#asks: cleriths

[xdevilrushx]

Progress.

[altocat]

Tifa/Cloud & Aerith/Cloud?

TIFA/CLOUD

SHIP ITTTTT

Honestly...playing OG made me ship it. I was on the fence until the Lifestream sequence. That scene clinched it for me. Tifa is Cloud's endgame in my mind. I can't help it.

They're so supportive and loyal towards each other. It's really wholesome. Especially after Cloud's revival. Tifa sticks with him to the very end. And Cloud finally learns to express himself in ways other than words and just wrtghferwghfd I'M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO PART 3.

I do think they're endgame, like I said. And that might get some rabid shippers after me, regardless of the fact that I also love Clerith (which you'll see below shortly). But whatever. Is what it is.

AERITH/CLOUD

SHIP IT

Their interactions in Remake won me over. Their dynamic in that game is genuinely adorable and Rebirth made it sting even worse. Did you see Cloud's face? The guy was WEEPING. His lip was quivering. Like jfc.

I love how Aerith messes with Cloud and pushes him to come out of his shell. And I have a weakness for tough guy characters who are secretly soft and mushy over their love interest. Aerith really brings the best out of Cloud. I love the tragedy of their relationship. I love how it takes Cloud a long, LONG time to move on. He really loved her. Genuinely, completely loved her.

I think they work best if it's just a tragic romance and she stays dead. It's a love that can never be. That's what makes it interesting. That's what tugs at the player's heartstrings.

[jackietaylorsghost]

look at Cloud's body language in THAT moment in the trailer!! bro fr leaning in with Aerith

the way he’s looking at her. so unflinchingly staring. his hands holding her when he was SO touch averse (the high five??). no one ever tell me they’re sibling coded ever again, or that they weren’t ever written romantically, or that he doesn’t even like her. that’s done. no one can try that anymore. and that’s even before we consider the whole thing is played with HER THEME, the main theme of the game, and the lyrics are indisputably a reply to hollow… the main theme of remake, and a song about his feelings about her. heroine, love interest, they gave it all to us, i’ll never recover ever 😭

[gabbiness]

Did you see the achievement on Ever Crisis for going on a date with Aerith in the golden saucer gives you the achievement “the one” and going with tifa gets you an achievement “childhood friend”?!!! Cleriths are eating good today!!!

I saw that! Was such a fun things to wake up to! Aerith really is The One! 🩷

Sadly I saw that they ended up changing the titles, probably because of harassment from CTs. Sad to see, but I guess they have to do what they can to keep things civil. We know who is 'the one' for Cloud anyway 🩷

[umbralstars]

Clerith for the ship ask game

My scrumples. One of the best there ever was.

Rating: Ship it

What made you ship it?

Everything about them?? Jk jk but also not really. Aerith and Cloud are exceptionally sweet to one another from the very moment they meet to the moment they part. Aerith is one of the few people Cloud shows genuine care for right out of the gate from the moment they meet one another (even if he's got that 'aloof cool guy' persona on ofc).

What are your favorite things about it?

I enjoy how they play off of one another. Aerith is never at all phased by Cloud's aloofness and convinces him to do things to get out of his shell (mostly when it would be things that are "uncool"). They also hype each other up and it's so cute. My favorite scene in Rebirth is when Cloud comforts Aerith on the beach; him telling her that she isn't her most violent thoughts and it's Okay to have them felt,,, it felt good. Cloud smiling at her and encouraging her during her speech in Cosmo makes me emotional just thinking about it. I am also deranged about how Aerith intentionally took Cloud on his preferred date (a walk) in Rebith just so she could spend even a little more time with him. Despite how he came after her in the Temple (or despite how he hurt her in OG). Despite how Sephiroth would find her by doing this and seemingly kill this version of her. They aren't perfect either. Aerith and Cloud can and do hurt each other's feelings and go too far. Aerith often lies to him; she doesn't fully let him in as much as she may want to. Cloud's gruffness and rudeness can upset her. But, they always apologize and continue on supporting each other and I find that really sweet. Oh and one more: the scene with Aerith where she tells Cloud he "shouldn't fall in love with her" and he asks if he has choice in that--implying that he would choose to love her in every single reality even if it ends tragically--make me so sick that I feel like crying even thinking about it skjfksf

What's an unpopular opinion?

I don't know if this is unpopular, per say, but I enjoy their tragedy as a fundamental part of the ship. Also as with all my Cloud ships I will forever interpret it as a qpr because [shoots Cloud with the greyro beam AGAIN]

[schnoobums]

Parallels

[magical-xirl-4]

Where do you think part 3 will go? I think loveless is going to play a big part in it, but it's hard to take the rest of the fandom's "theories" on it seriously when they think it's all about zack lol

I think Loveless is going to have a huge part in it! I've actually analysed Loveless with a friend and we've cooked up a theory of how Sephiroth, Cloud and Zack are involved and how it reveals what will happen in part 3/whats already happened in Rebirth. Seriously, I could go ON about Loveless now, I'm obsessed with it! It's definitely annoying that so many people think it entirely has to do with Zack (it makes me shudder that they think he's the "real Alphreid", as if they haven't taken away from Cloud enough), but he is part of it!

Zack is the hero, Cloud is the prisoner, and Sephiroth is the traveller. In Crisis Core, the original roles of the prisoner and traveller were given to Genesis and Angeal, Zack has remained the hero this whole time. Zack healed Genesis of degredation, and Genesis became a hero in his own way; I highly suspect that the same will happen to Cloud. Zack in Rebirth knows he needs to help Cloud, and I believe he will do so in Part 3 by involving himself in the Lifestream sequence and help him sort out what happened at Nibelheim (OR, restore hope within Cloud that Aerith is alive in another world, after Sephiroth tries to take it away. Tifa will also help in this aspect.)

The original Loveless poem has a prologue, act I-IV (and an additional act V provided by Genesis) and tells the story of three men who set out to find the Gift of the Goddess. The story of Loveless that is found in Banora Ungerground of Crisis Core mainly focuses on the love story between the prisoner and a woman that saves him (and does not have a 4th or 5th act). It is confirmed from CC that the stage play is from the woman's POV, AKA the Banora Underground version. This version aligns with the original game's ending lines that Cid tells us about, and what we see at the end of G Edition.

We know that the woman from the play is Rosa, and as the canon Rosa, Aerith also plays the role of the Goddess (Tifa refers to a Goddess, Aerith does not, and we know Yuffie doesn't suit the role). Jessie parallels Aerith, and she solely plays the Goddess in the prologue, who initiates a romance with a blond man. G Edition basically omits the roles of the hero and traveller, but fuses them into the prisoner, Alphreid (who is both the blond man and Cloud).

However, that does not mean the traveller and hero are gone from the story, the original Loveless still exists. If you want to find the poem, you can find it online in a fandom article. As for Banora Underground, you'll need to go onto Youtube and find the headstones for yourself from a playthrough (but I do have them transcribed on a document, hehe).

As we know from the play, Alphreid says he will return to Rosa with no promises needed, meaning Cloud will absolutely return to Aerith at journey's end (its kinda giving what he said to her in KH2). Within the FFVII universe, the last part of the story has been missing and obscured due to time, but with Part 3, I believe we'll fully see how it'll play out. My friend I also believe that HOW he will return to Aerith is explained in the full text (possibly even the 5th act that Genesis wrote himself as the former prisoner), and Zack of course, has a role in helping him.

If you want a full breakdown, I fear that Tumblr probably isn't place to express it. I do have a google doc with my friend and I's full analysis, and a twitter space we recorded a few months ago on the matter. I won't be able to post about it publicly, but if you're willing to receive a DM I'll be happy to share either of those resources.

[giuilily]

ok so aerith still died in rebirth right?? bc it looked like the timelines converged

The answer is yes, but also technically no, anon. Lol.

Main world/Beagle-verse Aerith died, that much is certain because the party saw her body and we had the aftermath of the water burial.

But there's at least one Aerith who's alive in a different world.

Whatever happened in the Forgotten Capital is still confusing af to me. Did Cloud really manage to create a new world where she's alive and he's seeing two worlds at the same time? Was it Lifestream Aerith who woke up to comfort him? Is Cloud actually going insane with grief?

Your guess is as good as mine, though I prefer the theory that says he did create a new world because it's consistent with the mechanics presented by the game early on. The rules of the confluence is vague in comparison, but it seems reliant on unified perceptions and emotions, and Cloud was perceiving her as alive when everyone perceived her as dead. It's visually presented by the foggy barrier that separated Cloud and Aerith from the party, and Cloud not having his LB gauge filled. That's just what I'm assuming based on Sephiroth's speech about the confluence of emotions but I could be wrong. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Everything's up to interpretation for now. I personally don't think Cloud was delusional during all of it since Nanaki could sense Aerith, and Cloud could see the crack in the sky in the end-- a sign that fate was breached and he is seeing a different world that the others can't.

The latest Ultimania also kept Aerith's fate in the end rather ambiguous. Guess we'll just have to wait and see in 3-4 years 💀.

I'm much more confident about Terrier-verse Aerith and Cloud who are both still unconscious. Marlene in that verse spoiled us of our main Aerith's death and asked Zack to make Cloud better so he could save her-- afaik, this plotline is not yet resolved, so I wonder what the devs are cooking with this?

[helloyellow17]

Wanted to practice expressions so I took some requests in a Discord server. Someone requested Aerith with this face, so of course I had way too much fun. 😂 I present: Aerith Trollsborough

[altocat]

did you know that both clerith and cloti are trash

Literally where are you guys getting these takes from lmao

Cloti and Clerith are NOT trash. Sure, the shipping war can get extremely tiresome and YES there can be all sorts of unnecessary hostility and immaturity in how fans of the pairing interact with the wider fandom. But the ships themselves are not trash. They fit the narrative. They add to the characters. They connect with people on an emotional level. There is fundamentally nothing wrong with either of them. And there is nothing wrong with anyone who likes them.

And honestly, going after people for the ships they like is cringe. Policing the ships that people are allowed to like is cringe. Writing hit pieces about how certain ships are bad and how liking it is bad is cringe.

Cloti and Clerith are not trash.

And the sooner we can come together as a community and stop being so childishly antagonistic about something as inconsequential as fictional relationships, the better.

[great-kung-lao]

Ugh that anon is so bitter and salty, my blood actually boiled seeing them maliciously harass you like that. You might want to consider blocking all obvious CA anon Asks in the future, to avoid getting bullying and harassing Asks from them like that ever again. Just a suggestion! It'll save you a headache from those CA morons, especially since we all know that Part 3 is gonna figuratively kill them definitively in 2 years

In the meantime, let us bask in the glorious and beautiful fact that the developers want everyone to see Tifa's Gold Saucer date and only Tifa's date ("Friends of Fate" interview on YouTube, go check it out!) and Hamaguchi confirmed that Cloti's tender kiss in Rebirth is a natural progression for Cloud's growth from the Cloti hug in Remake 😇

Thank you very much for the advice! But I'm not bothered at all. I have victotiously survived Naruto and Bleach shipping wars, so it is a fandom area that stopped being stressful.

We have original FF7 and Advent Children backing Cloti up, so there are no worries on my part regarding remake that tells same story and explores same relationships just with modern technologies and new opportunities.

I also have a feeling that developers are aiming to give Aerith a proper happy ending with a man she actually loves - Zack. Even if it is in afterlife, it still counts to me as a happy ending if we actually see them ascend together like Advent Children did, but even better.

And honestly? I think hate is flattering in some way. It means that people would rather spend their time and energy on ship I enjoy rather than spend that on a ship they are supposedly enjoy. Besides, I enjoy defending my OTPs without bashing other pairings. Gives me an opportunity to show that there are better ways.

[jackietaylorsghost]

Hi. At first I want to thank you for all the great GiFs that fill my timeline with Clerith while Tumblr for some reason thinks to recommend me the other ship all the time. My question would be: Would you want a happy ending for Cloud and Aerith if the last part of the Remake makes it somehow possible? Or would you prefer for them to stay that tragic couple that is destined to be together but also has been pulled apart by destiny? And if you have the time to answer this question too... what would you wish for in part 3? What should CA do, even if their relationship is doomed, assuming they will at least have some more time together thanks to the timelines mingling?

aww you’re welcome! i can’t stop giffing them atm so 😭😭

here are some thoughts i had about them on Twitter which i think answer your question

so to answer your question, YES, i really want one universe where they can be together. after decades of searching for each other i think they deserve that. a lot of people think there will be a choice between saving the world and saving aerith for good and i hope to god that’s not true because i know they’ll pick the world and whilst we will get a peak goodbye scene i just think they deserve to be happy just once 😭😭 i

[bladesmercy]

001 for sfkr and clerith!

oomf u know me so well. thank you for letting me yap >:-)

001 | send me a ship and I will tell you:

sefikura 🐍♡☁️

when I started shipping it if I did:

there's actually a funny story to this one. > be me. > guilelessly playing kingdom hearts 2 in 2019. > "what the hell is these dudes' deal. i wonder if people ship them at all" > open ao3 thinking there might be a handful of fics > "oh there's a couple more than a few, huh" > life ruined.

my thoughts:

my favorite little guys in anything ever. they surgically removed my personality to make room for more sefikura. truly i have never loved a ship as much as this one. literal otp of all time.

What makes me happy about them:

everything? they're so funny and silly to me. extremely pathetic creatures. two absolute losers. i think of them and i always smile. i love the fact that each of them have independently made their personality revolve around each other at different points in time, it's so funny.

What makes me sad about them:

EVERYTHING. the fact they will never have a happy ending. the fact they will be enemies in every (canon) universe. the fact they are two extremely broken people who are uniquely equipped to understand each other and that won't be enough to save them.

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

tbh i'm so picky with what i like and don't like about how both these guys often end up characterized, but i also think all interpretations are valuable in their own way. i can't think of any huge annoyances, except that i have very Specific feelings/headcanons about sephiroth in crisis core era, and usually won't read things that veer too far away from that.

things I look for in fanfic:

i love any and all fics where the author makes it obvious that sephiroth is just. completely besotted. and i think cloud feeds off of that, even if he won't admit it. i'll read just about anything with these two, but i especially love stories where authors can articulate the crux of their dysfunction really well. yes, these two have have immense amounts of hate, and blood, and pain between them, but (especially on sephiroth's end) there is also an Intense desire for intimacy, of any kind. these two things juxtaposed well is just magical to me.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

no one. i say that as a joke but it's pretty much true. for cloud i do also ship him hardcore with aerith (somewhat against my own will XD), but outside of that i don't really multiship these two anymore. i used to be a Hardcore multishipper, and while i still appreciate things like some polyshipping (other cleriseph enjoyers where are you, i need food of that ot3 so bad), i honestly can't enjoy the thought of them being with anyone else. i miss being a multishipper, because these days pretty much every single other ship with them (outside of clerith) has become a notp for me. ;w;

My happily ever after for them:

in canon? haha. the closest i could see them in canon ffvii (and the closest i think part 3 of remake would get to giving them a 'happy' ending) is having a moment of resolution similar to what kuja and zidane get in ffix. i would be satisfied with that for canon. BUT if we're taking all the stops off, i want to see the dramatic epic pining slowburn post-AC where they eventually figure out how to lead semi-normal lives alongside each other. this is making me want to write that now....maybe that will be my next fic project.

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

there's an obvious answer here with consideration to builds and hair lengths, i think. i like to think cloud has accepted his fate to have this 7 foot tall piece of brick clinging to him like an octopus.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

this is another obvious one, and i'm tempted to say 'fighting', but i'm not sure that clears the bar of non-sexual for them. my second choice is that i think they would just genuinely enjoy being around each other in silence. they're both such introverts, and i like to think of them just recharging quietly with each other.

clerith ☁️♡🌎

when I started shipping it if I did:

let me preface this by saying that when remake came out in 2020, i had less than zero interest in vii's infamous love triangle. i wanted no piece of it in my heart or my home. then the game came out and cloud and aerith gripped me by the throat and violently dragged me into falling in love with them by being so damn charming and heartfelt and perfect for each other.

my thoughts:

i love these two so damn much. i really Really loved them in remake, and rebirth intensified this to a level i could Not have anticipated and is currently ruining my life. i love them. i love that they are soulmates, romantic, platonic, or something in-between. i love that their bond and chemistry is near-instantaneous, i love that cloud blooms into letting himself experience softness around her, i love that aerith finally has someone who cares about making her happy and standing by her so damn much.

What makes me happy about them:

so much. their love is so pure and tentative. their vibes to me run parallel to how i see and experience the early 20s as a queer person, essentially the second teenage-hood where you're still feeling yourself out as a person, and you have no idea what you're doing. you feel like you're missing out on a lot of the fundamental experiences that 'normal' people have already had, and i feel like both cloud and aerith mirror that emotion, thanks to the fucked up circumstances of both their lives. aerith is cloud's first real friend after nibelheim (and potentially ever, depending on how close you think he was with zack. to me, i hc cloud and zack were pretty friendly, but not especially close prior to the nibelheim incident.) and cloud is also one of aerith's first friends. they've both suffered such acute loneliness and isolation in their lives, and the fact they find healing for that in each other is so so special to me. the fact that aerith is the person most able to reach through to the person cloud Really is, even under everything he's got going on, makes me so deranged.

What makes me sad about them:

well. there is a very obvious answer. so there is definitely That. that's kind of a big deal.

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

honestly i feel like i don't have many specific fanfic annoyances in general, because if a fic annoys me i just stop reading it, and then my adhd makes me forget i read it to begin with.

things I look for in fanfic:

i really love everything with these two, i love all the cute fluff happy ever afters they don't get to have in canon, but i also love the angst and the drama and the trauma. usually i just gravitate towards any fics that i feel understands the characters well or has interesting ideas, the exact plot or type of scenario is less important to me.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

in my heart, cloud's endgame ship is always sephiroth. as for aerith, i'm also a Huge zerith shipper (yes i am in constant emotional pain, how did you know), but aeriseph also firmly has a place in my heart.

My happily ever after for them:

any. any of them. i want the most tooth-rotting fluffy ending for these two. (admittedly, their iconic tragedy is a part of why i love them so bad. without it, my emotional investment would be Nowhere near as high.) i've been reading a lot of wedding/alternate future fics with these two lately and they all make me ;w;

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

i genuinely think it goes both ways, but if i had to say i think cloud is doomed to be a little spoon in any lifetime.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

oooh tough one!! i think aerith would love teaching cloud to garden....though i'm not sure he would be any good at it. but i have faith in him to learn.

[whitesilverandmercury]

Cloud & Aerith + 🌜

meme / put a symbol and a character / characters in my ask box and i’ll give you a headcanon, ✨️ ff7 edition ✨️

☾ - sleep headcanon

i'm gonna go with remake specifically here so i don't write a whole novel lmao

cloud doesn't sleep (enough).

they both have bad dreams.

aerith doesn't sleep with a braid, but at some point between dreams, it gets in the way so she puts it in a ponytail or something.

cloud is a power napper. aerith tosses and turns.

cloud often rolls over onto her hair, which after the second or third time, aerith puts it up in a ponytail or something.

aerith has never washed the pillow zack last used.

cloud does not have pajamas.

cloud falls asleep in an instant and wakes up just as suddenly at the slightest alarm even if the alarm is just a little kitten snore from aerith or a creak of the mattress when he's turning over, himself, to flop an arm over her side.

aerith hogs the blanket. cloud hogs the bed.

sometimes cloud touches aerith's side when she's sleeping to make sure she's breathing.

sometimes aerith touches cloud's back when he's sleeping to make sure he's breathing.

sometimes they're both awake when this happens but they don't tell each other.

some nights, they fall asleep bodies warm and folded into one another, a tickle of breath and sweet skin -- a head on a shoulder, fingers in blond hair, one strong arm looped around a nightgown waist (if the nightgown stayed on).

other nights, aerith counts cloud's scars and cloud tells her shitty cynical bedtime stories until they're both laughing and aerith holds him in the crook of her arm after he falls asleep.

aerith has absolutely started a pillow fight.

cloud has absolutely ended a pillow fight.

[mimidorika]

ask me anything! ☄️

ask me anything! ☄️

(will post this every now and then)

[deathberi]

well spotted parallel with the red dress scene and sephiroth fight scene, i totally missed how similar the framing of those moments are while i was playing

i really love the direct callbacks and parallels however much planned these scenes are across the two games so far — like every scene is something, every little detail is so special 🥹💕