#anyway no point to this i just wanted to chat about it

[hyfinart]

I really love the Shimmer4 au!! Btw do you think Shimmer4 would be able to let the Baby shimmer call/facetime Fan and Testtube? I think that would be cute

(apologize for any spelling errors. English isn't my first language)

i'd say so!

they were brought up once in an awkward text conversation between mephone4 and fan. now, it's really all fan asks about! aside from the countless questions he's asked for test tube about what it's like in space. at this point the three should just make a group chat.

mephone still feels weird around the contestants after the events of the finale, and facetiming isn't much easier. everyone knows the truth now, and it's hard for him not to feel guilty about it for many reasons. they've all begun to move on, anyways. integrating with real society. mephone is just happy that test tube and fan are happy.

still, sudden phone calls always make him jump in that split second before processing the caller id.

not cobs.

prime shimmer just thinks he gets startled easily—mephone doesn't want to correct them.

[perfectlysanexd]

I haven't done one of these kind of posts in a while, but the expressions in Rebirth were top notch, and I wanted to talk a bit about and analyze Sephiroth's different smiles, both pre and post Nibelheim.

Nibelheim itself is difficult to gauge, because SOLDIER Cloud is actually Zack, and furthermore, some of it is definitely his own wishful thinking. But one thing you can say for sure, is that they portray that Sephiroth, despite being so emotionally weary, still summons up the energy to smile at his friend.

As soon as he turns away from Zack, his smile falls, and he doesn't give one to the Mayor at all.

However, when he turns back to inform the men that they're free until sundown, he summons up another smile for them. I don't think that he's just attempting to keep their morale up, he genuinely has affection for Zack, and cares for the others. He respects them for their service, putting their lives on the line for what they think is a good cause, and Sephiroth—as we saw in Ever Crisis—learned to be a compassionate person, who cares about the lives of others, even enemies.

Of course, he's deeply distressed during this time, the despair is eating him alive. Even Cloud acknowledges(despite having not known Sephiroth on a personal level) that he just wasn't himself once they arrived. But I'm not going to talk about my theories on all the Jenova stuff right now, that's not the focus here. Even at the window, you can tell he's feeling off, but when he turns to Zack, he attempts to smile again.

Sephiroth has never enjoyed his fame, and as we learned in Ever Crisis, he didn't choose it; Shinra made up bogus achievements and declared him to be a hero before even his first field assignment, as part of their recruitment campaign. Can't argue with results, I guess—it certainly got Cloud to join up out of hero worship, right? In EC, Sephiroth admits that all he ever wanted was to be normal, something that he knows he can never have. How sad...

So when this man wants to take his picture, it's no wonder that he's over it by then, and tells him no. And rather politely, too, all things considered. But even before that, he smiles and tells Zack that as long as he does his job, their young tourguide will be safe.

But as soon as he turns his back and walks away? Yeah, that smile immediately fades.

Which certainly doesn't change when the guy takes his picture. But of course, when Zack asks Sephiroth to pose for one, he just can't say no, even though he's not super happy about it. Anyway, he continues to smile at Zack for the duration of their journey up Mt. Nibel, making an effort to talk and even cracking a couple jokes, just trying to be a good leader and keep them in good spirits.

And of course, there's the very sad bridge part, where you can tell that he's genuinely upset that he failed to save the other infantryman that got washed away. He searches for him, but comes up empty-handed. Still, he smiles for Zack and teases him about a performance assessment, since their morale is quite low now, but they need to keep going.

Honestly, the Nibelheim part of Rebirth really did an excellent job of portraying Sephiroth's inner struggle. For reference, there are only 3 points in Remake, I think, when Sephiroth drops his ever-present, sometimes affectionate(towards Cloud) and often unhinged, smile: First, it's replaced with sheer rage as he kills President Shinra.

Second time, is when Aerith has a Cetra moment and suggests that his entire existence is "wrong".

And the third time is when he holds out his hand to Cloud at the Edge of Creation, and is rejected by him.

Anyway, back to Rebirth. Ignoring the bizarre smiles he showed us as Nibelheim was burning, as if he was in a trance and just not all there(that's a subject for a different chat), post-Nibelheim Sephiroth's smiles are interesting, too, if we consider what kind they are, depending on who he's dealing with.

For people he hates, like Tseng, it's much more unhinged looking, and very cold. You can tell there's a certain measure of satisfaction from shanking him, haha...

For someone like Aerith, who...I wouldn't exactly say that he hates her, but she's definitely in the way. I would almost say that he considers her to be actively preventing Cloud from recovering his true memories, leading him to remain as merely Sephiroth's "puppet", but that's a theory for another day. He looks at her coldly, as well, but it's a bit different. There's a bit more respect there than there was for Tseng.

And then there's Zack. Actual Zack. I feel like, deep down, he still cares about him, and has no intention of killing him. I almost sense a little...regret? Maybe? Hm. It's definitely a bit warmer of a smile. And of course, although he had many opportunities to get rid of Zack, he doesn't. Instead, he sends him off into the space between worlds safely.

And of course, last but certainly not least, is the way he smiles at Cloud. I know, I know. "But Sane, you like sefikura, so you're biased!" Look, I won't deny that. However, when you really look at it and compare his smiles, which is what this is all about, his truest smiles are always saved for Cloud. He has 2 different "flavors": pure affection and cruel affection. (There are also a few pity smiles, I think.) The former is used most of the time, whenever Cloud is in his sight, and the latter is used during moments when he's trying to control/influence him. I would almost say that he's...satisfied, yet regretful at the same time?? Like these:

And now, let's contrast that with his more genuine, affectionate smiles for Cloud... (The first shot here ⬇ can be contrasted with the shot 2 up from the bottom there ⬆, as the one above is when he's calling Cloud his puppet, and the one below is when Cloud goes to attack him and he opens his arms wider for the incoming uh...embrace.)

Remake had many interesting smiles from him, too, but that will have to be a different post, as this already has 30 screenshots. Anywho, you're free to draw your own conclusions, and not everyone reads faces in the same way, so maybe I'm nuts. Who knows? Either way, I hope you enjoyed this random, indulgent, very long post, haha. If you made it to the end, you're awesome. 💕

All screenshots were taken by me on my PS5. I won't ask for credit on them, since literally anyone can take an identical shot if they pause at the right second. (The exception are the 3 Remake shots, which were taken on PC with mods and the freecam. For those, I would appreciate credit if you use them anywhere, since I don't watermark them.)

[skibasyndrome]

.

[brotherwtf]

As promised, here’s the photo prompt: Gale in a suit on a bed ✨💀 I loved all your ideas in the chat but here be free free reign for you to take and run as you please!

THIS THIS YES YES

anyways, clegan should fuck with clothes on and they're gonna, I'm gonna make them

----

Gale and John didn't have to get dressed up often, and even when they did they would have to wear their dress greens, but there were days where they would have to put on a full suit and tie for the evening.

This was one of those nights, a gala of some sort honoring the veterans that fought in the war, so Gale and John rented tuxedos for the night. Nice, three pieces that hugged their bodies even better than their uniforms. It was a wonder John kept his hands off of Gale for as long as he did.

So when Gale throws himself on the bed, making an obnoxious noise of exhaustion, John finally allows himself to touch.

It doesn't help that Gales also running his hands up and down his body, wrapping a hand around his neck and groaning about how tired he is, needs help taking his clothes off. Which John, of course, jumps on the opportunity.

"Come on, John. Come lie down with me I'm exhausted," Gale groans, and huffs when John dips the bed with his knees.

He brackets Gale's hips with his knees, bending down and placing kisses and bites on the sliver of Gale's neck not covered by the collar of his shirt. Gale huffs, running his hands down John's side and bunching in the material around his hips. He pulls him up until he's breathing over John's lips, making breathy sounds as John runs his hands up to Gale's neck.

"Could barely keep my hands off of you, doll. Fuck, just look at you," John says, pressing Gale's face until it tilts back towards the mirror on their vanity.

It's a delicious sight, both of them fully clothed, Gale clutching at John's clothes desperately while John holds him down, hair already slightly dishevelled from Gale's hands. Gale moans at the sight and looks back up at John, surging forward to connect their lips.

Gale's kissing like he's desperate, immediately fucks his tongue between John's lips and making breathy sounds. John slides his hands down Gale's chest and flips the buttons to his jacket open, pulling Gale's shirt until it's untucked and he can creep his hand underneath to touch the burning hot skin. Gale keens high into John's mouth at the touch, grinding his hips up into John's.

"What do you want darling? Come on, ask for it," John says, groaning when Gale grinds against his hips.

Gale turns his head, hands finding Johns hair as he groans gently.

"Want it just like this, please, touch me John," Gale pleads.

He doesn't seem to know where to put his hands, alternating between shoving them in John's hair and running them down his arms. John eventually takes them and pins them on either side of his head, devouring his lips again.

He shifts his hips until their hips are aligned and he grinds their cocks together, groaning at the added sensation of the clothing on them. It makes Gale moan breathily into his mouth, grinding his hips up off the bed back against John's hips.

"Like this, darling?" John whispers, tucking his face into Gale's neck to press more kisses to his pulse point.

Gale moans high in his throat, nodding and clutching onto John's suit jacket, grinding his hips harder into John's.

They've never done it like this before, John likes to take his time undressing Gale and see him fall apart under his hands, likes to leave marks all over his body so Gale can press his finger into them and be reminded who made them.

But even like this, with only a sliver of Gale's neck visible, John can feel himself barreling towards and orgasm, just from their hips grinding together.

John comes with a groan into Gale's neck, lacing their fingers together as he huffs. Gale doesn't follow too far behind, keening high in his throat, nudging his nose against John's cheek.

"We ruined our suits," Gale mutters, and John huffs out a laugh.

[windamp]

i do think it's interesting to see like. psuedo bashing. where an author doesnt directly bash a character, but makes them less competent, less intimidating, less kind, etc etc- so that they are worse than in canon, but not to the point you'd typically associate with fanfic bashfic (where it's all overtly over the top)

generally in the second case it'll be tagged, the author might even be promoting the bashing. it's the point of it all. they dislike the character and want to rag on them overtly.

in the first case though, it's often as if the author can't realize it's bashing. the character they wrote is how they perceive the character, even if in the canon there's proof otherwise. they'll argue against any accusations, even if it's objectively obvious they've tweaked the character. they dislike the character but write them from like...an extremely uncharitable grudgey reading.

[todayisafridaynight]

journalists underestimate the magnitude of my addiction and how far i'll go for the bit

[celestialrealms]

I just noticed Mephisto matches with Barbatos (who is matchy with Diavolo) in the anniversary outfits in his SSR memory card

These three were also the only three who had half masks in the masquerade event!!!

Anyway, The Royals with Mephisto chat group when? We got one for Purgatory Hall with Raphael..... it's just fair !!

And one for Mephisto and Diavolo as well, but also one for Mephisto and Barbatos too. because you can't tell me their relationship isn't deeper than the devs portray when Mephisto has lines like this about Barbatos's room:

[riddlerosehearts]

anyway my "why i don't think idia is (usually) stinky" post from earlier today did remind me of a wider issue i have with how people in the fandom treat idia sometimes: i've been engaging with this fandom since march 2023 and since then i've seen all kinds of headcanons and fics and such where he's characterized not just as smelly and sweaty and gross 24/7--but also as "the token straight", homophobic, an incel and a perv. and people always seem to automatically do this when they see a gamer/otaku character, no matter what the character's other traits may be, and i hate it. idia is a genius engineer and needs to clean up before he works with machines at the very least. idia very freely calls characters like vil, silver, and malleus gorgeous and handsome and attractive. idia's canon favorite anime is not some battle shonen series that's likely to have an abundance of oversexualized women and fanservice, but a wholesome and heartwarming sports anime about the friendship between a team of young women. idia is a wonderful character who's just as complex as anyone else in twst.

[creativitycache]

I love writing how tos and lists. For decades I’ve posted various guides, breakdowns, and long lists about things all over the internet.

Now in 2024 as I write out another bullet pointed list I wonder if sometimes people think I write like Chat GPT.

Then I remember that Open AI data scraped Reddit and other platforms to make Chat GPT.

And I look at my Reddit Comment Karma score, and I wonder if Chat GPT talks like me.

[kindahoping4forever]

Ash with Jordan Greenwald on IG

[faaun]

procrastination is starting to have its consequences finally

[xoxo-ren-xoxo]

really weird thing ive noticed lately re: hermits getting critiqued for stuff theyve said or done is that as soon as someone holds a shit opinion (even if it's just them being stupid, or a centrist, or saying a bad word without knowing what it means, or whatever) people immediately seem to flock to the 'this guy should die' 'kys' 'why are we giving this person a platform' rhetoric and like. that's not how meaningful change is made?

like, yeah, if one of my beloved CCs posted a tweet or video tomorrow about how much they hate gay people, or believe in conservative ideals, or they just said a bunch of slurs or whatever (these are hyperbolic examples obviously) then yeah, fuck them, they should go rot. but like, having some dumb takes, or saying bad things in the past, doesn't = evil terrible person...

idk, i feel like we can critique content creators without getting so insane about it. like, shit, there are things some of my favourites do that i don't like, but theyre not even really worth bringing up tbh. unless its something actually important, i feel like it just creates more drama out of nothing and all these assholes come crawling out of the woodwork to tell everyone how much they hate that creator. or find their content boring anyway so clearly they have no real merit to anyone.

more of an explanation of what i mean in the tags but yeah.

[kenzan-kiwami]

everybody claims to be a kashiwagi enjoyer but the only time anyone ever talks about him is to say he's the hottest piece of meat in the series

[todayisafridaynight]

whatever og text i had in mind for this post about ko shibasaki looking like sayama in this movie is completely cancelled on account of utsumi (this character)'s first name being kaoru and i only found this out cause i was looking up her name just to be sure when making this post

like jesus christ i legally have to make this post now

[byanyan]

can i just be emotional on main for a sec & thank y'all again for sticking with me & supporting my weird little brand here these last few months while i've been like. worse than ever about getting any writing done? just like. hhh. all of u putting up with my shitposts & liking the hcs and whatever else i shove out onto the dash while i'm struggling with energy for replies, and everyone who still wants to plot & develop our dynamics despite me being the WORST at keeping up with dms (& being somehow even worse at being the one to actually initiate dms), and!!!! those of you who continue to indulge me by sending me asks despite the fact that you've been waiting 5 years for me to reply to our thread!!! i appreciate u guys sm, like i don't think u actually understand just how much. i mean this so sincerely: thank you

[active-mind-15]

I have a headcanon that Mibuchi does self-care nights every Friday after the week is done, where he'll put on a face mask and watch some sappy romcoms in his room. Sometimes, he'll get Akashi and the other Uncrowned Kings to join him, and, on occasion, he'll even offer to paint their nails. If any of them show up to practice with different color nails after the weekend, no one else on the team mentions a damn thing.