#Selphie's friend

[foxtrottcantfindshit]

hahhahah please ignore the laziest couch in the world.

[marziafantasia94]

In a universe where Odin Eidolon exists in the same timeline as Ducktales, is part of the billionaires' club, and is Donald Duck's best friend, who would be a real nuisance for him other than Mark Beaks?

[dullahandyke]

i need to replay kh1 and also play the rest of the kh games so i can think thoughts about yuriverse!rikai

[luminosus]

The Plan

“I’ve got a plan!”

That got everyone’s attention. Hearing those words from one who didn’t tend to take charge was enough to garner the interest of those within earshot. Eyes were drawn to the brunette in front of the group, her green eyes shining with enthusiasm. She had a finger pointing toward the sun and was beaming brightly. She knew that her plan was going to work out, come hell or high water.

“Really, Selphie?”

She nodded deeply. “Of course I do! Every good Garden Festival starts with a plan! A plan to try and get more cadets to help out with it and a general theme for the event.”

“Sounds like trouble.”

She shook her head at her heckler. “It’s never trouble!”

“Why should we help out when we haven’t even heard your idea?”

“That’s easy Jonah,” she responded brightly. “We’re going to bring Spring to Trabia Garden this year! Bright pastels, tulips, daffodils, all of the things associated with a nice Spring!”

Jonah, the elder of their group canted his head curiously. He was interested now and wanted to encourage his juniors to keep pursuing their passions. He knew from the brightness in Selphie’s eyes that she was dedicated toward this plan of hers.

Fifteen years old and wanted to see everything in the world. Trabia’s SeeD were always sharing stories with the cadets.

“It sounds like a lot of work,” Jonah continued.

“It is a lot of work,” Selphie conceded. “But it has to start somewhere! Trabia’s next Festival is in the Spring anyway and it’s still the middle of the summer so there’s lots of time! If we start expanding on my idea now, we can pitch it to the student council and get funding! Then, we can make the best Garden Festival that Trabia’s ever seen.”

“Selphie, you say that every year,” a third person in their circle chimed in.

“I know I do Maika and every year, we deliver. Last year had the biggest turnout that the festival has ever seen! We can do way more for the community and Garden as a whole if we keep continuing with this momentum. There’s nothing that we can’t do.”

Maika grinned. “You’ve got big boots to fill this year Selphie.”

“I know I do,” Selphie pressed on. She pointed at each of the six at the table in earnest. “I can’t do it without you guys.

Maika looked to Jonah who was in the middle of considering the youngest of their group. A cool wind blew through the courtyard as the perky brunette pressed on with her idea.

“We can have a grand ball at the end of it and fireworks every single night for the duration of the festival. We can have face painting for the little kids and guided tours of the entire facility. Not only will it give the kids something to take pride in, it will show off all the work that we’ve been doing at Trabia. We can have concerts and scavenger hunts and all sorts of other ideas. We can put a suggestion box in the cafeteria if people have ideas. The Festival from the Spring was such a success because of the input of the entire student body.”

“I see,” Jonah hummed. “You’ve been putting a lot of thought into this haven’t you?”

“I have! And I can’t do it alone,” she carried along. “I was hoping to have the support of you all again this year. The whole Festival might’ve been a super mega disaster without that help you all gave last year. As you know, most of last years committee have transferred to Balamb to write their SeeD exams so there’s—”

“—There’s only you again,” Maika cut in with a grin. “I dunno Selph, it seems like a tall order.”

“And there’s nothing that we can’t do once we put our heads together. I’m sure if you guys pitch in for the committee and help with the planning that we can get the entire student body on board again.”

“Some of us are prepping for exams though, Selphie,” Jonah pointed out. “Some of us simply don’t have the time.”

“I know, I know,” Selphie pressed again. “But like I said, I’ve got a plan and a theme but I can’t do it all by myself. If the senior students at Garden were willing to pitch in then everyone and everything else would fall into place.”

A couple of the others were considering her words seriously as she cast expecting glances at each of them individually. She bent over and rest her hands on the table, her head bowed.

She wanted to do one last festival with her friends before they transferred to Balamb.

“It’s just a few hours a week and there’s still tons of time for you guys to study for your exams. We can do much of the planning on the weekends and every class can contribute ideas for the theme. I just…”

She looked at them with a pleading look. She really didn’t want to do all the planning alone.

“If it’s just a few hours a week,” a fourth jumped in. “I don’t mind lending a hand.”

“Really Michael?” Selphie leaped up from the table excitedly. “You’ll really help me out?!”

He grinned at her. “Of course. I can’t let my dear junior do all the work by herself.”

All it took was one person and Selphie soon had the entire table on board. One after another, her friends all fell into place and her committee was fully formed.

“Great! Thank you so much you guys. It means the world to me that we can do this together.”

It was going to be the best Garden Festival ever.

-----------------

crossposted from jaydesummers @ AO3

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[ultraericthered]

THIS FUCKING SENT ME.

[starrieisdelusional]

An In-depth Look on the Day of the Meteor Shower (The Necklace and The Sword)

a soriku endgame deep dive: part 2

This is part of my soriku endgame deep dive series, a series where i'll try to dissect everything and anything related to soriku.

Part 2 is going to be more of an analysis rather than a prediction. Specifically about the necklace theory, about Sora's and Riku's meteor shower memory. More specifically, my variation of the memory, and why I think it was Sora who made the promise first (with toy sword), then Riku made his vow back (necklace).

I'm not saying that other interpretations are invalid, this is just one other way to look at it. I will also be writing my opinions and thoughts on the matter, and how this version impacts sora and riku's relationship.

Start of Analysis

What actually happened

To start off, I want to say that I'm not a certified KH fan (a lot of things under my assumptions could be wrong), since I'm still considered to be somewhat a new fan (i got introduced to KH in 2019) and i haven’t actually played any game except 1/3 COM GBA. So take this with the grain of salt.

I assume that most fans believe the necklace theory memory goes as follows: Sora got scared of the meteor, Riku made his vow with his toy sword, Riku gave the necklace to Sora.

And I thought so too for a while because of Riku's heavy association with the word 'protect' and 'vow', but after reading multiple posts and thinking about it for a while, i think it goes more like this: Riku is upset (for reasons that is not the meteor shower), Sora cheers him with his toy sword (sora did not chew onto the actual matter, opting instead to make a promise, to be together with riku), Riku gave the necklace to Sora (riku then made his vow to protect sora).

For the longer version:

Riku got jealous when Sora's started to hang out with his new friends (Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie) and stormed off. Sora noticed that something is off and the FF gang sent him off to go catch after THAT GUY (aitsu). Sora and Riku argues, coincidentally a meteor shower started happening.

It’s probably a pretty scary experience for a 5 YO and a 6 YO who were standing alone on the islands at night at that time, and this situation might be more frightening than your usual meteor shower (given that it is chunks of a world being destroyed near the islands).

But even if he's scare to the point of tears, Sora still forces himself to put on a brave front for riku. He shakily assures Riku not to worry with the toy sword that he's holding. Sora promises to always be together (issho ni 一緒に) with him, to fight alongside him and to protect him.

In that moment Riku was probably really stunned at this kid, who’s such a crybaby at his core and stupid but brave at the same time and somehow managed to spark weird feelings inside of him. So Riku muttered a thanks, and gave his necklace to Sora, vowing to protect him and never let him go.

Why this version?

another disclaimer that my version could be wrong, but even with variations of details my key points are still: sora's promise is symbolized by his sword, riku by his necklace.

now let's actually get into the analysis!! (tbh this is just my reasoning on why i chose this, why i chose that etc)

AITSU: Destiny Islands

i based my interpretation on the aitsu scene of card destiny islands that happened in COM

Yes this infamous scene.

Every world on COM is a manifestation of Sora’s heart, so i believe the actual memory played out in a similar fashion with how this scene goes 

🔽 selphie wakka tidus urging sora to go meet THAT GUY (aitsu)

🔽 riku banter of "oh sora ur so pathetic without me"

🔽 sora finding namine here (in literal chaos -> meteor shower), “i finally found you!!”, namine (riku) clenches fist. And here sora brings his keyblade (sword) 

*and this is probably the closest thing we've ever got to a real life action scene of the necklace theory

riku’s psychology (pre-ddd)

a.k.a. why i think riku's promise is symbolized as sora's necklace, not sora's necklace + sword

Riku’s main flaw that I’m focusing here is his drive to be ‘the best’ which manifests in the form of his tendency to be possessive and being dishonest about his feelings

Via BBS, from a young age riku has already stated that he wants to ‘protect the things that matters’ (daiji na mono), hinting at his obsession for things (necklace and sora) that he holds dear to him. 

Sora recalls that namine had her paopu charm since she was a baby, which made sense that the necklace holds great importance to riku as a family heirloom, one of the ‘important stuff’ (daiji na mono) that he wants to protect.

This later aligns with how ‘things that matters’ evolved with riku’s character because at the night of the meteor shower:

riku’s ‘important stuff’ (daiji na mono), turns into -> ‘precious stuff’ (taisetsu na mono) referencing to sora / riku's heirloom that sora is holding onto, because now that object has multiplied the value of worth

and later to -> ‘precious person’ (taisetsu na hito), because riku finally realized 'the things that matters' or precious person is Sora, and by realizing that his love became more unconditional, because he is discarding himself (the necklace) in the process

(Beautiful no? I think so too)

And to add, this possessiveness is what caused him to go ballistic in the first place when he saw that 

Sora has the Kingdom Key (Riku is the original owner of said key; via nomura interview, riku is the light) 

Sora has discarded him AGAIN for his NEW friends: donald and goofy 

Riku thinks sora discarded him for real this time because other than new companions, for once Sora is better and stronger than Riku so he won’t need Riku anymore to protect him

Second, in KH1, Riku is described more as a cool, older guy, who teases sora a lot, and is better at everything than sora.

It is important to note that soriku dynamic KH1 is a bit different in comparison to it's KH3 counterpart. Although they both might look the same at front value, if you squint, KH3 riku became more of a reliable figure, giving guidance, protection, admiration, and a safe-space for sora

Unlike KH1 where it’s sora who’s more of a safe-space for riku because atp because riku masks his dislike and true feelings behind playful teasing and bantering, the most damning example: riku’s paopu scene, riku putting up a ‘cool guy’ front 24/7 non stop no break, and sanctuary is written for soriku renunion (yes this is true, you can search it up) which had reverse lyrics how cool is that.

*lyrics of sanctuary (KH2 Opening)

In KH3 you can see that both Riku’s actions and words are more genuine, he is actually honest about what he felt, and give honest encouragement to Sora, example his sacrifice scene at KB Graveyard (in english there's a slight mistranslation)

“Sora, I believe in you, you won’t give up”

Opposed to this which was previously used by Riku to motivate Sora in KH1 (example scene is sora's fight againts ansem in KH1 & roxas riku Days fight):

“Giving up already? Come on Sora, I thought you were stronger than that!”

*this is riku talking on screen

So following all of this, i’d say it’s more fitting if riku's vow is symbolized by necklace not sword because by this action:

The necklace is a way of saying that Riku entrust his heart / identity to Sora without explicitly saying it

A reminder for Riku for the precious vow that he made 

An implicit bind that Riku unconsciously forced on Sora that says together means TOGETHER FOREVER and that you can never escape from me EVER

Which: if riku is the one who first raised his sword to made his promise, it would be more of a ddd/kh3 riku thing and riku would not gave his necklace to sora because he would not want to bind sora to be forever with him as that is a selfish thing to do

Yes, Riku may also raise his sword to offer protection in that scene, but it was done after the necklace / vow is made on sora.

Sora’s association with the sword

Okay but does that actually changes anything?

Yes, because the promise is now mutual because its no longer just riku being unhealthily obsessed with Sora, it also goes the other way, via FF kids convo:

It also fits Sora’s character to dashingly comforts Riku with his words and assurance because if he doesn’t exactly understand what’s going on, Sora always managed to find his way around people’s heart

And, it also fits with Sora’s character issue, the tendency to mask and ignore things that really needed to be discussed with a happier, cheerful front in order to distract them from the actual problem.

Now for Sora = Toy Sword relation

Reminder that I don't play Kingdom Hearts so this is based on what I know, in Kingdom Hearts dive to the heart, there are 3 weapon types or path that you can choose to manipulate your stat, the dream shield, path of the guardian (goofy or riku), dream rod, path of the mystic (donald or kairi), or dream sword, path of the warrior (sora or mickey)

And then there’s also this panel during COM Riku Boss Fight II, when Sora reminisced about sparring with Riku. The sequence is Sora fades to his memories, an image of child sora with the toy sword is conjured, then sora spare with riku.

There is also the previously mentioned keyblade (sword) that Sora is holding when coming into contact with namine on card destiny island, when everything is surrounded by chaos (view AITSU: Destiny Island panel 1)

And now I'm going to take parts from Kingdom Key & Kingdom Hearts analysis which help me conjured this whole post in the first place. In KH1, Riku's light touches Sora, bestowing him with his keyblade (crown)

And how Sora had also entrusted his sword (heart) to riku

What I'm saying is, at the night of the meteor shower, sora and riku had exchanged symbols (the heart and the crown) to eachother at the night of the meteor shower when sora gave protection with his sword (heart) and riku with his necklace (crown)

THIS IS GOING BASED ON THE FACT THAT THEIR SYMBOL IS SORA = CROWN, RIKU = HEART

*these are the chess pieces of sora (crown), riku (heart), kairi (star) in kh3 (there are still more, but mainly these symbols is always used in sora and riku's visuals)

Moreso if crown = sora, heart = riku from the beginning it would not make sense with their character origin because crown can be meant as chosen one, special one, royalty, which sora has been stated multiple times to be just an ordinary boy despite the bajillion crown symbolism on him while the heart means to connect with people which is more associated with sora rather than riku who's whole theme is isolation and hidden truths

alternatively, sora has given his heart to riku, while riku has given his throne to sora on the night of the meteor shower which also aligns with the boys character issues: need of validation (sora) and need of affection (riku)

Scene Analysis

now with the assumption that sora -> sword, riku -> necklace, a few scenes started to hit a little deeper

KH1 Hollow Bastion

here riku is basically saying "i don't want your heart anymore, you can have it back" but he can't directly took the necklace so the kingdom key will have to do

COM Riku Boss Fight II

the line "you always try to warm your way into my heart!" and "it never mattered to you" from repliku makes so much sense because the real riku probably feels manipulated by sora's false promises and empty words, that it tricked him to gave up his precious family heirloom and essentially his heart that he trusted to sora

**in addition, repliku started tweaking after sora implies that they should work together (issho ni) instead of fighting

and many more.... (we've hit the image limit)

there's probably a lot more scene that can be seen in a different perspective with this mindset in mind especially in kingdom hearts I and chain of memories, but those are the MAIN examples that i've listed (i might do more in the future, i'll put a link when i do!!)

THE ENDD!!!!!!

that being said, this analysis had come to an end!!!! tysm for reading!!

other parts

part 1 (the paopu fruit)

[kairithemang0]

Kairi and the fear of change and low self-confidence

It's a pretty popular joke now in the fandom that Kairi's useless. And sad to say, it's not wrong. And it's really sad to see, the downfall of Kairi was a quick one, it pretty much happened over the course of one game and stayed that way for the rest of the series.

What Kairi used to be was this sassy kid tomboy who would run around with her two friends playing games. Even then, she had an interesting backstory. No one knew where she was from, neither did she. She was found after a meteor shower and needed to adjust to being swept away from a life she now doesn't remember, and probably still doesn't.

She's a tragic character truly, but she also is afraid of change. That's really her defining character, she's holding onto a life she was comfortable with, but the world is changing so rapidly. Did she even want to go on the raft, or did she just want to be with her friends and was going along with it? She was comfortable on the island, she made a life for herself there but meanwhile everyone around her wants more.

Kairi wants to fit in, I think some amount of peer pressure is driving her to work on the raft. She, like everyone, doesn't want to lose her friends. And sure, she's friends with Selphie and Tidas and the others, but she doesn't spend as much time with them as she does Sora and Riku. They were probably her first friends when she arrived, and being so afraid of change, she stuck by them.

Of course, one of her most iconic lines is telling Sora to stay the same, because she trusts Sora to do that. She's already seeing it with Riku, that bit of aggression, he's starting to give into that darkness, and she can sense it. So, she wants to run with Sora

Sora, throughout everything, is her wall to lean on. She trusts him, she's close to him. I'm guessing she was always a little closer to Sora than Riku. Sora's not worried to grow up, he doesn't have a care in the world. He's fun, he's silly, it's what she needs. She needs that stability because I think the fact the first 4 years of her life, her home and family, have been wiped away, it's had lasting effects on her.

As the series goes on, I think her confidence dwindles. She sees Sora and Riku making new friends, she becomes less of a priority. It's scary to her, like it would be to anyone. She's training to be a keyblade wielder, but she was outright told by Riku she couldn't come to help Sora. She definitely doesn't take it well, she knows she needs to keep training, but she still just wants to be there for her friends. She's watching them drift away, grow up, but she's not ready for that. She's scared, she's lonely, she's worried about losing her friends.

Over the series, Kairi hasn't made too many connections of her own. She also hasn't gotten the chance to but I'm gonna swipe that under the rug because. Well, that makes this less interesting

She's so stuck to these same two friends who are changing, Riku has changed a lot and while Sora may still be the same old Sora, but he has new friends, new people to care about.

Who wouldn't be afraid of being left behind? Especially after being told, she's not ready time and time again. It's gotten to the point where she's begging for her attacks to work, brain goes blank whenever she gets kidnapped. She's powerful, but she isn't treated like she is. It's definitely affected her way of seeing herself, feeling like she can't do it, that she's weak.

Sadly, I doubt we'll ever get a fully realized Kairi with a full arc. If she does though, I want it to be about finding people who aren't Sora to connect with, she has a bit of that with Lea but now Roxas and Xion are back, she'll be pushed away again. Probably the same thing with Aqua, her new master, who just got back to her old friends after 10 years and probably also isn't in the best mindset to raise a new keyblade wielder properly

And that just leaves Kairi. Still alone. Still hoping to get her friends back, who have all moved on

[gardengalwrites]

@angelosearch has left the funniest comment on my fic. 😂

"Squall sighed. "No formalities necessary, Quistis. I'm honestly too frazzled to put on my Headmaster hat right now."" - I love this dialog for Squall but also I cannot help but think Selphie has made Squall a literal headmaster hat.

I cannot unsee Squall's Headmaster Hat and need fanart of this in my life ASAP. 🤣

Thank you for being an awesome friend! ♥️

[holleighgram]

Hold onto your keyboards, cause I'm about to get ✨️controversial ✨️

I'd like to preface this by saying all interpretations/ headcanons/ readings/ etc. Are valid and I'm in no way discouraging anyone to change their ways.

I watched (and enjoyed) Baloney's "The Truth About Kingdom Hearts!" And I absolutely adored their take on the series, but one line stuck out to me that I really want to expand on because I don't see it being talked about as often as it should.

Kairi doesn't like Riku.

And I think this is a very RICH and IMPORTANT aspect of the Destiny Trio dynamic. It adds to the complexity of these characters, but especially Kairi.

(Another shout out to @violethowler and their INCREDIBLE Constructing Kingdoms series. The video on"The Girl Who Never Grew Up" made me like and understand Kairi so much more. Highly recommend checking it out.)

Kairi doesn't like Riku, and with some pretty valid reasons, but I'll get to that after I compile all the evidence towards this:

In KH:

Kairi likes her life the way it is. She doesn't desire change, but Riku wants nothing but change. He wants to grow up and move on and see the outside world.

And because Sora looks up to him, Sora has jumped on the bandwagon too. Kairi is going along because Sora is. But it is clear that for Kairi, change =/= good. So what does she say?

"You know, Riku's changed."

Sora asks her how, and she kinda bites her tongue. Clearly she had opinions, but doesn't want to badmouth Soras best friend to him. Later she says, "Sora, don't ever change."

Later, after everything, when Kairi is restored and in Travers Town, she doubts that Riku can be saved, despite the fact that she LITERALLY saved Sora from being a heartless. She almost seems like she's trying to convince Sora not to go, or to at least let her come with-- not to save Riku but because she wants to be there with Sora.

At the end of the game, she obviously return to destiny islands and draws the paopu.

During Chain of Memories, everyone forgets about Sora, but the memories of Riku stay intact. For a year. Kairi is well aware that her "friend" is missing. In fact, last she knew of him, he was still taken by Ansem and presumably dead or at least suffering. She doesn't know.

She knows she's a Princess of Heart and has powers thay can help (as she restored Sora after being a heartless). But the most we get is "he's far away, but I know we'll see him again." Like, do you?

I mean, SELPHIE is the one that says "I sure miss him." That's way more than we EVER get from Kairi.

So for a YEAR, she doesn't spare Riku a single thought. But the SECOND she remembers Sora, she is willing to do anything to see him again.

Here's a little bit of speculation for WHY she doesn't like Riku:

1) Perhaps when she first met them as kids, he reminder her of Xehenort, who kidnapped her and yeeted her into space.

2) Kairi wanted to be best friends with SORA, but not Riku. She's afraid that Sora will follow Riku to the outside worlds (where she doesn't want to go) and leave her behind. If it wasn't for Riku, Sora wouldn't want to leave at all.

3) He (as far as we know) opened the door and damned their home into Darkness. That's probably a point of contention for her. Even though Sora so forgiving.

4) He hurt Sora in KH1, but Sora is still loyal to him. She probably sees that as him taking advantage of Sora-- the person she cares most about.

5) He's the reason Sora never came home. If it wasn't for him, they would have gone home at the end of KH1 together.

I can't say for sure how Riku feels about Kairi. He DID drag her corpse around and give into the darkness to save her, but that can be interpreted as solely wanting to "beat " Sora at being the hero. Even still, we get moment in COM where he reflects on missing her. We even see Namine come to his rescue in her form. I definitely feel like there is less animosity there, but who knows.

That's all.

Roast me, Kairi stans, but I love the depth this reading gives to the story and the potential for arcs and character growth for her and she is forced to face who she is without Sora.

[tbatthis]

for the benefit of no one except myself i’ve been keeping a media list all year, and i felt like being long-winded as shit so here is a jumbo post about all of them. these won’t be in chronological order at all and in fact is starting with the last game i finished this year because i thought grouping them into Blocks would be fun. for me. so yeah here we go

THE PS1 JRPG FREAK’S DELIGHTS:

FINAL FANTASY VIII- the quintessential sicko’s game. a game that has like five slow unskippable tutorials where they walk you step by step through exactly how their completely bizarre equipment system works and yet is still considered obtuse. not to me though i’m a genius and i understand exactly how to snap the game in two like a twig.

yes you have to memorize a lot of weird esoteric knowledge about deliberately avoiding levelling up by turning every enemy you see into a marketable trading card, because doing this thwarts the level scaling which does not account for your actual stats. yes you then have to understand that you can turn cards into items that can be turned into magic that can be turned into doing 2000 damage like three hours into the game. and yes, failure to do that results in going “uhh i junction. fire. to attack.” and wondering why every fight takes a million years.

those are all charm points. almost no other game leaves itself totally neutral to letting you annihilate its difficulty curve in the way ff8 does. it is built from the ground up to accomodate sickos of all stripes. it rules actually.

the story is really really good. also. don’t believe the liars, and the doubters. they were filtered by squall leonheart having a “character arc.” open your heart and your mind and you will learn that LOVE is REAL and also see like four of the funniest guys ever invented (laguna my beloved zell my beloved selphie my beloved irvine my beloved etc).

this one has like all the rawest limit breaks in the series that’s important. they made unique animations for when squall uses his on certain bosses it’s very cool.

i am stopping this segment here because ff8 is one of my favouritest games ever for my whole life and i am liable to talk Forever if left unchecked so. oops onto the entire rest of the list.

STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY R- the thing about saying “almost no other game” lets you be as much of a weird weirdo about it as ff8 does is that you do indeed leave room for there to be… another.

this game rules. it really does the same thing ff8 does where it drops some way too elaborate sprawling system in front of you and if you’re an evil genius you can immediately cook up a brew most foul with it. i read through all the skills you can use and found all the shit about deliberately lowering your stats to gain more exp and just did the grinch smile and watched my guys get so juiced on bonus exp that their stat debuffs immediately stopped mattering. i cannot convey how much a game neutrally presenting you with the ability to be really stupid and letting you figure that out yourself Delights Me. it is so fun.

this is as good a time as any, in the ps1 freak game block, to say that we probably didn’t need to make games look any better than either of these. star ocean 2 looks craaaazy (yeah it has hd2d remake buffs but stillll its a 2d ps1 game at its core) and ff8 is like a 25 year old game about expressionless dolls and it still makes me go like Damn, This Is The Cutting Edge……. square you can stop making 1000 billion dollar hyperrealistic monster action games and make like. a turn-based game with fixed camera angles. it will look better. it will be cooler. trust. trust.

making your lead character a whiny incel voiced by spike spencer is hilarious btw. claude c kenny you are a deeply pathetic little man and i think they were very aware of that when they cast spike spencer. he isnt as pathetic as ashton though. my best friend ashton. go play this game to see ashton he’s sooo funny i love him.

FROMSOFT PERVERT BLOCK:

BLOODBORNE (LIKE TWICE IN A ROW)- i mean what am i gonna say it’s bloodborne. it’s like the sickest game ever. game precision engineered to let you do slow edgy rp walks that lead directly into parrying a nefarious beast, thus making you feel like an extremely raw deviantart drawing of shadow the hedgehog. the Perfect Game, some may well say, if they are me.

ELDEN RING AND ALSO ITS DLC- i definitely liked elden ring more this time around because i used a Large Stick to Squash Like Bug instead of trying to look cool and also because i shed my gamer pride and just used the damn summons. the base game bosses are still designed by a malevolent gestalt entity of every guy in the youtube comments saying using a greatsword in dark souls 1 is Cheating, and so i just summoned on almost all of them towards the end. i don’t fucking care. i’m not dignifying malenia with an honourable duel. she’s mean.

anyway the dlc was actually much much better. the bosses were almost always designed around the idea that maybe you are fighting them on your own and its like wow!!! fun!!! they even have a boss who is designed to have someone helping you out, but it doesn’t feel like you’re just turning the boss off by doing that!! crazy!!! i love fromsoft games actually!!!

let’s not talk about promised consort radahn.

SHE PRESS ON MY TURN TIL I SYSTEM:

PERSONA 3 RELOAD- aigis aigis aigis aigis aigis aigis aigis aigis aigis aigis aigis i love aigis my best pal aigis my funny animal aigis sorry about your dead boyfriend but i think wistfully remembering him in soft focus is good for your character arc.

most of the Remakey elements of this game. are good. i like how it looks. the menus are sick. giving strega some extra scenes is nice. the new tartarus stuff is fun. etc etc

i could kiiinda do without some of the extra fake-social link scenes for sees because a lot of them kinda feel like nothing EXCEPT THE AIGIS ONES WHERE SHE LOOKS AT COOL BUGS THOSE ARE IMMACULATE all the other ones feel like they last ten million years and can be summarized as “akihiko would like to be strong” yes i knew this from his actual character arc thank you.

and also the new anime cutscenes fuckin blooooow ass they lost every ounce of sauce the original scenes had they RUINED makoto’s awakening scene and i’ll NEVER forgive them in my WHOLE LIFE. however the ending made me sob again so its ok

SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI 3: NOCTURNE- now this is a sicko’s game. this is what it’s all about. can we get some damn dungeons with obnoxious gimmicks back in the damn jrpgs. and a random encounter system, too. to facilitate the feeling of being trapped in hell. can we throw the youth of the day into the labyrinth of amala, to build character. and can shoji meguro bring back his finest vocalist, text-to-speech albert.

SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI V: VENGEANCE- look i like smt5 a lot. i liked it enough to get vengeance. i think vengeance is a lot better in a lot of ways. story’s way better, has my evil sexy wife agrat bat mahlat etc etc HOWEVER we have lost our way as a people. random encounters. dungeons with a REAL gimmick, none of your reversing gravity to walk two meters and then landing on one giant platform nonsense. TEXT to SPEECH ALBERT. return to the promised paradise of sickos. please.

SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI: STRANGE JOURNEY- now THIS is a SICKO’S GAME. trap me in the labyrinth with the hee-ho choir sir. make me solve the warp maze. maybe make the final boss like 10% less sicko though. i’m only so strongy.

I HAVE WATCHED ONE TELEVISION SHOW WITH REAL HUMAN BEINGS IN IT:

AND IT IS LIKE SIX SEASONS OF FRIENDS- look i was trapped on a plane for nine hours enroute to important oomfie activities and the only inflight thing i wanted to watch was the fifth and sixth seasons of friends. and then the hotel didnt have netflix, youtube, etc but it did have a channel showing nothing but friends all day. i have seen the episode about ross’ apothecary table five times this year due to this channel. anyway friends is like 50% funny and 50% a miserable exercise in seeing very insecure white people write jokes about how scared they are of the defiance of gender roles. joey/phoebe should have happened fuck you mike

I HAVE WATCHED NUMEROUS ANIME THOUGH:

MY HERO ACADEMIA- its fun okay. every tryhard who pretends they hate this show please stop being scared of some guy on twitter calling shows you like mickey mouse clubhouse and just like. enjoy things. if you actually hate it ok thats not very plus ultra of you but ok

JUJUTSU KAISEN- please copypaste the entire mha segment for this one. its good actually. every single popular shonen everyone starts pretending they hate it and its the worst show ever at like. some arbitrary point around 150 chapters in. whatever man. gojo is funny

FRIEREN- [sexually explicit fantasy regarding ubel has been deleted] really good show makes me very emo. cant wait for season 2. [further, even more sexually explicit fantasy regarding ubel deleted].

BOCCHI THE ROCK- more like bocchi the kino. more like bocchi the peak. more like bocchi the blorbo. insane show. never stops finding the damn gag of the century, right after having previously cracked the last gag of the century. you should watch bocchi NOW 🫵

KAGUYA-SAMA LOVE IS WAR- i guess either this or bocchi is my favourite anime. idk dont ask me. kaguya is funny i like it a lot. it has the advantage of also making me emo which. actually bocchi does that too. hm. whatever both are really good

DANDADAN- they took his balls. awesome. they ended the anime in maybe the most ill-advised way possible so i guess i have to read the manga

DRAGON BALL SUPER SUPER HERO YEAH THATS THE NAME- man i love piccolo

WAHOO YIPPEE ITSA ME:

MARIO SUNSHINE- evil video game made by and for the immoral. as such it has been a favourite of mine for years. some truly hideous stuff in here. they put mario in a pachinko machine. he’s pachinko mario. mario sunshine is in many ways a “gamer’s vampire” to me. i will love it forever even as it rips me apart.

MARIO ODYSSEY- wow a mario game that was made with joy and love in its heart instead of cruel malice. i guesssss its better than sunshine because of that but i have a perverse soul.

PAPER MARIO THE THOUSAND YEAR DOOR- wow they should make another one of these eh. wonder what ever happened to mario rpgs. wish they’d make one. ah well guess i’ll just play this one for all eternity.

WHAT IF CHESS MADE YOU HORNY?:

FIRE EMBLEM FATES CONQUEST- the last time i played fates it was on hard mode and i said i’d never do it again and then i played it one year later and did it on hard mode again. idk. i love the incest game. i’m a siscon gamer. i only ever marry felicia who is not related to you in any way but nevertheless. i’m here for dogshit story and maps that push me through a mesh sheet

UNICORN OVERLORD- vanillaware have truly provided the definitive answer to the question, of what if chess made you horny. and the answer is the game would be very good. it probably needed like more map variety because you do just have the same objective for 80 hours. however i understand this would cut into the ten billion yen budget assigned to animating an elf girl’s tits as if each one were a living breathing sentient being unto itself.

ENOUGH! MY SHIP SAILS IN THE MORNING. I WONDER WHAT’S FOR DINNER?:

ZELDA: MAJORA’S MASK- hey did you know that until xenoblade 2 this was my favourite game of all time. that it probably fundamentally warped my entire brain and shaped my tastes to forever be the guy whose favourite entry in any series is the Weird Freak that came out after the Iconic Most Beloved Game. a pattern that matches ocarina of time, final fantasy 7, xenoblade 1, mario 64, etc etc.

i mean i am a genius for it. majora’s mask is the best zelda. it is the coolest shit ever. it is so emo. it has deku link, named time magazine’s Man of the Year 2000. the only flaw….? heh…. that it set the bar too high for every subsequent zelda……

ZELDA: ECHOES OF WISDOM- okay but this was one pretty good. i’m glad we got another link’s awakening remake artstyle game. i very much enjoyed feeling like everything i was doing was some nefarious trick to circumvent the game when it is literally designed to be doing that. hey nintendo dont be scared of zelda being the protagonist. keep doing that. let her have a sword and also the power of summon bed. thanks for bringing back dekus btw i hope koroks rot in hell for a decade plus like dekus had to.

I THINK SHI-LONG LANG AND SHIH-NA SHOULD HAVE GRAPHIC ON-SCREEN SEX:

ACE ATTORNEY INVESTIGATIONS- i think shi-long lang and shih-na should have graphic on-screen sex

ACE ATTORNEY INVESTIGATIONS 2- i think shi-long lang and shih-na should have graphic on-screen sex

anyway these are the best ace attorney games. here’s hoping for a third game that features shi-long lang, and shih-na, well… oh, i shouldn’t say…..

THE “TBAT WAS TRICKED INTO PLAYING ROGUELIKES” BLOCK:

BALATRO- i love jonking out. i’m a jonkhead. what more can one say

VAMPIRE SURVIVORS- i only got it for the castlevania dlc and played that for a good bit and then had this dull realization that i was basically inhaling the video game equivalent of sawdust and went to play symphony of the night instead

I LOVE GOTHS I LOVE GOTHS I LOVE GOTHS I LOVE GOTHS:

CASTLEVANIA ARIA OF SORROW (LIKE THREE TIMES)- its da best castlevania, you know…. soma cruz…. what a raw design. what a raw concept. what a funny fucking goober. there is indeed a reason every single castlevania and also bloodstained just copied the soul absorbing shit from this game btw. lets all bow to the real king of the castle. vania.

CASTLEVANIA DAWN OF SORROW- but then again maybe this one’s the best one idk. its hard to tell. the soma sweep could well apply to two games. they really arent all that different. this one has cooler music i guess?? like it has bloody tears thats a big buff

CASTLEVANIA PORTRAIT OF RUIN- the panzeke castlevania (won’t elaborate on that). i think its pretty good but it does visibly run out of steam halfway through by pulling the ol devil may cry 4 where you just do the same areas again but backwards. only castlevania where you can say “i creampied richter belmont” and it is a legitimate boss strategy and not perverse lust for anime men

CASTLEVANIA ORDER OF ECCLESIA- they invented the coolest hottest goth to ever exist (OTHER THAN SHIH-NA) and then tormented me by making her the most boring bucket of paste ever written (UNLIKE SHIH-NA). and also her game is way too hard. i’m a sicko until a game is exactly 5% too hard and then i start crying. i will probably still play it again to see if i can unlock my gamer instinct and get good at it.

CASTLEVANIA SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT- bro they redubbed it. they took out the iconic oscar winning dracula voice acting. fucked UP. i definitely like symphony of the night but it has a lot of “i am inventing a genre please be nice” jank to it like bosses and rooms that seem to be designed around just spamming your Go Invincible For Like A Minute button. but it is raw. castlevania just is inherently raw.

BLOODSTAINED RITUAL OF THE NIGHT- it is genuinely so funny that this game features a legally distinct alucard, voiced by alucard’s original actor, but he isnt the guy you play as. no, iga just believed so hard in the concept of shanoa order of ecclesia that he went “my next game’s protagonist is Also a woman covered in ominous magic tattoos that let her absorb demon souls (not the game) and who has to kill her brother who went crazy from demon magic” but this time she has like. a personality.

i like bloodstained but the gulf in quality between the immaculate sprites of ds era castlevania and the buttttt uglyyyyy 3d models in this game really really debuffed it for me over time. bloodstained 2, when it releases in 2030, will be an unstoppable super game if it looks exactly like order of ecclesia or at least rises to the level of looking Acceptable in 3d

GAMES THAT DO NOT FIT INTO AN ARBITRARY VAGUELY HUMOUROUS BLOCK:

PIKMIN 2- one of the sicko greats….. i love jumping down an ominous hole and then as a little jape i am stabbed and stabbed and stabbed and stabbed with rusty knives and then there are falling rocks and perhaps even falling bombs. pikmin 4? a coward’s game. play pikmin 2 and learn a little something about the fragility of life.

LIKE A DRAGON: INFINITE WEALTH- i hope yakuza games never ever stop having evil white men voiced by a famous japanese actor who is hardcore struggling through the english lines. i hope yakuza games never ever stop

ASTRO BOT- god man look i knooow i knooow its good i know its the game of the yeaaar and yes i am not so heartless as to not go omg yaaay :) when i found the little aigis scrunko. but godddd the funko pop grease that astro bot is coated in. that cloying, ersatz whimsy. the reverence for the Playstation Brand as if i give a fuck about the ps5 as a box. begone, foul bot.

POKEMON SOULSILVER- “ohhh the dex selection” “ohhh the level curve” “ohhh kanto is still undercooked” i was having a comfy time with my little umbreon named shih-na and thats all that matters. also johto is the defacto region for my delusional pyrex pokemon au, so its good.

FINAL FANTASY X- we used to have it so good man. turn based rpgs used to be the king of the world. squaresoft would release three complete instant classics three years in a row and they would all be insanely good for wildly different reasons. we need to have some kinda technological dark age where everyone has to develop for At Best the ps2, and no further. that’ll sort this shit out

APPROXIMATELY 1000000 HOURS OF CERES FAUNA LIVESTREAMS- man i love fauna

THE GRADUATION ANNOUNCEMENT OF CERES FAUNA- i think this must have been how it felt to witness jfk’s assassination. i’ll never be happy again.

dont let me do this again or i will yap and yap and yap for all eternity

[angelosearch]

Happy b-day to my girl Rinoa. I wish I had fic or art ready to post today but I don't :(

All I will say is that writing in her perspective for an extended period of time, and therefore looking at her lines and behaviors over and over again, has just really made me appreciate Rinoa as a character.

A few things I love about her:

As the daughter of what we are led to believe are Galbadia's highest ranking general and one of the world's biggest celebrities, Rinoa is privileged. She comes from a position of power and wealth. She could have just lived a comfortable life but she chooses to use her knowledge and skills to help free a country from violent occupation. Doing so puts her at great personal risk, and although she may not fully understand how risky it is, it is extremely brave and righteous for her to do this. This is why I believe Rinoa is not Ultimecia - because at her core, she is someone who places her values over personal gain when she has power and influence. She can be possessed but I don't believe she corruptible (into Ultimecia, anyway).

On her bravery, we all know that Rinoa fears doing things alone. But many times in the game, she does things alone anyway. Bravery is not the absence of fear but the willingness to challenge it, and our girl challenges it all the time!

Further, she makes the active decision to rejoin the SeeDs after Irvine escorts her out of D-District prison. What I realized in writing my fic, which is an alternate timeline, is that Rinoa actually has no established reason to go to the missile base. But you can assign her to that party. And she will do it without complaint. She is risking her life, not to earn money, or to move her mission in Timber forward, or even to spend more time with Squall. She will go because she thinks it's the right thing to do, and because she wants to help Selphie, someone she has just met.

She gives people the benefit of the doubt. There is no denying that Squall is a huge jerk to her at times early game, but she is emotionally intelligent enough to realize that whatever he is projecting is not about her. And then she tries, over and over, to reach out to him. She is so patient. But also, she gives Deling the benefit of the doubt - they were trying to reason with him on the train, not even blackmail him or threaten him, but just have a conversation. She tries to not kill Edea TWICE. She tries to use the bangle to circumvent assassination and then tries to get the SeeDs to find another way to face her. She even returns to Esthar after they were hostile toward her. She believes in the good of people. Maybe that's being naive but if we were all as cynical as some other characters in this game, the world would completely fall apart.

Rinoa is always thinking. She is crafty, she comes up with interesting plans, and she can even be a bit of a schmoozer. Rinoa is only 17, and so some of this is not always executed in the best way; but I think she is extremely intelligent and creative. And, I mean, you GOTTA BE if you can teach your dog all those amazing tricks.

Don't you DARE call her a damsel in distress. She is just as much the hero of FFVIII as Squall is and YES I will die on this hill. Does she get into some pretty nasty situations? Yes. Are some of these situations caused by mistakes on her part? Absolutely. But this girl is far from helpless and goes all out to save Squall, her friends, and ALL OF TIME AND SPACE. She was willing to go to Edea by herself with a bangle that she had idea if it worked to help her friends. She was at peace with being locked away for probably the rest of her life if that meant keeping the world safe. She was willingly possessed by an evil sorceress for a second time after having a traumatic more-than-near-death experience the first time (she hadn't even experienced an Ellone dream before so imagine how scary this entire prospect was??? Like yes you need to lose your conciousness to some future bitch again and then you have to go into this other bitch's head in the past in this dreamscape you've never even been in and then yeah all of time is gonna collapse if/when you come to, you cool with that, Rinoa?). At the end of the game, she physically travels between dimensions/time/space/realities to find Squall and revive him, and then transport them back to their own reality which is obvious savior stuff. But she also saves Squall throughout the game by staying by his side, asking the right questions, listening to him, and giving him validation that, while he doesn't accept, he needs to hear. And oh yeah she fucks up Irvine to go get Squall out of prison. There's a reason they only call her "princess" once in the game - because she's NOT just a princess.

She cute as fuck js not just physically but also the things she says and her mannerisms. She's just so charming! No wonder Squall fell toss-myself-into-space in love with her! Me too tf

Tbh there are more reasons but this post is already longer than I thought it was going to be. Apparently I just have a lot of Rinoa feelings okay?! Okay.

Love you, happy birthday you absolute angel you ❤️

[freckledhylian]

Riku actually held that KH1 paopu for a whole day.

In KH1, the paopu tree seems to have space for holding 4 fruits. Yet, only 3 are shown. The first person we’re shown alongside that tree is Riku. And what does he gives Sora at the end of the day?

“Maybe he took it just before leaving”

That’d be a possibility, but, the next day, not a single paopu is missing on the tree.

Which mean, Riku actually had the fruit before the sunset scene. Not only that, but the spot where the 4th paopu should be, would actually be the easiest one to pluck. Then what was he doing with it for so long? Well, during that sunset scene, Kairi said that to Riku;

He sure did. Remember what Selphie said about not plucking a Paopu fruits without being serious about it? Riku would never just pluck it for “just a joke” especially if he knows one of his friends would be upset over it. He spent all this time thinking about whether would he share one with Sora or not. He apparently chose to, since he plucked the fruit, but ended up not doing it for some reasons that I still don’t know for sure. He maybe took a tiny bite and gave it to Sora in hope that he would just take it home and eat it, who knows?

To back this up I also have a manga panel where Riku is shown regretting not trying “that paopu thing”

(Pic from @/blowingoffsteam2)

So; Riku actually plucked that Paopu fruit surely after finishing working his part of the raft and just sat there, looking at the sea, thinking about if he would share it with Sora or not. Or more like would he find the force to actually do it. Time went by and the sunset scene happened. For some reasons, he just tossed it to Sora, maybe either hoping Sora would just eat it or just watching what would his reaction be.

About the reasons that maybe made him “give up” I have a theory:

Remember when Riku says if he win, he’ll share the paopu with Kairi? I’m pretty sure that’s what he used in his own mind to determine if he would share the Paopu or not, but with the sparring one. He was probably so lost that he just ended up using what they always used to decide something; sparring, or just competing against each other. “If I win, I’ll share a Paopu with Sora.” Now, I don’t know the canonical result of the sparring, but I think Sora won and hence why Riku stayed true to his words and didn’t share it with him. Not so sure about that one though.

Thinking about Riku looking at the fruit and imagining himself sharing it with Sora, just for him to see the paopu drawing the next day just shatter my heart.

[iffylogic]

Aaaaa I'm sorry @quiettekiyet I totally forgot this! There's been a surge in scammers, so asks have been closed for a while.

But yeah, my headcanons have updated a bit since they last came up.

Let's see...

⭐

The old "Ultimecia is Rinoa" theory was thrown a bone in recent years. Previously, Kitase had seemingly outright stated that it was false. But more recently, Kitase explained that there was simply no mention of it verbally or in any of the game development material. In other words, no one said "no" to that idea when making the game... but only because it never came up in the first place. I thought that was a neat development (and even shared the video) because, while still I don't subscribe to the theory, I think it's really fun and love the fan stuff it spawns. So seeing it become "not impossible" was cool. (But then some people decided to ignore the entire interview and mindlessly reblog it saying "canon now!" so I took the post down.)

⭐

Some people connect Ultimecia to Halicarnassus, a recurring character/boss elsewhere in the series. She has magic powers, a helmet with horned protrusions (then again who doesn't), and resides in a castle that sits between dimensions. I even saw a video suggesting that she could be an unmentioned sorceress in the VIII universe, and is even the original owner of the castle Ultimecia resides in! Obviously there's no documentation to back up such a claim, but it's still a really cool idea so I headcanon it sometimes.

⭐

One friend likes to write the main cast with varying accents, most of which I lost track of, except for Selphie. Basically she has a Slavic accent, and those happen to be my favorites, so that's been a soft headcanon for like two years.

⭐

Not really a headcanon, but I've been musing about the idea that Adel had a crush on Odine, which is why he was allowed to build so much insane nonsense unimpeded. Just a tiny little guy screaming his head off at the engineers and technicians while Adel looks on with a sigh.

"So much rage in such a small package. I want the world for him."

[suleikashideaway]

Time Will Tell Writing Update

My friends! And by that I mean, to the four wonderful people who read Time Will Tell!

I have indeed fallen behind on my posting. Probably no one is surprised, least of all me, but the good news is that so much of this story is very very close to being posted - it just needs a final polish. Truthfully, I thought chapter 16 was going to go up on Thursday, but I still haven't had a ton of time to really sit with it and bring it to the level I really want.

Most of my time has been spent handcrafting decorations for my kid's birthday party and recovering from said party (I am a chronically ill Selphie apparently). And now with Halloween this week I am quite busy handmaking costumes for me, my husband, and our two kids. And our dog. Oh, and handcrafting decorations for my other kid's school Halloween party. I am insane. I love it. And like, I have to work on top of it, so there's that.

I guess this is a big ol' accountability post! If you are a silent reader out there, I would ADORE to hear from you. Your kudos, comments, and frankly whatever interaction you give is highly motivating, and likely to spur me to open up my Google Docs instead of Stardew Valley (which I am overly wont to do these days).

(Also if you're wondering about that, I am still going for Elliott, but Harveyyyyy I miss youuuuuuu 🥺 I may need another save file to get my nerdy doctor after all.)

[harukirai]

Queer history of Final Fantasy

I am replaying all the old final fantasies(mostly psp psone releases), first time with english localization and not the original jp.

Now i get it.

It all make sense now.

I couldn't understand the wave of "why shove the gays in our face" backlash of 16(even though, the non homophobic felt it was lacking since they didn't want to 'push it in yall face'). Like apperantly moat of the implication or straight up fruity moments in the old game was completely removed, or changed to the point of it being a 'silly thing'.

So lets clarify -

*Cecil(iv), your homeboy- an Non-binary (language is the best indication, but yeah i think it was a decision made for both female and male players to be able to relate to them, but yeah funny outcome non the less)

*Bartz(v)- outright bisexual, they didnt even hide it- next person on this list gonna make it make sense.

*faris(v)- an ftm transgender( at least in the original version, i know in some new iterations they scrapped the whole concept, but left it in in others?)- mainly speak about himself with (ore/boku- which is conventionally usally by male speakers), after finding out soem of the cast either use a female pronounce on him, but bartz constantly either avoid it or use male pronounce(or the nonbinary version which is usually reffered to kidz) but yeah, bartz was crushing on faris where he thought he was a cis male and unlike the other guy didnt shy away.

Lets jump a bit to 8-

Irvine(viii)- even though considered very handsome to the point he could get with any girl hed want, was even flirted with by selphie i think i need to remember, but he usually brush it off.

If anything he is either asexual, or gay(its very subtle, but its what called queer coding, and well see that allot from now on cause japan caught up to westerns norm on media)

Quina Quen (ix)- literally, a nonbinary- but i think they kept it in eng as well cause they are not human, but like black mages they have no sex, but unlike black mages they are 'genderless' and dont care for human norms.

Kuja(ix)- either gay/intersex/both.

Look at him.

Seriously that character confused a whole generation sexuality.

Like sephiroth, but unlike sephiroth he also have effeminate mannerisms, and until it was revealed by text it wasnt so obvious.sephiroth in jp have a confusing language because he himself is possed by jenova, so evem though i love this headcanon, sephiroth isnt trans actually.

Auron(x)- ahh yes, your favourite broody guy and probably where im gonna get tons of hate.

Auron is very subtle, but once you notice it its hard to deny.

I think Auron is gay, unlike jecht or braska- he did not have kids, denied arranged marriage, and followed jecht to dream zanarken just to save jecht only son- it was pretty obvious that auron loved jecht. He also loved braska but not as much, and it shows- that for auron it was more than friendship. You can see it with his attitude towards yuna vs tidus- with yuna he is nicer, politer. Liem you act when you babysit your friends /cousins child.

But to tidus, he is a full father figure.In their journey together they grow, and i think if he wasnt the boy of the man he loved he wouldn't treat tidus as his own. With all the scoldinngs in mind.

Paine(X-2)- qlmost forgot her, but yeah she's pretty gay for riku

I dont remember much though because if the mission structure of the game.

Larsa(xii) - ohh i see you boy, i see u. He is sus as hell. He is a kid so its pretty innocent(and relatable to us queer kidz)

Its pretty obvios that he is crushing on basch, innocently though. I know some ppl who shipped him with penelo, but canonically by spinoffs at least she and vann are an item.

Also they made sure it was obvious cause japan have this thing that a young character is crushing on a teacher,mentor , older characters in general(aka cc sakura- her friend crushing on a teacher, syaoran & sakura crushing on yukito, also happens in tons of pop culture media at that time, so im not surprised, but im happy this time its one sided, THANK GOD)

But yeah if you reached the ending its pretty obvious.

Fang & vanille(xiii)- the first lesbians couple! Terra(VI) was supposed to be the first but they were afraid it will make her less marketable so they scrapped her gf. They made them clear, but at the same time they tried to make sure pple wont be fetishizing them(they tried, at least).

I want to explain their story more but i think ill mess it up since i tend to mix up 13's lacie, falcie and all that jazz.

So ill just say that basically there are 2 world in 13, pulse and cacoon. Pulse is basically earth and cacoon is the moon. There is a god for each world called a falcie.

Few of them but ine for each major ones. Our main gand from cacoon, branded by a falcie to be slaves(lacie) vanille and fang are from pulse, and slaves of pulse lacie, so basically they are with the task of creating Ragnarok which is like the end of time and but limw they dont know cause the gods in this game is like 'yeah imma give you a mission but wont tell you beside weird non undersandable feaver dream and you need to figure out and fast or youll become this universe version of zombie, and if you do complete it you become a ceystal living forever but like, sleeping beauty style. So lose lose situation.

The focus of them both is different from the gang, caus the falcie of cacoon is evil so he gove them focus destroying cocoon while if fang& vannile mannaged to ruin that falcie and bring ragnarok theyll become a crystal, and they used it to save coccon from falling and crushing killing all the people in it, basically became a pillar in eternal sleep when they hheld each other.

But they are saved in later game only to... Lightning return which we wont talk about cause i hate timers.

I love the story of xiii, big part of it is vanille & fang, i havent played in english yet, but i will say, their story is one of the more meaningful on this list, very well developed and i will do it disservice if id try to explain it in few sentences - so do yourself a favour and play or watch the playthrough.

Ignis& gladio(xv)- here is when localization ruimed it. I know cause i palyed on jp dub with eng sub and heard the differences live- first of all gladio and ignis are completely different in jp, as individuals and as a pair- they were supposed to be the first dion& terrence moment, but it got scrapped and they went the vannile& fang route, only that bec they are men, the localization team missed the mark.

Gladio got pissed at noctis in the train because of ignis.

In jp its clear their bond is beyond friends, and not mention the fact that their AI is always stuck together, and that gladio isnt a womenizer in jp at all, and there is no fiancee/girlfriend.

In jp he said suggested there is someone he wants to be with but bec of the state of the world and them both being constantly in the battlefront he couldnt ask.

(and ignis clear his throat when everyone is like oh great, very subtle but it was leading to that)

Every stop of the train or erea post blindness gladio was with ignis not leaving him .

Also tabata san also said that they are more than friends. So there's that too.

But its no secret 15 localization is tereible, the massacared prompto, he is so cringy in english, in jp yeah he is funny but like he says more stuff then random pop colture references, he breaks the 4th wall occasionally but not on the same level of the localization. Also, jp noctis is a little shit because he can and will, in localization he is more relatable while ignos and gladio are kimda mean. In jp its the other way around and up until chap 13 (when he is alone) noctis is a bratt. He has some moments when he is nicer, but when struggle shows he is a bratt about it- and its done purposely since he is a spoiled pronce who never done anything alone in his life.

Thats why in chap 13 he has a change of heart, because he was alone and learned to appriciate his friends when he was stuck alone in the dark with no weapons and i think it was a good call storytelling wise, but yeah the english localzation ruined it and made the whole chapter pointless .

Those are the implied/canon gays of final fantasy up to 15(we got a kiss so its obvious).

The series has always been kinda Fruity and i know some of yall will be like, 'but there's no proof'. Well, japanese speakers(who arent homophobic at least) will agree with me that we tend in media that is not specified like BL or GL to make things subtle. So what in the west is called 'queer coding' is very common in japanese media and it comes in way more shape and forms.usually implied with a desper conncetion relationship or linguistics.its funny cause in the 80's and very early 90's gay pple wasnt hidden in jp pop culture (no kisses or anything but it was straight out told to the viewer/player)

And only later 90's there was a trend of removing us completely from the media, but around that time a specific genre was created so it wasn't out completely.(like yaoi/yuri as erotic mangas existed aince the 80's but usually only love stories or main gay characters were mixed in with the straight media, kimda like what netflix does today, but around 96, 97 the shounen ai and shoujo ai genres rose in popularity(mainly cause of clamp) and things got seperated. In games- because it became a bigger deal in the west square took caution with how clear they gonna make stiff not to piss of the christians after the backlash of Pokemon (idk how it was really but through japanese media and news it seemed at the times that the american patents were pissed so game companies started sensoring their games from all things might piss off christians/monotheistics ).

*also i dont live in japan but i am mixed so i grew in a jp speaking house and family from there always sent games on holidays and birthdays+nhk was always running in the backround to check on the motherland😂

[starsurfacemortalkombat]

CG Irvine w/ Regressor Squall: Too Loud, Too Much Pt 1 (Fic)

pt 2

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

It was loud, so loud.

Squall couldn't think. He couldn't breath.

Why did he come? Why was he here? Because he was commander. Because he had to be here to represent SeeD.

The music was so loud, vibrating in his chest. Normally it didn't bother him. But it was happening for so long, too loud and too much.

And the place- It was packed. So many people, bumping into him, talking over his own thoughts. He hated parties, he hated people, he hated the shouting, and the singing, and.

Where was Rinoa? She said she was going to go find Selphie and she'd be back. She wasn't supposed to be gone this long.

No, he had told her to stay with Selphie. Have some fun and go party.

Why had he told her to stay? He needed her. She helped ground him. He could focus on her voice or hold onto her arm. And now she wasn't here.

When did he become so independent? He shouldn't be so dependent. Or weird. Or be affected by the loud music.

But no, instead he was standing in the corner. In the middle of all the music, and the noise, and the panic, and the-

"Hey Squall!" Irvine said as he walked over. "Rinoa sent me to come check on you."

Squall nodded. He didn't trust his own voice. 

What if it came out shaky? 

What if he sounded small?

"Alright, you wanna go get drinks with me?" Irvine asked, Squall shook his head. "Fair, the punch doesn't taste too great anyhow. . . You sure you alright?"

Rinoa always said he should be more open to his friends.

Squall nodded.

"Alright, you say so," Irvine said, although he didn't look so impressed. 

Stupid Squall, he should have told him.

But then he'd be weak. Because he'd have to admit that the sound bothered him. And that the vibrations were too much. And he was about to throw up. And he-

"So, there a reason you're hiding in the corner?" Irvine asked, pointing in some direction. "Rinoa's over there. I'm sure she wouldn't mind you joining her and Selphie."

Squall shook his head again.

He didn't want to ruin Rinoa's time. Sure, she probably wouldn't mind having him. But he didn't want to invite himself when there was no invention.

Suddenly there was a cheer among the crowd. Squall's hands went straight to his ears. Something must have happened or been said to cause. Squall couldn't make out words, only that they were loud. And there were so many people. And they all wouldn't shut up-

"Squall?" Irvine asked, gently putting his hand on Squall's shoulder. "How about we go outside and take a breather? It's getting pretty loud in here, ain't it?"

Squall almost wanted to whine in response. Yes, it was getting loud in here. He's been waiting for someone to notice.

He'd love to leave if he could. It'd be quieter outside. It'd smell cleaner. His head wouldn't be throbbing, and he wouldn't be hunched in some corner.

But Rinoa was here, and he couldn't abandon her.

"'Noa," Squall said weakly.

"I'm sure Rinoa wouldn't mind if we hung outside for a while. I'll even text her to let her know where we are," Irvine smiled. Squall tried to decipher it. It didn't look forced. Almost comforting, gentle even. "It's nice and quiet outside. Would you like to take a walk with me?"

Squall nodded. He'd do almost anything to get out of this stuffy room.

But it was truly a horror getting outside, for both men at that.

They kept on running into random people, bumping into some and trying to dodge others. Squall would panic and hide in Irvine's shoulder. Gripping onto Irvine's coat for dear life.

Irvine would apologize and keep on movie, trying to comfort Squall as they walked. He didn't expect Squall to cling to his coat the entire time, but he did. Like a small child trying not to get separated from their parent.

They also had to walk past the speakers.

Maybe Irvine should have taken a different path. He didn't realize they were close to the door. Squall didn't look mad at him as they walked past the booming music. But Irvine swears he could almost hear a choked sob come from him.

Perhaps that was why Squall was looking at the ground, hiding his face from the sharpshooter.

It was cold when they walked outside. Although that worked in their favor. No one wanted to stand in the cold, so there was barely anyone outside.

The further they walked, the further they could hear the music. Irvine didn't want to lead him into the town, so he made sure to stay in the Garden. Although even at the entrance they could hear the music inside.

"See? Nice and quiet," Irvine said as he sat Squall on the steps. "You alright there, Darlin'?"

Squall nodded, quickly wipping his eyes. He felt better now that he wasn't in the middle of the chaos.

It was calm outside. Yes, the music could be heard, but it was background noise.

He felt light, dizzy almost. He didn't want to throw up anymore. But his hands felt shaky, and his knees felt weak. He was glad he was sitting.

"Well I'm glad," Irvine sat beside him. "Gave me quite the scare, I won't lie. But it's all good now. Didn't know parties did that to ya'."

Squall shook his head, "Not parties."

"Not parties?" Irvine asked, laying down slightly so he was resting upon the stairs. Squall was happy he didn't question how quiet or high pitched his voice was. "Then what?"

"Loud," Squall mumbled, hugging himself.

"Oh," Irvine frowned.

And Squall wanted to cry all over again.

Squall squeezed himself tightly, not wanting any more tears to fall. It felt silly, crying over something stupid like noise. Or people. Obviously Irvine could see how stupid it was. How silly Squall was being.

Irvine took off his hat, setting it beside him, "Well that's no fun. Would have gotten you out of there sooner if I knew you were getting upset."

"Huh?" Squall looked confused.

Gotten him out of there? But Squall was being silly. He was overreacting again.

But then Irvine smiled at him.

And it was that same damn smile from earlier.

"I wished you had gotten one of us earlier, or taken a break out here," Irvine said gently. Squall noticed he was watching his tone. Making sure he sounded gentle, not angry or upset at him. "You were clearly in pain. And that's no fun."

Squall wanted to agree. It wasn't fun being here. He wanted to go to his room and cover himself in his blankets. Cuddle with Angelo who was probably asleep by now.

But he had overreacted. He made a scene that Irvine noticed only got bigger. He should still be in there. Probably hanging out with Rinoa and Selphie. Or Zell and Quitis. Hell maybe even Seifer.

"It's silly," Squall frowned.

"I don't think it's silly. I think you tried pushing yourself past your limit," Irvine put his hand on Squall's shoulder. Squall focus on the pressure. "Loud noises can be scary, or even painful. You didn't look too good in there. You looked scared, and in pain."

"But I ov-over-overre-" Squall struggled. Words were so hard, and they weren't getting any easier. He huffed angrily and buried his face into his hands. "Silly!"

"I don't think your overreacting. I think you need to take some deep breaths and calm down," Irvine began to rub his back. "You'll feel better when you focus more on your breathing."

Squall shook his head, wiping his face again. 

There was no need to cry anymore. He was out of the party by now, the noise was gone. His head still hurt, and his chest felt heavy, but he was out of there.

Plus he was outside, he was already breathing. Irvine was talking silly.

"You wanna breath with me?"

Such a stupid question.

And yet Squall nodded.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

I actually wrote this over a year ago, when I was at the biggest football game of my school year. It was so, SO, freaking loud, and the only support I had was with her band friend during half time. I just needed a venting outlet and never posted it. If anyone asks, I'm not sure if I meant this to be written with sensory issues, or just a mini breakdown. It wasn't my intention to write Squall with autism, because I don't have it and I don't want to claim that I meant to write it with a certain intention, only to write it incorrectly or stereotypical (but in a bad way), but also think whatever you may like!! It is (kinda) open to interpretation!! The glove part in the 2nd chapter is based off of Dragons_and_Jellies "Little Lion" story on AO3!! Go check it out, it's so cute!!! Also! Just to be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with autism or sensory issues or anything related to that sort!! I know many neurotypical individuals, both my own family members and close friends, and I just want to state that there's nothing 'wrong' with having anything. They're people like everyone else and deserve love and respect just like your everyday person. <3