#but as a clourai shipper cloud is my boy

[givelightningherharem]

duuude it bugs me so much that people are somehow still convinced that lightning is just a female cloud even tho they have completely different backstories and motivations. every time ive seen anyone make that argument they always intentionally misinterpret both lightnings and clouds stories just to justify shitting on ffxiii and its SUPER annoying to see as a fan of both xiii and vii asjfdfg

Smth I’ve noticed about people who’ve made that argument as well is that almost all of them never played ffxiii or they dropped the game super early that they never got to see Lightning’s character development. So they mostly just say that to hop on the “hate ffxiii/hate lightning” bandwagon, or just so they can make their bias seem superior.

But smth for both Cloud and Lightning that I’ve seen that bugs me, is people calling them emo. Cloud and Lightning are the farthest from that. Starting with Cloud, since I’ve never played the og 7, and my only Cloud experiences that don’t involve remakes are advent children and crisis core(which cloud definitely ISNT emo in, he’s bby in that game) my main Cloud experience comes from myself playing the remake.

I have yet to finish that game, but the vibe I get from Cloud is that he’s definitely p shut off. But he’s just as awkward and as passionate about things when need be. Of all things to call Cloud, emo personally isn’t what I’d use, but that’s just me 😭😭 he’s gone through shit, and that’s affected him, but he’s not as stone cold as people would make him out to be.

Lightning is the same as Cloud in the fact that she’s also had it rough. Growing up and all that. Before talking about the main events in the game, in flashbacks, and in the novel, Lightning seems to be very genuine and in tune with certain people she knows. Her thoughts are definitely very loud and expressive too.

In the game, when meeting the rest of the characters, Lightning is shut off, but it’s justified when given the situation, and these are strangers after all. She has her own agenda, and having more people with her is just a obstacle. Losing Serah makes her more,,,destructive. Not to mention becoming a l’cie herself, Lightning’s attitude is justified in a sense, even tho she does wrongfully lash out often.

But her character development does come much sooner than one would think. Starting with with Hope onwards you can see Lightning open up so much, accepting these strangers and Snow as allies, and eventually as a family. She’s much warmer , much more talkative, she even has her moments of humor. I don’t see people talk about her development enough. It irks me whenever I see people portray Lightning as this permanently angry individual, who hates everyone and everything ((and who wants Snow to die. She doesn’t. He just annoyed the hell out of her at first, but Lightning never genuinely wished death upon him, what are u people smoking. She comes to accept him and his engagement to Serah, literally as time passes she comes to see him as a brother.)) and that don’t take into account that that isn’t how she is. She grows stronger, is more in tune with herself, and becomes the perfect leader for the group.

So sure, one could say Lightning and Cloud ARE similar in a sense that they’ve both gone through tough shit (what final fantasy protag HASNT gone through tough times tho??) and stretch it out a bit by adding they were both a soldier at one point. But you’re grasping straws by immediately chucking them into the “emo” category and calling it a day, because now you’re completely disregarding their development and the way their characters are written.