#( let me live that fantasy // wants )

[buttonheart]

Someone’s not a fan 🙄

[bacchuschucklefuck]

love thinking kipperlilly spends her afterlife looking for lucy in a familiar forest

[feelingtheaster99]

I understand it’s to set like a scary atmosphere but the Waterland scenes are simply too dark

[my-current-obsession]

Something I both love AND hate about FF7 (the original game and everything after, including the Remake trilogy) is that it is just ambiguous and/or player-driven enough that no matter which side of the love triangle you fall on (assuming you do in fact ship Cloud with one of the girls), the majority of fans for that ship are 100% CONVINCED it's the correct/canon option.

Like, certain scenes are definitely up to interpretation, and people are going to thus have varying reads on those scenes and the characters/relationships the scenes are about. It doesn't help that several scenes change depending on the player's choices, which acts as a confirmation bias as you naturally get more time and romantic moments with the girl of your preference. It really seems to me that MOST people who ship Cloud and Aerith have one solid interpretation (with a plethora of supporting evidence) of the series and the romance, while most people who ship Cloud and Tifa have their own solid interpretation with plenty of evidence that is VASTLY DIFFERENT from the Clerith reading of the game.

This is not a case of "one ship is clearly, explicitly canon and fans of the opposition just like their pick better and/or think it made more sense narratively and WISH it was canon" - for an example of that, look to the Avatar the Last Airbender shipping wars. This is a case where both sides literally interpret the story just differently enough that they come to entirely different conclusions about which girl is Cloud's true love. And if either side reaches out to try and explain their viewpoint to the other, they're just met with "uh, no. You're wrong." Try and explain what Cloud might be thinking in a given scene with one of the girls, why he acts a certain way... "That's not it at all, where are you getting this? Are you delusional?"

Like, I am a Clerith shipper. I have played all the games in the compilation and watched Advent Children. I tried to be as completionist as possible, even. And I came out on the other side of really digging into the story of this game loving Cloud and Aerith's dynamic and pretty firmly convinced they were canon. Or as canon as possible in the timeline where she died.

As any Clerith fan who participates in the fandom would know, if you try and explain your interpretation of these characters and the romance to a diehard Cloti supporter... you're met with a lot of "you're misinterpreting! Cloud and Aerith were just friends! She loved Zack to the end and Cloud loved Tifa since childhood and never stopped! Also Aerith is actually BAD for Cloud because she's too pushy/abrasive. She's not helping him open up, she's just forcing him to go along with her and making him uncomfortable!"

All of this is of course infuriating, but I'd like to think I'm self-aware enough to know we are kind of guilty of the same thing. The majority of Tifa fans are SO happy about the kiss in Rebirth, while we're over here dismissing it because, one it's optional, and two Cloud is "obviously" using Tifa as a rebound or settling for her since Aerith is seemingly unavailable. But that's not how Cloti fans see it at all.

We can talk until we're blue in the face about how TIFA deserves better than Cloud because she shouldn't be the second choice - the one he settles for. But I think most people who really love Cloti genuinely don't see it that way. In their eyes, she's NOT second-best. Cloud loved her all along and this kiss is finally confirming that. And nothing we say will dissuade them, just as nothing they say will actually change OUR minds about Clerith.

It is honestly really difficult for me to try and see the story and romance the way Cloti fans do, but I know the reverse is also true. Both groups of fans interpret the characters and relationships differently. The compilation ALLOWS us to interpret them differently. And this is why the ship war for a game from 1997 is still raging on.

Because both camps are certain they're right, they defend their position viciously. Sometimes that means invading the "other side" to tell them how wrong they are. This discussion/rant was prompted by a Cloti fan on a Clerith vid who wanted to debate MY comment about how wonderful the ship was and how good they were for each other. He was "confused" and "concerned" because Clerith fans were reading the story wrong or warping it to suit our ship.

I wanted to tell him, "buddy that's what YOU'RE doing". I wanted to write a goddamn essay explaining why Clerith is canon actually. But considering in my INITIAL comment that he first responded to I'd already brought up why I thought Clerith was great, and he was IGNORING that... I knew it would be pointless. There is nothing I could possibly say that would change his mind. There is nothing he could possibly say that would change my mind.

As long as both sides of this war are fully convinced they're right, this war is going to be endless and brutal. And that's why my absolute biggest fear for part 3 is an open, ambiguous ending regarding the ships. Maybe it will canonize nothing. Maybe it will canonize BOTH by having the actual ending change depending on which girl the player favors.

Either route will offer no relief to this eternal battle. I would honestly prefer for Cloti to explicitly and unambiguously win than an ending where neither girl does. Because I can accept a loss. I can accept being told that actually I WAS interpreting the story wrong, but I'll only accept it from the text itself. If anything, a Cloti ending might encourage me to go through the entire compilation again trying to view it with that canon couple in mind. I'm sure I'd see things differently, even if I'd always have a place in my heart for Clerith. And I sincerely hope that if Clerith were to win that Cloti fans could do the same.

All I know is that I'm sick and tired of this ship war. I personally have never gone after Cloti fans or engaged in Cloti content with the intent to debate or hate on the ship. But I don't speak for all Cleriths. I'm sure at least a few fans of my ship are guilty too. I have seen many obnoxious Cloti fans invading our spaces to disparage us - mostly on YouTube and Twitch, less here on Tumblr - but I KNOW there are plenty of kind Cloti fans who just happily enjoy their ship and leave us to ours as well.

At the end of the day, regardless of how part 3 ends things, I just wish we could live in peace. Please enjoy your ship. Your interpretation of the text and romance is valid. But so is mine. If neither side can agree, then the best thing to do is leave each other alone.

[rainymoodlet]

"... you ain't from 'round these parts, are ya?"

asher downey for @hauntedtrait's chestnut ridge bc!

young adult, twenty-six, they/them

an angry five foot five inches

farrier and hoof health specialist

will actually fight you over your horse/cattle/sheep/goat's feet

can confirmed fireman carry anyone... try them

shoulders are a lot broader than they appear they're SHORT

asher downey is an outdoor-loving, loner animal enthusiast who wants the best for your animals and will absolutely tell you to shut up until they finish assessing the issue. they're not rude, just... brusque. to the point. while they have a mean mug and a lot of quick comebacks loaded up in that small frame, asher is actually quite a genial sim. raised by polite parents in a polite town, they genuinely are a "good neighbor to know" - it's just gettin' past their cold front that's the hard part!

the scar and the bite are from particularly nasty run-ins with local coyote packs: they now own two, having rescued them as pups!

likes: mini goats in particular, cooking selvadoradan food, country fashion, the creak of old wood floors, historic landmarks, riding bareback (ahem), bitless goddamn bridles, wide open fields, flower-scented perfumes, crossfit, chewing wheat unironically, animal cops mothafuckin houston babeyyy

dislikes: the big city, smog in general, beating around the bush, passive aggressiveness, gossip, complaints in general like omg, washing the dishes, being expected to be quiet, THEIR HEIGHT, the tourism industry, the general slow gentrification of chestnut ridge, molasses, and - funnily enough - chestnuts

i am sinfully late with this and you know i can't help but make a bedazzled butch but i am utterly in love with asher and i'm so thrilled with how they came out 🥹 feel free to take whatever creative license you'd like with them, my beloved fangs!! shorter hair, no hair, bigger muscles, etc. i don't have the updated height slider back in my game so they're not height-accurate in-game, i'm going to go back in and fix that dsfkjhsdkf. private dl if chosen, and even if not, i'm so excited to see what blue is going to get up to!! 🥹 cas and in-game outfit below:

[prncewilhelm]

craaazy that some of you are so determined he stays within the mould when the entire show is chronicling him breaking out of it 

[pennyserenade]

dana scully you didn’t stand a chance and neither did i. this was one of the top ten romantic things i have ever seen in my entire life

[corrodedcoughin]

Fantasy au where a group of travelers are escaping the kingdom of Hawkins. They hear of a hidden city - rumoured to keep all outcasts safe from the king of Hawkins’ tyrannical rule, under the protection of a guild of powerful mages and warriors.

They’re given a link, a super secret contact to meet in an inn the town over that will help them escape and find said city.

They come face to face, Strider in fellowship of the ring - style, with Eddie the Banished - gaze sharp and intimidating. They’ve heard the rumours- Hawkins runs rampant with stories of his alleged crimes - namely involving the missing crown prince. Every layman has their version, but it all chalks up to the same fallen Hero and great Villain story.

It’s clear that he is skeptical and very protective of who he brings with him into the city, but the owners of the inn - a gentle lady by the name of Joyce and her equally intimidating husband, Hopper, vouch for them.

It takes some time to get there, they don’t take a direct route to avoid ambushes and the like.

Eddie neither confirms nor denies the stories, in fact he stokes the flames and plays it up - they act as additional protection and armor, an air of “don’t fuck with us.”

Through the bravado and exaggerated stories, they start to learn bits and pieces about Eddie along the way - things that don’t add up. He wears lots of jewellery - he jingles like a cat with a bell when he struts - but one of the party points out that a lot of them look like protection charms, each handmade, possibly by children judging by the make.

He flirts like nobody’s business, but it never goes past that. They had to flee a tavern one time when Eddie blows up over a patron who couldn’t take a “no” a few times too many.

Among his jewellery, Eddie wears a lot of rings. Stacks of silver, gaudy and eccentric, though they spend enough time traveling together to start noticing the sole gold band on his left ring finger.

They do get ambushed once - but manage to fight it off mostly unscathed. Eddie plays it off as usual, but one of them notices him twisting said gold band, brow pinched at night when no one is looking.

He’s also surprisingly sweet - he’s always nice to the kids he encounters, always treats the waitstaff at taverns and shops with respect, he’s protective over the younger members of the travel party when they encounter someone particularly rowdy. They also notice how he picks up little things along the way - snack cakes, hand carved die. “Little gifts,” he tells one of them, with a lopsided grin.

Maybe Eddie the Banished isn’t the villain of this story after all.

When they reach the city - it’s relief - for once in their lives the air tastes like freedom. A bunch of people are there to welcome them and show them around, but mainly they’re there for Eddie. He’s nearly swallowed by a swarm of children, and catches his arms around a girl with mousey brown, shaggy hair (“Birdie” they hear him call her - they think she’s his betrothed for a hot second) before the small sea of people part, and the group of travelers still.

Because at the center of the crowd, though a few years older and in looser, more comfortable clothing than they’ve ever seen him in before, is Crown Prince Steve Harrington.

And before they can think to do anything, Eddie is dropping all of his weapons, bravado completely dropping, face blown open with relief. Then he’s running, and wrapping the other man so tightly in an embrace that they can’t tell which limb belongs to who. They watch them sway gently in the middle of the city square.

“I kept my promise. I came back to you,” they hear Eddie murmur with such reverence, foreheads touching, hands cupping the other man’s face with such gentleness -

And then they’re being ushered away towards the baths, “Birdie” talking a mile a minute about how they must be tired and how they should give the lovebirds a second.

And maybe the rumours and stories were wrong. Maybe it’s a story about freedom and love instead.

Anon…you don’t underSTAND I’ve been craving a fantasy book for so long and this is exactly what I NEED. please I am begging at your table for any scraps you care to share PLEASE 🙏

[roboyomo]

slowly introducing you guysies to more and more of my ocs aka little beasts. and today you are getting Artemis (or Sora) :] she is also part of the Deadly Seven Sins crew like Kenix (Lust), Azrael (Envy), Aridam (Pride) and etc. amongst the seven, her sin is Sloth

remember when i mentioned in a post that Kenix has a daughter (not a biological one obviously)? yea this is her. this ice magical girl beast and creature who is so awfully :3 is the daughter of the mentally insane god of time (the twin gods since ken is right there but you get what i mean)

[onlyancunin]

One of the runs I currently do is reloaded save of my fav durge V (Violet, but she hates that name), where she ascended Astarion.

I think it unlocked something in me, I spent like 4 h yesterday just straight out murdering people in Baldurs Gate. Elfsong Tavern looks like a borscht, comparable only to the intestined interiors of the Moonrise Towers or decadently decaying decor of the Bhaal Temple.

And of course this knucklehead showed up which reminded me to grab the chef's grab on my way out (also Minthara lmao):

Screw the plot, this is my plot now. I thought Ascended Astarion was bad but somehow I think I'm even worse.

Baldur's Gate prepare because I'm really having a taste for beetroots.

P.S. Yes AA told V she needs to "look presentable now" and coerced her to put on a dress, fix her makeup and wear her hair down. He likes it better that way and it conceals the "ugly scar on her face". Funny how it never bothered him before.

[omens-for-ophelia]

it is not a hot take at all, really, but part of the reason i love the letter writing trope in fanfiction is because so much long distance communication feels impersonal and instantaneous now, but sitting down to tangibly hold a pen and carve your thoughts into paper is meditative and intentional

no wonder it was easier to pour your heart out via letter back in the day - once you posted it, it was gone. no scrolling back through a conversation to cringe or second guess what you said or worry if you came across weird or used the wrong emoji

i don't wish a return to the past in most things, i know too much about history to wish that, but i do wish letter writing had stuck around as a practice rather than a curiosity

[betelgeusing]

marty hart's cyclical return to praising family as THE thing that keeps a man grounded, stable, and happy (specifically in pointing out that rust DOESN'T have a family) even as flashbacks show him spiraling into jealous macho violence as he lies to, mistreats, and destroys his family over the course of multiple affairs (by which he deliberately steps outside of and away from his family despite his wife's best efforts to get him to reconnect and step up to be the family man he sees himself as)

vs

rust cohle's repeated excoriations of the idea of individuality and personhood and the stupid self-centeredness and entitlement that comes with saying "I, a human being, matter to the universe, and the things I do matter", an ideology he carries for years and waxes poetic on for his interviewers as late as 2012, even as he obsessively works himself to the bone to get justice and resolution for the victims he's assigned and ultimately to protect children from the powerful and dangerous people who want to brutalize them

[kurashikeys]

literally nothing beats when a character who's superficially obsessed with sex turns out to be super ace coded when you look just a little bit deeper

[silvermarig0lds]

rinezha modern au headcanon HEAVILY inspired by this short film the tale of the 3rd poppy war involving the ‘phoenix goddess’ and the ‘dragon king’ is now a cornerstone of nikan folklore, and there has been numerous media adaptations made for it. one of which is a 90s movie that became an instant classic, and its aesthetics have become a defining part of nikan popular culture even decades after.

at the location where the movie was filmed, tourist shops have been set up to provide photoshoot and costume rental services for people who want to roleplay as the main characters.

nezha's family runs one of those shops, and their business has been very successful. rin is one of the customers who rented a phoenix goddess costume, and when nezha finds her to get his costume back upon finding out that she has yet to return it by the stipulated time, he is instantly enamoured by her. something about her, or her as the phoenix, brings him a wave of deja vu. they strike up a natural conversation, and somehow they eventually begin talking about love. both of them have never dated before, so they have never really experienced it firsthand. rin comments on the rumoured almost-romance between the phoenix and the dragon, how love is so complicated and grandiose, especially in the story - enemies to lovers, lovers going to war for each other, against each other, no wonder everyone is obsessed with the tale. nezha adds that love can also be simple and unembellished. he knows this, because he is falling for her, he realises, and it feels so so natural. rin catches his gaze, and she smiles, a mutual understanding between them. they continue talking, but rin eventually has to leave. as he watches her walking into the distance, something in him screams at him to run after her, something within him tells him that he will regret it if he does not. so he does. he runs after her, but not before quickly donning a dragon king costume. he doesn't really know why he is wearing it, but he wears it anyway. when he catches up to her, he shouts her name, she turns back surprised. "rin!" the sun is setting as he calls out to her from a distance. standing before the orange sky, against the sunlight, he somehow looks as majestic as the dragon king. no, he is the dragon king. "will you go out with me? rin's eyes widen. she stands there, unsure of what to do, or say. she eventually replies, "but i have to go!" nezha is undeterred. "even so," he calls out again. "will you go out with me?" this time, rin grins. she steps towards him, and nods. sometimes, love really can be so simple.

[extinctmeat]

i just need to treat this app like everyone else and practice intense detachment and never give a shit or take anything seriously no matter what and then i’ll know peace

[lain-at-the-gay-bar]

ooooh love to hear more about your oc Street racing 👀👀👀

WELL! theyre kind of a nice middle ground between a sona and an oc, so it isnt cringe that im basically imagining myself racing lolol :p

but yeah obvi theyre still pretty similar to me! grew up around car nerds, grew an interest in cars and (this is where i start making things up) fixed an oldtimer that was standing around. from there on i imagine theyd fall in love with driving oldtimers, buying and fixing them up themselves and always driving around with a trunk full of random parts for when something breaks (it always does)

from a young age theyve always participated in a car club, which is where their interest for racing started !

they have a tuned miata and a daf 55 for casual driving! and they dress up like crazyyyy for any kind of event be it a race, a meet or just going to the grocery store! they also looooove blasting nightcore while driving :]