#edit: don't tag with ships

[ratwalks]

[mattastr0phic]

The consequences of a friend getting me into RvB like a week or two ago and then suddenly Rooster Teeth announces it's shut down got me sobbing at 4:30 am

[i-seeaspaceshipinthe-sky]

Ben & Klaus in TUA3X10: "Oblivion"

[chloecherrysip]

Mario, why do you look like a bear? What is this!?

[hrokkall]

HOW TO PIN YOUR INSECTS:

Position limbs into desired arrangement and pin in place

Maintain eye contact

Pin should pass through the center of the thorax

Move slowly; lest the divine light leak out along with the ichor

Wait for the embers to die.

Wait for the embers to reignite.

[iwasbored777]

GUYS WHAT THE FUK I'M SHAKING HERE PLEASE TELL ME IF I'M HALLUCINATING IT WAS SO LATE LAST NIGHT WHEN I SAW THIS AND I SOMETIMES MAKE A MISTAKE BUT IS THAT THE CERTAIN SOMEONE IN TSW SHORT FILM OR DID I LOSE MY MIND AND I'M SEEING THINGS

WHEN YOU GET A CLOSER LOOK AT THAT DRAWING I THINK I KNOW WHO THAT IS I'M BEGGING YOU TELL ME DO YOU SEE IT TOO OR AM I GOING CRAZY AT THIS POINT 😭

[zeeckz]

Boss, stop eating unidentifiable stuff

[riddlerosehearts]

This could’ve been the other way around. But it really has to be you.

[ilyalljasonsandnon-jasonsthesame]

The Water Is Fine - Chloe Ament

[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.

[ivalice-tifalucis]

I am so obsessed with this rendition of Again from From the Rehearsal Room: Tokyo that I decided to extract its audio, master it with my limited knowledge in audacity and little help from AI, put it on my music playlist, and even consider trying to extract everything from this particular stream, from what I found on bilibili. I think of all 3 livestream they did, this one is the best because of the song choices, the studio acoustic (I'm always obsessed with good sound acoustic in music recording), and the simple arrangement consists of grand piano (wonderfully played by the way, kudos to the pianist) and two guitars by Ramin and Hadley themselves. I notice this is the first one they did, isn't it? Because they were trapped in long quarantine and Sierra eventually couldn't come. I'm late to this so I only read how it went and I feel sad.

Also presenting some other songs that I have extracted:

Hadley sings Maria(??!!) and it's so good wtf. That high note, gosh.

Ramin's special, of course. I need this because I want Till I Hear You Sing without "ten long yeaars" part but there is no other more good recording on apple music/spotify except that one from Ramin's album which I really hate (the whole album basically). So thank god this exists.

I actually know this song for long because it was on some ad but I think that was Sinatra's version. I didn't know this song is from a musical until I fall down to this hole. Actually found out a lot of songs that actually are from musicals thanks to this hole. Gosh, I used to be so deep into musicals during Les Mis movie era but not THIS deep.

[aforgotto]

some proposals for the Dio sons fandom

for legal reasons this is /lighthearted

bonus:

[valenfield-inspo]

Chris Redfield & Jill Valentine - BSAA Era Moodboard

[punkeropercyjackson]

Based off that one Hobie line and the meme that was going around that Momo's a capitalist

[buddieinmybeddie]

People who only like and support ONE ship and go around sending hate to other ships/shippers are so weird , I as a multi shipper cannot understand..

I love to explore the dynamics my favorites would have with other characters, there are of course ships I don't like but I'm not gonna go around hating on them who DO like them for no reason

[optiwashere]

I became completely unhinged because of the full version of this art by @forestborg so I had to write about it. It cooked my brain.

This is smutty, smutty smut, but it's also a light exploration of drow trans women as well. Drow culture has always been one of my favorite things about the Forgotten Realms ever since I was a lil DM running my fucked up version of 3E. Combine that with my constant need to trans all the ladies? Yeah.

Really though... this fic is super explicit. I'm adding this to my Kinktober series because I selfishly want that series to say 31/31 some day and this fic definitely belongs.

Rating: E for Exquisite frottage

Category: F/F

Ship: Minthara/Karlach

Tags and AO3 Summary under the break.

Tags: Explicit Sexual Content, Shameless Smut, Smut, Trans Female Character, Trans Karlach, Trans Minthara, Light Dom/sub, Frottage, Come as Lube, Tail Sex, Size Difference, Choking, Breathplay, Drow-typical Gender Hierarchy, Gender Identity, mentions of Minthara/Lae'zel, Inspired by Fanart

Summary:

A vision on the battlefield. A heart warm enough to beat a thousand times too strong for its own good. An axe with a sharp edge, though its haft is unkempt and left to rust. These are the ways Minthara knows Karlach. There is one other way she desires to know her. Or: Minthara and Karlach spend an evening in a tent together.