#astoryofalove

[clerithweddingzine]

💒 MODERATOR INTRODUCTION

Up next on the spotlight is our Co-Lead and Co-Organizer, @astoryofalove! She'll be helping with the overall design and aesthetic of the project. We hope to bring you lots of romantic content for our favorite lovebirds~

[astoryofalove]

CLERITH WEEK - AUG 31st ~ SEPT 6th

Join us for #ClerithWeek 2020! We’re off to a late start, but nothing could stop us from throwing another Clerith celebration! 

Before we get down to details, please be sure to participate in the “Summer Collection” Clerith celebration that Japanese fans are hosting on twitter. All of the guidelines and prompts are in English, so it’s easier for you all to join in the end of summer fun! Please help spread Clerith love and show our fellow Cleriths some love by supporting their celebration! The hashtag is  #クラエアファンネット and the host can be found on twitter: ca_fannet.

As with prior years that we’ve hosted Clerith Week, we’ve provided unique prompts/themes for the three categories: Artwork, Fanfictions, and Graphics. After such an amazing year of so much Clerith content, we’ve decided that  this year’s prompts would be based on the acronym  C.L.E.R.I.T.H. 

I look forward to celebrating the fifth-annual #ClerithWeek with all of you! 

The guidelines are under the read more so please be sure to give them a proper read! 

RETWEET | 

GUIDELINES

Entries must be about the clerith ship. Other ships (from any genre/show/etc) may be included. Canon and non-canon ships alike will be accepted, however, if someone is clearly trolling, the entry will not be reblogged.  ✔

Multishippers are welcome to participate but there must be NO hints of ZA or CT in an of the entries. If there is any ZA or CT element, your entry will not be reblogged. So please be respectful! ✘

#ClerithWeek MUST be used as one of the first five tags for all entries.  ✔

There is no limit for how many entries you’re allowed to make. If you have two ideas for the same theme, do both! The more the merrier!  ✔

NSFW artwork is no longer allowed to be hosted on tumblr, therefore the only NSFW entries that will  be accepted (on tumblr) are those in the form of fanfiction. All NSFW entries must come with a warning and be under a read-more. ✔

It goes without saying that if I feel your entry is a troll or breaks any of ASTORYOFALOVE’s guidelines, I will not feature your work on either blog. ✘

[archiveofolives]

hey @astoryofalove so this post was getting really long and i didn't want to force my non-clerith followers to scroll through it anymore (since i'm marvel on main lmao) so i made a new post. hope that's ok

anyway YEAH a part of me feels like some part of that scene was bad writing but a lot of scenes where cloud's in it are on point so i also wonder just how much of it is bad writing or just plain clumsy writing

but afaik, that's the roughest he's been to a first meeting, excluding sephiroth's recruitment for obvious reasons. i browsed through my blog and mostly he's just on the blunt side? except if you're avalanche or like, zack where he's obviously warmer and friendlier

i screencapped and giffed cloud and aerith's scenes here and here but not included is the very start of their meeting (l-r, scene: they're just walking/fluttering in the rain when cloud stops and then)

obviously that's just a summary but yeah

[fandomoverthinker]

coming later

[clerithraven]

A Lazy Day

Aerith Gainsborough woke to the warmth of the sun on her face. She blinked a few times while she waited for her vision to clear of the haze of sleep. A yawn escaped her as she tried to rise from her sleeping position. Tried being the operative word because an arm had her locked in place. That arm belonged to Cloud Strife, the man who seemed adamant not to let go of his hold on her.

She couldn’t remember exactly how they had slept, but she knew for a fact that their sleeping positions had changed during the night. That had Aerith giggling quietly. No matter what position they slept in, she always found herself being spooned from behind and wrapped in a tight embrace by her lover when the morning came.

His hold on her tightened as she moved to stand, as if refusing to let her leave his embrace. A few more attempts and she got herself free. She stood and walked to the window, pulling the curtains apart to let more of the sunlight in the room. It looked like it was going to be a great day.

She went back to the bed and nudged her lover awake. “Cloud, get up. It’s morning already.”

No reaction from the man who was seemed sound asleep.

“Cloud.” She tried shaking him awake. “Cloud, get your ass up. I have to-kyaaa!” She cut off with a squeal as her hand was seized in a firm grip and found herself falling into bed again, giggling all the way.

Cloud tumbled her down on the bed and enveloped her in his arms, her back to his front – the same spooning position they had earlier.

“What are you doing?” she asked with a laugh. “We don’t have time to laze around in bed, Cloud.” She tried pulling his arm away, but it was like trying to lift a heavy boulder. The man just won’t budge, really.

“I know you’re awake, Cloud,” she said to the man who was her beloved, playful exasperation in her tone.

“Mm,” was the non-answer as he pulled her closer to the warmth of his body, his breath tickling the sensitive area behind her ear.

When nothing she did eased his grip, she tried turning over to face him. Cloud’s hold loosened a bit only to allow her to move a bit. Once she was in position, his arm locked her in place yet again.

“Cloud,” she called faintly in a sing-song voice, “we really need to get up, love.” She had to try and reason with him. “Denzel’s gonna wake soon. He’d requested pancakes for breakfast today.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s not gonna wake for a coupla hours more, Aerith,” Cloud countered in a murmur, still not willing to fully wake up from his slumber. “He was up late way past his bedtime playing that new video game. We can be lazy for a while.”

“And you know this, how?” she asked, arching a brow.

A wince. “I might have… played with him for a bit.”

That wasn’t so bad. But she know the tone of Cloud’s voice, knew there was more to it than what he had already told her. So she waited.

“And then allowed him to convince me to play with him past his bedtime,” he added begrudgingly.

“What?” she exclaimed in a whisper. If Denzel really had slept late, she wasn’t going to wake him up and deprive him of sleep, even if it was his own fault. That didn’t excuse her man, though.

“Cloud Strife!” She swatted the arm around her waist. “He has a set bedtime for a reason. Convince you, really? I’d bet he practically begged you to let him stay awake after his bedtime.”

Cloud opened one eye and gave her a one-eyed stare. “I couldn’t exactly tell him no after he did.” He leaned closer and murmured, “Just like how you couldn’t tell him no when he asked you if we could buy that damn video game for him.”

A blush crept up her cheeks. Cloud had her there. Well, in her defense, Denzel had looked so hopeful yet hesitant at the same time as he showed them that game. Denzel’s blue eyes had shined in anticipation, a look that was so rare from the boy. Who could’ve said no to that?

Denzel didn’t ask for much from them ever since they took him in and adopted him almost half a year ago. It took a lot of cajoling for him to actually voice out any of his wants. In fact – now that she thought about it – that must have been only the third of fourth time he had asked for something for himself.

“We know Denzel isn’t gonna wake up any time soon,” he said as he closed his opened eye, “So shut up and just go back to sleep.” A decree punctuated by squeezing her impossibly closer.

Aerith gave in and snuggled against Cloud, resting her hand on his chest. She could feel the beat of his heart in her hands. This was her favorite way of sleeping with him. Something about it reassured her.

Silence filled the air between them, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Cloud thought his woman had finally started to fall back asleep when he heard her talk.

“We did vow to do everything we can to give him as normal a childhood as we could.” It was spoken in a tender tone – a concession.

“You’re not sleeping, though,” Cloud grumbled in reply.

A chuckle from his brunette. “I’m not feeling sleepy, Cloud.”

Cloud grinned, the grin he knew Aerith thought of as mischievous yet endearing. “I know of a sure way to get you relaxed enough to sleep.” He opened his eyes to look at her reaction.

Cloud’s mako-blue eyes met Aerith’s stunned, innocent green ones. Her cheeks were flushed with color, no doubt embarrassed at his innuendo.

“Oh, you’re terrible!” She slapped him on the arm.

Cloud couldn’t stop himself – he laughed at the scandalized look on her face. Aerith just looked at him with her version of an evil stare. But she was soon laughing with him, her embarrassment forgotten.

Cloud took advantage of Aerith’s distraction and tickled her. A peal of feminine laughter filled the room.

“Mercy. Mercy!” Aerith wheezed out the plea when Cloud gave her no quarter.

They continued the playful struggle and made quite the ruckus. It was no surprise they found a brown-haired boy peeking inside the room. Cloud noticed him first so he stopped her torment and nodded towards the boy.

Aerith immediately went to Denzel and crouched in front of him. She laid a gentle caress on his cheek, “Sorry, dear. Did we wake you?”

Denzel shook his head, his eyes still bleary from being woken. The kid looked so sleepy it was a wonder he was upright. “I just remembered…” He looked to Cloud, then back to Aerith. “Mom and Dad used to laugh like that,” he confessed in a rushed whisper. The memory must have evoked emotions that led him to come to them for comfort.

Aerith smiled at Denzel, delight in her eyes. Denzel knew it was because she was proud of him for having voices the memory aloud. Cloud didn’t smile, but he had the same pride in his eyes when Denzel looked at him.

Their reactions stemmed from the fact that he used to break off his speech once he realized he might accidentally mention his parents. Cloud and Aerith had encouraged him to talk about them more, but the pain had been too unbearable that he just tried to avoid the topic completely. But the pain was getting better – he was getting better.

Like they had told him, his parents were a part of him and they deserved to be remembered by the son they loved and continued to watch over. He could do no other than honour their memory and share them with the people who took him in, accepted him, and treated him as their own.

“Aerith said you wanted pancakes,” Cloud said in the tender silence that followed. It was his way of lightening the mood because he knew Denzel was still uncomfortable with their affection. It will take time, but he knew things would get better for their family of three.

The boy shook his head again. “Maybe not yet.” He swayed a bit as he stifled a yawn. Sleep was beckoning him.

“This is what you get when you play so late into the night,” Aerith scolded Denzel gently. She gave a pointed stare to Cloud as well.

Denzel rubbed an eye while he yawned. “I wanted someone to play with, so I waited for Cloud.” Another yawn. Suddenly, he got an impish glint in his eyes. “If I had a brother, I wouldn’t have to wait and stay up so late.”

That got Aerith sputtering, her mouth agape as she looked at Denzel. She then turned accusing eyes to Cloud as if he was the one to blame for the kid’s words. Cloud couldn’t do anything but shrug his shoulders. He had no idea where that came from.

Mischief carried out, Denzel walked out of the room without a word and closed the door. Standing just outside the door, he said, “Just saying, you wouldn’t want Zack and Tifa to beat you to it.”

“Denzel!” That was Aerith. She sounded so peeved. Cloud just laughed, though.

Denzel was wearing a smile when he reached his room and lay back down in his bed. The smile was still in place as he closed his eyes and surrendered to slumber.

Cloud was still laughing while Aerith stood and jabbed an incriminating finger at him. “Cloud Strife! What have you been teaching Denzel?”

“That was more likely Zack’s influence than mine, love.” Cloud got his laughter under control. He stood and approached his enraged lover. Taking her in his arms while skilfully avoiding her light punches, he added, “You know how much he hangs out at their bar because of Marlene.”

“I don’t think he’s a good influence on Denzel.”

Cloud snickered. He turned Aerith in his arms and touched his forehead to hers. “A little bit of mischief doesn’t hurt.”

Aerith narrowed her eyes at him, plotting her revenge on the foolish man who was Cloud’s friend. “Doesn’t mean I won’t hurt him for that mischief.”

“Whatever you’re planning in that gorgeous head of yours, I’m in.”

“Tifa’ll be in it, too, I’m sure.”

“Zack is well and truly fucked.”

That succeeded in getting a laugh out of Aerith.

“So, Denzel wants a brother.” A gentle bite on the sensitive space between her neck and shoulder. “We did vow to give him a normal childhood. Siblings are part of the deal, I think.”

“Oh my god! Cloud!” For the third time that morning, Cloud received a hit on the arm.

Cloud just scooped Aerith up in his arms and deposited her on the bed. “Stop hitting me, lover,” he growled at her playfully as he covered her body with his.

Giggling, Aerith put her hands on Cloud’s shoulders. “I thought you were feeling lazy this morning,” she teased.

“We can be lazy after.” He took Aerith’s hands and laid them above her head.

She chuckled but didn’t protest his hold. “Guess we have a plan.”

With that, Cloud kissed Aerith, his lover’s laughter a taste he loved on his lips.

Because it’s #NationalLazyDay. Did I make it in time, though?

Got the idea for this fic from a question posted on twitter about clerith on NationalLazyDay by @astoryofalove and the twitter thread starring @hollyfig @naturesass and @aprilsync

[tsuburu]

GUYS

[silver-wield]

I’m sorry what?? “CA are the main couple because in all FF couples one of them dies” ? Aside from your post which clearly explain how they are very wrong, I can’t think but of myself when I first got to ffvii and how I believed CA also was the main couple,because everywhere I googled, and wherever there is EN explanation of the lore it was always CA, it took me finding your blog, having everything questioned, going for JP res to know everything I thought was a lie. Please go for JP res ppl!

From this ask

The so called info you found belongs to queen dumdum, who has spent a good decade or more infecting as many sources as she can with misinformation, lies and busted af headcanon with zero justification besides her say so. They recently attacked TV tropes with their bs, so nothing is safe from them.

And guess what? All that bs is from someone who never even played a single entry in final fantasy 7 or even watched any playthroughs besides a few cut scenes or gifs. I doubt she's even seen all of Advent Children.

She played kingdom hearts though which totally counts lmfao.

Bonus: Queen dumdum claimed Cloud and Aerith were childhood friends in kh, but it literally says in the kh2 walk through page for Cloud and Tifa (who are together on that page, while Aerith is several pages back with Cid, Yuffie and Squall) that they're childhood friends. And she says shit like this while also claiming being childhood friends is meaningless and that Cloud and Tifa aren't even childhood friends anyway.

Do we see how the crazy happens? Yeah...

My recommendation is don't believe anything from strayarrows, astoryofalove or cloudxaerith since they're all the same person who makes busted takes like:

Cloud tells Aerith to keep her distance cause he “can’t control his sexual urges around her”

Cloud agrees with Hojo’s plan of forced impregnation because he doesn’t deny he’s a soldier.

Cloud confessed love to Aerith during “his” resolution.

Cloud had a “discrete arousal” and an “orgasam” at seeing Aerith in her red dress.

Cloud and Aerith are already dating because the composer of midnight rendezvous said the soundtrack reminds him of Christmas and has a romantic atmosphere.

Zack would “give Aerith to Cloud”.

Corneo put the coliseum matches on just so the crowd could see Cloud and Aerith together.

Cloud dances for Aerith.

Aerith will ride the Hardy Davidson with Cloud (this one has a diagram with it)

The blue alien on the wall market vending machine foreshadows Aerith having a baby with Cloud.

Aerith knows the future because it’s a timeloop and that’s why she’ll live this time to be with Cloud.

Aerith will ride the HW and Cloud will confess his love under it (yeah, they legit stole the HW scene cause they do that shit all the time.)

Okay? This is the person behind so much bad info. Just play the game, watch the film, read the books. Even without using a translation app to read any of the ultimania you can still tell just from the pictures that Cloud and Tifa are a couple. And for the ones that are translated into English, it's a sledgehammer of obvious to the face that Cloud and Tifa are a couple.

My rule is for everything you read from a "trust me", go find a legit untainted source from a book. That's why I provide the JP and English if I'm showing pages. And if I happen to run out of space for both I usually just post the JP, but if even that's not enough I'll happily provide any sources I've cited cause canon is canon and always comes with concrete references.

[strifelockhart]

Hello. I am the same anon who sent the "Fuck it!" post and honestly, I'm considering being a Clerith only to ease the pain of CloTi (my otp) not being canon. There's so much Clerith fan service nowadays in works such as Möbius that I believe that SE is foreshadowing the confirmation of Clerith in the remake/KH3. I even read essays written by @astoryofalove and (s)he used canonical evidence that are against CloTi. I'm sick of being bullied all the time by Cleriths and I even puked/cried about it!

I'm very sorry for overreacting, but I'm done with the arguments, the hate, and the rage associated with the LTD. I want Cleriths to stop being so rude to others who disagree with them and the same should be said to CloTis. Had SE been less ambiguous about CloTi/Clerith/Zerith, none of this shit would've happened. I want to like Clerith because it is a beautiful ship, but the fandom scares me so much that I began to hate it. Please help me because I don't want to be picked on anymore. 😖

There’s no reason for you to pretend to like something you don’t. If you ever need someone to talk about Cloti, come to the inbox (or send a chat message) and we will get back to you! There’s plenty of Cloti media out there (fanmade and otherwise) for you to enjoy. I say stick to your fandom and don’t get into the debates, because they can get rather ugly sometimes. There’s a reason I have stopped debating. And it’s not because I don’t love Cloti. It’s because I just don’t care anymore. I love Cloti, I think Clerith is cute//ok and I’m happy for my friends that ship it if they get anything. But I pretty much refusse to argue anymore. I will give my two cents and opinion on things, but that’s about all.

Let me ask you this, why are you reading Clerith essays? You should be reading Cloti ones and reminding yourself how great your own ship is. ^^ To me, there’s just as much evidence for one ship as there is the other (when it comes to fanservice). If we’re looking at the original game alone and Advent Children + Dissidia, ofc I believe that Cloti was/is canon. 

However I also know that is just the way *I* interpret things, and that other people interpret it differently. There’s nothing wrong with that or pointing out which parts of the game made you feel that way. I’m sorry if anyone is actually bullying you, thats not cool 2 do.

But I think you really need to relax from debates and reading things that dont pertain to you ;-; Surround yourself with people in your fandom, and ship stuff that actually makes you happy. I’ve been done with the LTD for a long time now. I’ve been arguing about it since 1997 and there’s only so far you can go before you realize that you’re tired. 

I don’t ship Clerith romantically, I probably never will. But I don’t hate seeing it , nor will I be upset if it actually did become canon. I’ll always be rooting for Cloti though, and I will always be happy if SE throws it a bone outside of canon. I was so super stoked when the Cloti event was announced and once again it focused on their promise, one of my favorite aspects about the ship. That didn’t happen too long ago! So I’m sorry if you’re feeling like C/T stuff is nonexistent lately... but I really don’t think that’s the case. c:

Like I said before , if you need an ear or a reminder on why Cloti is great, the CT fandom is pretty open and willing! Just ask any of us tbh, im sure there’s plenty willing to remind you why it’s a great ship. And plenty of people that will make you feel happy in the ship.

It’s exceedingly easy to ignore other shippers. Just don’t give bullies the time of day, and stay away from the LTD if it’s too stressful for you. There are also many friendly people in the Clerith fandom too. As a multishipper and someone with friends in both ships, I can say that honestly. So if you’re really interested in Clerith because it appeals to you, you’ll be accepted for sure. It’s about respect really, and as long as you’re being respectful to each ship that you like Im sure things can be fine.

I too would love for the arguments to stop, but thats unrealistic! The FFVII fandom is kind of up there with the Bleach//Naruto fandoms when it comes to shipping wars. People can get personal... It can cause hurt feelings and spite. If more people just stepped down and apologized and agreed that their own views were acceptable things would be a lot nicer! But for big fandoms like these, some people will just not change.

Anyways, if you need a friend in fandom like I said before there are plenty of shippers who are nice, willing to talk about their ship, and will encourage and be there for you. This blog will definitely count as one for Cloti. ^^ So I hope you cheer up and feel better! Please join us for future Cloti events and remake in the future. Don’t be sad!!

[draconian-empress]

I was just comparing one ship to another ship that they remind me of which btw I happen to like all four ships, also I wasn’t making any claims that either ship were canon.

Clerith equals Rokunami and Cloti equals Rokushi.

[astoryofalove]

god, even under stress, they look gorgeous together

[aerithly]

My heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue All's well that ends well to end up with you

suggested by and made for @astoryofalove

[maivalentine]

@astoryofalove  ♥

[fabula-crystallis]

This is my list of my favourite blogs, I hope you will like it or find it useful!😉💕

@silverelite, @yyh , @zacksoldiers , @thechocobros , @placeofmemory , @sephirothism , @temple-of-the-ancients , @priceofreedom , @light-of-etro , @ffxvcaps , @sephirothdaily , @aerithdaily , @bolina , @caerberus , @onewingedhoneybee , @yozorra , @caelumstrife , @wondersofeos , @bylethtea , @nordicfenrircsmad , @zackthepuppy , @son-of-jenova , @astoryofalove , @seraphily , @thevilepeaks , @kennycrows , @ffseven , @ff7remake , @ffvii , @thingsinlifeyoujustdo , @squinoas , @elliesgirlfriend , @finalfantasyviidaily , @iures

[clerithraven]

Yes.

insp. from @astoryofalove and @ll-mystic-ll

[ff7zinenews]

FFVII Zine and Fandom Activity Calendar: September 2020

Spreadsheet format here.

(from August)

@astoryofalove: Clerith Week (to Sept. 5)

@barretmonth: Barret Month Week One (to Sept. 5)

@clotiweek: CloTi Festival prompt voting (until Sept. 15)

@theclotizine: CloTi Zine applications open (until Sept. 2)

Limit Break! The FF7 Trans Zine: applications open (until Oct. 1)

Sept. 2

@theclotizine: LAST DAY for CloTi Zine applications

Sept. 6

@barretmonth: Barret Month Week Two

Sept. 13

@barretmonth: Barret Month Week Three

Sept. 15

@clotiweek: LAST DAY for CloTi Festival prompt voting.

Sept. 20

@barretmonth: Barret Month Week Four

@aertiweek: AerTi Week

Sept. 23

@ffseven: Zack Week

Sept. 26

Honeybee: A NSFW FF7 Trans Zine applications open

Ongoing/End date unknown

@clackzine: Backwater Experts (Clack Zine) Interest Check

@ff7central: FF7 Central Prompt Meme

[tsuburu]

part of the reason i’m so active on tumblr is because overall there only seems to be a handful of clerith blogs, and a giant factory of cIoti ones. if anyone’s like me a year ago and mostly just lurked they probably stayed on the main accounts because of a lack of content everywhere else. ngl astoryofalove is part of the reason I fell back into clerith hell (or heaven?) in the first place. anyway, it feels nice knowing someone out there might enjoy lurking and reading my shitposts just for the hell of it the same way I did, and to overthrow those damn trolls lurking on the tags gosh darn it!