness of the story's ending, one can't help but wonder and speculate as to how everyone ended up afterwards. (Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus may have offered some answers, but they still largely sidestep these questions in a noncommittal, to-be-continued manner.)

The problem is that, for many fans, it isn't possible to simply say "It's my preference" and be done with the matter. Unlike most rarepairs and bananas pairings like Cait x Jenova, CloTi and Clerith remain hotly contested because they go beyond mere shipping, or even aesthetic preference, or which characters one most identifies with; they lie at the core of how we perceive the story and its inhabitants. In that sense, I don't consider it to be an entirely frivolous debate, just an unsolvable one.

So, what's the answer?

There's this long-standing piece of received wisdom about JRPGs vs. WRPGs, where the latter involves more freedom at the expense of focused storytelling, and vice versa. This idea might hold true to some extent, but it is not some iron law that must be obeyed without question. For a game like FFVII, choices that radically affect the narrative structure would be considered an aberration and not the norm. And yet, it might represent the only way out of this quagmire that doesn't involve throwing half the fandom under the bus in the process.

For me, Mass Effect and similar titles (e.g., Quest for Glory) have already presented an obvious solution: Let the players choose. (There is already some precedent in the form of the Gold Saucer scene, although it ultimately doesn't change the outcome of the story all that much.) It may not be a perfect solution, but I'd argue that it's far better than leaving one side out in the cold. At least this way, everyone gets something.

"Ah, but this is not feasible," I hear you respond. "Not for an Eastern-style RPG, at least. Only one of these pairings can be correct, and one must, above all, respect the creator's vision."

Yeah, look where that got us.

Part 7. As You Like It: Ship whatever you please (just stop this nonsense)

I realize that this little essay of mine has been digressive, rudimentary, rambling, extemporaneous, and scattershot. So let me try to reach some kind of meaningful conclusion here.

Much of this anti-Clerith rhetoric we've seen over the years seems to stem from a place of insecurity, whether it's murmuring "but she ded tho", claiming that Cloud was only ever Zack in disc 1, inventing a fictional sex scene underneath the Highwind from whole cloth, and so on… The thing is, there is no need for it. Clerith and CloTi both exist canonically. Even the game manual says as much, describing Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith's relationship as a love triangle. In other words, the love triangle is what's canon, and the rest is by and large up for interpretation. (Zerith also canonically exists, and we've known this since the OG.)

The true reason why this whole disagreement has gone on for eternity, I suspect, has less to do with any debate over canonicity alone than it does the sheer enmity and pettiness that it has continued to spark for so long. It has metastasized over the years, going from being a mere squabble over which pair is canon to an exercise in holding the other side in contempt. That endless cycle of disrespect and reprisals is undoubtedly where it all went wrong in the first place. (If I had a nickel for every time someone commented "but she ded tho" or "wHy iS zAcK bLoNd iN tHiS pIc?" when someone posts a piece of Clerith fan art, I'd have a pretty nice collection of coins by now.)

Obviously, we should all try to just click off when we encounter content that we dislike, but it's not always easy, especially when something we harbour a strong aversion to is so deeply enmeshed within something that we do enjoy. And so, our fight-or-flight instinct kicks in. Before you ask, yes, I'm as guilty of that as anyone else.

Still, I firmly believe that the occasional olive branch can go a long way. So let me simply say that I have the utmost respect for Tifa and Zack. They are worthy characters in their own right. So create and share all the CloTi/Zerith fan works your little hearts desire. Hire a fleet of skywriters to declare Zerith your favourite couple. Throw a giant CloTi parade through the middle of Times Square. We don't mind. Honestly.

As stated above, whether it's CloTi, Clerith, or Zerith, you can stop fretting over which one is canon; they all are. The other three permutations (Zakkura, Zifa, AerTi) don't get much in the way of canon acknowledgement, but they probably should at this point.

In the end, this is about saving the narrative from the shipping wars, as much as anything else. To say that you prefer CloTi or something else to Clerith is fine. To assert that Clerith doesn't exist in any form, however, is where I begin to take exception.

Ultimately, I say ship what you like. All I ask is that you retire this sort of narrative-wasting nonsense. It's time we threw it into the garbage can of gaming history where it belongs. As for questions of motives, character interpretation, canonization, and so forth… if we cannot reach an accord, then let us at least try for a more amicable disagreement.

As for my fellow Clerith supporters, the next time you see the withered old canard that is "but she ded tho" being bandied about in the wild, feel free to laugh and treat it with the derision and contempt that it so richly deserves.

[enemyoflactose]

I Finished the Rest of Battle City

@lostsomewhereinthegarden wanted to be tagged

I was honestly getting a little tired of Marik and his problems by this point in the series which is why this took so long.

Voice acting:

Marik: THEY TOOK AWAY HIS SKELETOR VOICE

Characters:

Yami: He's pretty much the same, only he completely forgives normal Marik.

Yugi: pretty much the same only he forgives normal Marik.

Joey: he died and I started crying. He's pretty good as always and was absolutely robbed of that victory.

Téa: she kept getting possessed.

Tristan: nothing new

Duke: nothing new

Ryou: ate all the donuts

Yami Bakura: he giggled and did nothing.

Ishizu: she yells in lowercase and I think that's funny

Odion: Maybe it's just the dub, but he never says he wants Marik to be safe because he loves him. He just says it's his duty and it's how he'll be accepted into his family. Idk. It's a little weird that this may be his and Marik's final moments and he doesn't once say that he loves him.

Marik: I hate you. I hate you so much.

Yami Marik: hype wore off this guy sucks and can't duel without plot armor. He also talks way too much and it gets on my nerves.

Seto Kaiba: he's so angry that Yugi beat him in his own tournament it's kinda funny. He is my savior in these last episodes.

Mokuba: he's here

Serenity: she's also here

Mai: ded

Roland: the MVP

Duels:

Duel 1: Four Way Duel

In this duel Joey, Kaiba, Yami, and Yami Marik are all dueling each other at the same time. For a little bit, everyone is targeting Joey, but Yami keeps defending him so they move on to attacking Marik.

Every time Yami defends Joey, Kaiba says something snarky and that makes Joey go "Hey man, let me duel on my own for Mai."

And Yami just begrudgingly does it. Like this man does not want Joey dueling Marik.

Marik is just in his own little corner going "AHAHAHAAA I'm so evil" and everyone ignores him.

Kaiba is trying to knock out someone. I forgot who. He wants to get all three Egyptian God Cards and make his deck even brickier.

Yami Marik loses.

Duel 2: Joey vs Yami Marik

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥💪🪓💥PEAK💥🎉💯💯🔥💯💯❤️‍🔥⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡🦅🦅🦅

This duel is Yami Marik's only good duel, and by God is it Joey's second best (I like Joey vs Valon more).

In this duel, Yami Marik makes it a Shadow Game in which your energy gets drained if your monster is destroyed or loses attack points. Because Joey is a normal guy, he is weaker to this and therefore loses faster.

Some stuff happens and Joey was given Lava Golem. This makes him lose life points faster. Yami Marik is slowly burning him with other cards like nightmare wheel, but lava golem is cooler.

Yami Marik uses some worm things to make Joey lose more energy. Joey sacrifices them so he can summon Geilfried (idk how to spell it).

Yami Marik summons Ra Phoenix mode and destroys all of Joey's monsters. But my boy still stands.

Joey summons Gearfried and almost attacks, but then he dies.

Duel 3: Kaiba vs Yami

I kept dozing off during this duel because I was worried about Joey, soooooo I kinda have no clue what happened other than like a few things.

Kaiba and Yami are dueling in a coliseum because Kaiba is crazy.

Kaiba gives Yami Change of Heart sometime during this duel. Which makes me wonder if he always had that on hand, or if he yoinked it from Bakura. Did Bakura ever get it back?

Kaiba so summons his blue eyes at some point in this duel. And Yami summons red eyes. And that Dark Magician Paladin thing.

During this duel Kaiba and Yami attack each other with their god cards and it takes them to a vision of the past in which the gods are turned to stone and the two of them are fighting.

Yami Marik is stuck in a wall. One time I read a fic where Yami Bakura stopped time and butt fucked him there. Wild.

Yami wins by means I don't remember and Mokuba and Kaiba fight about something.

INTERMISSION

Téa gets possessed again and goes to fight Yami Marik.

Kaiba gets annoyed at Ishizu and then Joey.

Mokuba is annoyed at Kaiba.

Yami Marik and Marik are fighting during Kaiba and Joey's duel.

TéaMarik does some sick flips and then Ishizu and Yami intervene and make Yami Marik go away.

Turns out Marik is a little regretful about being the absolute worst and wants to make things right by doing not much at all because he sucks and can't do shit without help.

Téa is back.

Duel 4: Kaiba vs Joey

Joey was pissing off Kaiba and that convinced a duel for third place.

Kaiba is winning.

Joey summons Blue Eyes White Dragon from Kaiba's graveyard and this makes Kaiba so angry.

Uuuuhhhh.... Joey told Mokuba that Kaiba doesn't care about him and that made me really upset.

Some stuff happens idk I wasn't paying attention I don't really care about this rivalry.

Kaiba won and Joey got made fun of.

Final duel: Yami Marik vs Yami Yugi

Shadow game

I don't remember the first part of this duel other than Marik and Yugi are at risk of death and like I get caring about Yugi dying, but Marik kinda deserves it.

So um... Every time Yami loses life points Yugi's body starts to disappear. Same thing with Marik.

Yami summons his poker knights and then summons Slifer.

Marik Summons Ra.

Yami destroys Ra and then Summons Obelisk with A card Kaiba gave him.

Marik summons Egyptian God slime and Yami never asks what it does despite the fact that he can.

Some stuff happens and Yami uses Ragnarok and destroys everything and Marik surrenders.

HOW AND WHY MARIK SURRENDERED

While this duel is happening, Normal Marik is talking to Odion's dead body and says that everything that happened was his (Marik's) fault, and that he's sorry.

A while later, Odion wakes up and goes to save Marik. And by save I mean give him a pep talk.

He goes on and on about how Marik is good and can beat the darkness inside of him.

Marik is given a new found strength and tells Yami to attack him.

Yami attacks him and Marik has one life point left. Marik surrenders and Yami Marik dies while begging.

Marik is forgiven and I still don't think he did much to deserve it.

Afterwards

After that duel, Marik apologizes again, and then takes his shirt off to show Yami the scriptures on his back.

Yami can't read it tho so it was kinda pointless.

Marik then gives him the millennium rod and ring and Yami Bakura's lame ass who was playing spin the bottle with Dark Magician said "Thank you" because he's polite and we love him.

Kaiba says he's going to blow up the island.

Joey and the gang go check on Mai and Serenity says she ain't wake up yet, but then she wakes up because Joey juST GOT PRANKED LMAO

The Gang then find Bakura eating food because there isn't much to eat in the Shadow Realm. That makes me think that the Shadow Realm is biased towards the Bakurae because they always only get a slap on the wrist for losing.

We don't see Bakura or the Ishtar's for the rest of the episode so I'm choosing to believe they were busy adopting Bakura into their family as Marik's husband.

It takes the gang way too long to realize that they can just take the helicopter and don't have to ride in the broken aircraft.

The island explodes and the Kaibas come out in a Blue Eyes jet (there is a card of it).

This makes Joey upset.

The squad get back to Domino and Marik apologizes again, and his siblings thank Yugi and his friends for helping them.

The End

[asagirisfavoritepen]

The new chapter was crazy. Like wtf??? Ratstoievski (Fyodor) got the One Order??? And he has Bram's ability??? Does that mean that every time after he gets killed by an ability user he has 2 abilities??? Wasn't there like a rule that u can only have one??

Also, am I the only one that thinks that Fyodor doesn't actually care about Aya like he pretends? I'm pretty sure bro is lying again.

And wtf do u mean Teruko is an actual child??? Like, when I saw the leaks I was pretty sure she gonna be fine cuz she's an adult. Nup. My girl is like 12. She ded. Also, did I read that right or are my reading comprehension skills shit? SHE WAS MONTHS OLD WHEN SHE FOUGHT IN THE WAR??? I swear to all the Gods that could possibly exist that if I see one more person talking shit about her I'm going to jail for torture and murder.

Oh almost forgot to mention that FUKUCHI FUCKING ABSORBED THE LIQUID SHE WAS TRANSFORMED INTO AFTER BEING STABBED

And the fuck u mean Fukuchi is being fully controlled by Fyodor? Bro isn't playing fair! Like, Fyodor is (kinda) immortal, he got the One Order, he got Bram's ability ("echoes" of it, but still) and a motherfucking tripolar singularity that's as strong as a God??? Not fair. Chuuya, Verlaine, move ur asses to that airport now.

And no Ranpo??? Where is my son??? (I'm younger than him) Huh??? Is my baby ok?? Is he hurt? He gotta be alive, right? Fukuzawa, Aya and Teruko survived the thingie-thing so he probably did too. Right???

And how come we didn't get skk or sskk this month?? It's Pride Month. Asagiri is being homophobic. (Jk, I don't ship either) But hey, we finally got some Atsushi. A whole panel!

Also, I will assume that since we didn't get any more Sigma or Fyodor's memories, Sigma will wake up soon. Probably knowing how to defeat Fyodor.

And wdym Fedya just "came up" with the war?? Didn't Fukuchi see it in some vision from Ame no gozen or smth? Did Fyo just walk to him and was like "Uhm so... there will be a war in like 40 years. So we... uhm gotta eliminate the ADA. Oopsies."???

I can't anymore

So long story short, BSD is becoming Naruto (everyone is over powered and gay and idk what's going on)

[greenguy56]

Ello Witch’s castle is having a big ass lore update

(Will have to make more than one post cause this video was long)

The new trailer talks about that apparently the witch of light is I think a princess from a castle long ago

She was casted out of castle and the trailer says 12 witches bowed before her sharing her wish (which I think it means the witches from the which witch are you quiz even tho there was like 16 I think)

Also this confirms the witch of light made dozer

The witches gathered around and attempting to harness the essence of light

But thanks to one witch they all got ded

Screams of pain

Then it said the witch of light put their souls in bodies of cookies to save them by using her life essence

But then the one witch that caused this all was able to trap the witch of light soul in a cookie and judging by the silhouette this mean first cream is actually the witch of light her self

[therantingsage]

Been md au-ing for a bit but since I recently finished Side Order (I think) my thoughts have returned to Communing with the Dead.

((Minor minor Side Order spoilers below the cut? idk))

I gotta say, I'm kinda annoyed a little bit that I was like the one person who decided NOT to headcanon Dedf1sh as nonbinary only for this DLC to genuinely come out and do that. Like I didn't think me making Ahato a she/her transwoman would be something that would be able to be confirmed NOT true! And I'm not saying that to say it's even something that disappoints me! I'm nb and enthralled by the rep!

The problem is just that I've written 74,000+ words calling Ded she/her and having the transness and stuff be a major overarching theme? And also I still like Ahato better than Acht as a name...

Current plan: keep Ded in cwtd she/her but have them adopt they/them in addition to that later in a 'cool I've been alive now long enough that I have complex thoughts about this I want to be she/they' kinda way. Because it would be weird and jarring to change it abruptly just to comply to canon. The only major change to be made is that when I eventually have Marina meet her (because I planned for that to happen eventually anyway) there'll be recollection on Marina's part.

Also in the story I had Ahato be removed from active duty because fighting isn't her strong suit, so I feel very validated upon hearing Acht say that they slacked off a lot in the dlc akjdfjdf I clocked that one, that Octo is NOT a fighter in the slightest.

Not planning on changing her personality in the fic, all things considered it's very much not canon compliant to any degree, and also the personality she had in-story is kinda built from the ground up anyway. There'd be very little reason for them to act how they did pre-sanitization, which is somewhat implied to be how they act in the dlc.

Anyway that fic is still on the backburner, but rest assured I am still thinking about it! Now that we have any canon information about Dedf1sh at all there'll be an easier place to work towards.

Last note is that any sort of canon compliancy with this story is a losing battle from the get-go now because this is a ship fic and Side Order Ded is very much implied to be aroace aksjdfhaskdfh didn't expect that either but it is STELLAR. If I put Acht in Unions and Reunions, which I plan to, I'm definitely going to depict them very differently than how I do in cwtd. Maybe put them in a qpr? I'll figure it out as I go.

[sailorsplatoon]

im back again

(4: there’s dedf1sh! 💗💗 wonder what she thinks about?

ded: how long has it been since i had a burger)

AAAAAAAAA THIS IS GORGEOUS!!!

I seriously cannot get over how beautifully you draw both of them! And this is 100% an interaction that they would have. Then Acht looks over to see Four blushing and just asks “Can we have burgers for dinner?” That only makes Four blush more.

Thank you for this wonderful art!!! I literally gasped out loud when I saw this in my inbox

[schweizercomics]

Companions of Christmas 19 & 20: Snegurochka and Ded Moroz!

Long ago, in the Vologda Forest in what is now Russia, a couple, unable to have children, made one out of snow, and so great was their love for each other, and their desire for a child, that the girl came to life. They named her Snegurochka, which means “Snow Maiden.”

Now, the Vologda, along with many of the eastern Slavic lands, had terrible winters, and those winters were ruled over by a fierce elemental tyrant, an ancient ice wizard named Morozko. In order to appease him, the Slavs would send their children to present him with gifts as a show of fealty, that he might have pity on them and lessen the severity of storms, and use the great chains he would forge from ice to shatter the frozen waters.

Though they were loath to send their dear Snegurochka on such a perilous journey, the couple had no choice; their neighbors all sent their children, and the couple must do likewise. So Snegurochka went, to present her gift.

Morozko had little interest in the children who would present his gifts, except as a symbol of the power of life and death that he wielded over the Slavs. But he was taken aback when he saw Snegurochka, who reminded him so of his own daughter, who had died long ago. He was so arrested by the sight of her, and so fresh was the remembered grief of his lost child, that he sent all of the children (with their gifts) away so that they wouldn’t see him weep his frozen tears.

The children were so excited to be returning with the gifts (of which the making and buying had presented such hardships to their families) that they built a fire in the woods to have a celebration before going home. They began to play a game, taking turns leaping over the fire. Little Snegurochka, as elated as her peers, joined in. And when it was her turn to leap over the fire, she did so, but no sooner had the little girl made of snow sailed over the flames than she melted away to vapor.

Morozko (who could feel all of the ice and snow in his domain) immediately felt her disappear, and he watched, helpless, as the vapor drifted into the sky. And he knew that he could not bear to lose another child of snow, even if this one was not his. 

Morozko tried to use his magic to return her to snow, but she was a creature borne of pure love, and magic alone cannot bind love. But he still tried, and drew from himself the deepest cold of all in the hopes that it would be enough - the ice that encased his frozen heart. 

Even that ancient and terrible ice was not enough to bring back Snegurochka.

But with his heart no longer frozen, the love long buried inside Morozko began to shine, and that love was all he needed to shape the vapor back into the snow maiden. 

A bit less strong, a bit less fierce, and much kinder, Morozko took Snegurochka safely back to her village, to her parents. And when he bid his farewell, Snegurochka threw her arms around him, and called him grandfather. And now this is what he is called by everyone, for “Ded Moroz” means “Grandfather Frost.” Ded Moroz never again demanded gifts, but instead brings gifts to children all over Russia and its neighbors during the darkest days of the year, accompanied by his adopted granddaughter.

[ciananan]

Meet my Mortal Kombat 1 OC ✨ Ratri ✨ (ruh · tree)

𓆩⚝𓆪 Fun Facts about Ratri 𓆩⚝𓆪

Has trouble with her hearing, so Shang made a device built especially for her.

Her outer garb can expand and helps her float when she swings from one place to other.

She uses her selendang (green wrap) to make herself as a human-size sling shot, pulling and throwing herself. Her yellow garb helps her floats while she's in the air.

Facial expression is so important for her, regarding her hearing, so seeing Shang Tsung always smiling and his dramatic ways of talking made her feel safe and amused around him.

Talking about facial expression, she DESPISES Bi-han. He never put a single ounce of effort when he talks.

She used to judge an individual's personality based on their facial expression when they talk. Despite the fact that Shang Tsung is not a very good person, he was a number one on her good people list.

She's a very kindhearted gal who only goal is to make everyone around her happy.

Shang Tsung was using her at first, but after seeing her dedication and her potential, and after discovering her disability, he took her in and made her his own adoptive-daughter body guard.

Her outfit is inspired heavily by Javanese traditional attire.

Backstory and Relationship with other characters under the cut

𓆩⚝𓆪 Ratri's Backstory 𓆩⚝𓆪

How she joined Shang Tsung, basically the Island where Shang found the abandoned island with powerful magic used to be Ratri's village. The village got destroyed because of the sudden burst of the magic energy. It poisoned the village's main water source, the animals, the plants, basically the whole ecosystem got fucked.

But Ratri here somehow survived, being creative and adventurous, she managed to found another source of water far away but was too late when she returned back to her village to spread the good news (the people ded). She, the protector of the village, failed her task.

When Shang Tsung came to the village, Ratri confronted him asking what was his purpose coming to the island. When Shang said he wanted to research the magic, Ratri misheard it as he wanted so Save the Village. At the end of his research, Ratri was devastated that Shang didn't cure the village. She confronted him again but now Shang Tsung realized there was something wrong with her hearing. So he built a device to help her with her hearing.

Not long, Bi-han came to get Shang Tsung to help him with his experiments and fighting the Shirai Ryu. Ratri now being loyal to Shang Tsung as he literally brought her in, took care of her, and helped her, won't leave him and made an oath to keep him save and protect him from everything that would disturb his safety. So with that, she joined Shang Tsung to the Lin Kuei base in Earthrealm.

𓆩⚝𓆪 Relationship with Shang Tsung 𓆩⚝𓆪

She sees Shang Tsung as a kind man and a life safer. In her culture, yellow and green combo is a symbol of a person with good moral value and it was proven when she thought Shang was going to heal the island. Don't worry, she still sees him as a generous man when he made her a hearing device.

Calls him 'Atsung', she loves making nicknames and she feels it suits him.

Their relationship is like a father and daughter.

Believes everything Shang does as a good deed and for a greater good.

Loves to gossip together, especially about Bi-han and his former enemy, Liu Kang.

𓆩⚝𓆪 Relationship with Bi-han 𓆩⚝𓆪

Absolutely HATES him since he always so stoic.

Watches him 24/7 hence he's so close with Shang Tsung and she knows he has an interest for Shang.

Tries to be nice and kind to him because Shang Tsung told her so. Bi-han is their ally and they're staying at his place, she should show a little bit of hospitality.

When Bi-han and Shang Tsung finally got together, she was so happy for Shang he finally found the one but also devastated because it means she has to protect Bi-han since he officially a part of Shang Tsung.

𓆩⚝𓆪

If you have anything to ask me about her, I'm always open! ✨

[ourlittleuluru]

I just... I just want to like... grab something and shake it. Chew on it. like... AHHH /head in hands, internally screaming into the void/ .·´¯`(>▂<)´¯`·.

First, it was that Incident that you can get from the rouge dungeon...

AND THEN AFTER, IT'S THE MESSAGE XAVIER SENDS!!! after you 100% the case!!!

MY HEART....! My body's already hurting enough... now my heart too 😭😭😭

Imma put this in the read more. Spoilers ahead!

So... there's this incident you can trigger... it's called Chaotic Dataspace. You would think it's nothing much aside from being all creepy and hive mind like... and then suddenly THEY TALK ABOUT YOUR PAST MEMORIES! FROM THE LIGHTSEEKER MYTH

Btw, this is my first encounter with this incident so... I haven't unlocked all the other options yet but gosh it's already hitting the feels so hard with this

^ isn't this the part where MC was lost that one time and Xavier came to find her???! Like she and Jeremiah went back into Starfall forest.

FOR XAVIER! ToT (Btw the choices here was just to either Lighten the Load > lose an item or something-something Trudge through it... I picked the latter because I had like 0 items lol)

The way Xavier's just there, holding you and waiting 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 AND MC JUST LETTING HER REAL THOUGHTS OUT! "It's nice being in Xavier's arms" WELL YOU BET IT WAS T^T I'm sure he gives the comfiest of all embraces

Okay... but seriously... the way he just says 500 years give or take... It feels like this is an actual glimpse into how long he's well alive for, in total since the Lightseeker days, me thinks. This doesn't feel like a random throw away ballpark number to me. BUTTTTT I may be tripping and looking too deep into it... idk;;; ¯\_(⊙﹏⊙∥)_/¯

And this ending??? Hello???? I'm sure Xavier was extremely worried this whole time but just holding onto MC grounds him and then you coming back to him unlike the other times... o(-(

I'm... i'm ded... gone... passed...

.... okay and then... the message after completing this whole case....

MC wants to give Xavier a cozy nest!!! 😭 that's so cuteeee! I CANT EVEN WITH THESE TWO!

and Xavier just drops a bomb on how he's recently getting dreams of MC disappearing... so... his past is still haunting him really bad and... and.. 🥺🥺🥺👐 the way he says the plushies they got together as something that links them. And even if MC isn't physically there, it will be like she was and it comforts him... i cant... cantttttttt

just let me dig a hole and rest there forever...

I totally did not go back to really read what I typed so some parts may be just a tiny bit.. incoherent...pardon me...