#holysmotez

[theclotizine]

❄️ How would #Cloti spend the holidays at Seventh Heaven? 🎁

Our talented writer @holysmotez wrote a warm and loving story featuring our favorite Seventh Heaven family together. 🥺✨

Check it out here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28158603

[holysmotez]

Since tumblr chat was a bust (bc tumblr sucks or I do) — I finally got off my arse and created a basic True Black Paladin Shiro Discord for BP Shiro fans. Is there one out there already? Oh well. This one is mine. My general philosophy is IDGAF about ships or headcanons as my main rule is ‘don’t be an asshole’. If you’re interested hmu and I’ll send you a link. Feedback is welcome, too

[mauvaise-reputation]

Ok I’m free from work tonight so I can finally answer phew. So why is the TOW fandom so small?

mylittlechimera replied to your post “Is Tumblr dead or is the TOW fandom small? Is it due to the Epic...”

aside from fallout new vegas all obsidian games have tiny fandoms and I've tried very hard to figure out why that is and... I still have nothing. everyone praises their writing and characters, so there is a lot to explore, yet few people make fan content. it is quite upsetting

I’ve been thinking about NV a lot, but it’s definitely the outlier here. It’s part a series that was already wildly successful, while TOW is a completely new IP. But if I compare it to another new IP like Pillars of Eternity, I still feel it comes up short in terms of fan engagement. And PoE was a niche game compared to TOW. Istg I’ve been drawing diagrams since I wrote that post to understand this mystery and I’m glad we’re having this conversation all together :D

noseforahtwo replied to your post “Is Tumblr dead or is the TOW fandom small? Is it due to the Epic...”

I've only had Parvati for three days but if anything ever happened to her I would kill everyone in this room and myself.

holysmotez reblogged your post and added:

Just chiming in as a random fan to say that I’m scratching my head over this, too. The characters and worldbuilding make for a fascinating sandbox to play in. And the whole corporate anarchy setting seems very much tapped into the current zeitgeist. Maybe it just happened to fly under a lot of people’s radar or they’re waiting for sales, idk. Hopefully it’s just been slow word-of-mouth and DLC will give it a shot in the arm

See I’ve been thinking about the whole “corporate anarchy” concept as well, I thought that maybe people didn’t feel involved because the game lacked direct confrontation with the main villains up until the very last segment, but I don’t know. It’s not a convincing reason imho 

chartingneptune replied to your post “Is Tumblr dead or is the TOW fandom small? Is it due to the Epic...”

i think when it comes out on steam & is completely patched with dlc it'll explode. i played it during its release month on xbox game pass & i loved it but didn't have enough time to really get invested (and encountered some annoying bugs - i never got to do parvati's full quest in 3 playthroughs).

I really, really hope this will be the case. 

funkypoacher replied to your post “Is Tumblr dead or is the TOW fandom small? Is it due to the Epic...”

@justeletemps-archive Honestly? Writing for TOW since the game came out, I've *still* had better feedback from the extremely tiny fandom than I've had from the DA fandom in all the years I've written for it. So, I mean, there *is* that. You're right, tho -- so much potential to explore in the world they created. So much room for writing totally original situations devoid of the Captain or what's going on in the main quest because the sandbox is *huge*.

For some things, smaller fandoms/ships are definitely better. And in the end I think every piece we put up out there counts, so I’m sure sooner or later people will come around :D

[headspacedad]

holysmotez replied to your photo: hey writer nonnie!  Finally getting to this.  And...

For real. Shiro getting fucked over from his original MC role cascaded through the rest of the cast, and Keith was not an exception. In an increasingly polarized world, I think the potential of Keith’s story was just as sorely needed as Shiro’s and Allura’s (and all the paladins really, had they not gotten lost in the churn as well)

they were all seriously deeply interesting characters, each one of them with arcs built into their introductions and interesting character development already starting to build.  In the hands of an even decent writing team, the story could have been a really fun ride that was surprisingly touching as well and that made us root for the characters and care about their futures.  All of them.  They all had stories that could have been exactly what we need to hear in this day and time we live in and they all could have had their own time to shine and develop and become.  The potential was there right from the start, written into their very characters.

We should have gotten better than we did.  They should have gotten better than they did.

[sassafrassrex]

jasmine, buttercup 🙃

What mythical creature- unicorns. always unicorns since i was eight....No, since i was seven. No, since i was five! Gimme "horse, but more badass," I'm all about a mount (bc that part's non-negotiable) that can do magic and run between worlds.

Change one thing in the world- kind of a gimme but, climate change. Or, broader actually, just pollution and poor global stewardship in general. On a personal level, I'm an outdoorsy animal lover (and fern gully may have had WAY way too big an impact on me as a kid). But also I'm a doctor, and I'm not too excited about the ongoing rise in tick borne illnesses, lyme disease, and other vector borne encephalitidies that come part and parcel with hyperseasonality.

[braincoins]

holysmotez replied to your post: Is there a VLD Meta Graveyard megapost floating...

oops but the post I referred to specifically I think was about BL headcanons mostly but it also brought up druid hcs

maybe in @smolsarcasticraspberry’s archive?

[ptw30]

I’m Keith, rolling away from Voltron after S2.

guys where’s that gif of shiro dropping down towards the camera from Black Paladins? You know the one with the heavily stylised animation. I really need to have it but can’t find it anywhere.

[silver-wield]

I involuntarily found a few more after battle banters with Cloud and Tifa in Remake. I got my ass kicked by that stupid On the Prowl/Wrath Hound side quest in Sector 7 on hard mode lol. (It's really hard to hit the stupid thing with ice because he keeps moving around and the hit delay on ice doesn't make it better!) Tifa was low on HP and Cloud said "Hey Tifa are you all right?" and Tifa said "Looks like I held you back huh?" So cute how Cloud is constantly making sure Tifa is ok ^_^

@holysmotez has a whole series of low health battle banters if you wanna check them out 😁

When Tifa gets ko'd Cloud panics and yells her name. Doesn't do that for anyone else. And when Aerith's ko'd she says "that voice calling to me, I know you" which is a Zack reference 😁

[iaintyourbro]

Let’s Talk About... On the Way to a Smile: Case of Tifa and The Kids are Alright: A Turks Side Story

Yes, I couldn’t sleep... again. I’ve gotten good at staying up two days at a time. Then sleeping and going back to it. I suppose it’s the quarantine... Which is only going to get worse it seems...

In any case, I finally got to read Case of Tifa... and... if you came out of that thinking they weren’t a thing... I don’t know what to tell you. I honestly went in to it expecting it to seem very ambiguous and very non-Cloti (in a sense). 

What struck me, first of all is the amount of guilt Tifa talks about having. Tifa seems to be just as bad as Cloud is, she just deals with it differently. Oddly enough, Cloud doesn’t show that much guilt immediately. Tifa is the one who is struggling with this major guilt initially. 

So let’s start with some screenshots (pictures?) I took of excerpts I found interesting. Some I’m sure you’ve seen before. 

Here we have Tifa talking about the guilt. She also feels insanely guilty for what happened to not only Aerith, but everything else that happened (Sector 7 Plate Drop/Avalanche). The other weird thing about this... and this is legit at the end of the OG... she almost is convincing herself that she should stay alive. I found a lot of sadness in that. And it’s not because of anything Cloud did. No... actually I think that’s what snaps her out of it. 

Of course we have a smiling Cloud. You’re going to see Cloud smiles... a lot... and he laughs too, which I really hope they show him laughing because I don’t know what it sounds like... 

I’m sure everyone has seen this. It’s the next page after Tifa calls Cloud out on his bright dork smile he’s giving. I mean he fucking says he has her. And that he knows what that means. 

I... I don’t know how you can’t take this in a romantic sense. Maybe because the guy barely smiles so to me this is massive. Maybe because he had a hell of a time telling her anything down Under the Highwind. I don’t know. But this seems like something that’s profound to tell a person. That’s the end of that section (teases - perfect moment for a kiss). 

I like the “What about you? Are you okay?” Strikes me as something we saw in Chapter 17 when you first get control of Tifa and Aerith, right? “What about you, Tifa? How are you doing?”

Tifa loses it, crying. Guilt, guilt, guilt. They talk more about Tifa’s guilt than they do Cloud’s guilt. Cloud comforts her here. Another profound thing at this point, but... we are seeing him do this in Remake already. The hug is the major one... 

But things like when he grabs her from having a crate fall on her... he could have pulled her out of the way and let her go or pushed her (like Leslie does in the sewers). No, he holds on to her. She actually is the first one to let go here. (Look how cute they are PSPSPSPSPSPSPS)

So this whole part just cracks me up. For one, it shows that these three were busy doing stuff together and slept under the plate, even though it could collapse. 

I HOPE WE GET A GODDAMN VISUAL OF THIS. Barret making happy Cloud and Tifa drinks? LAUGHING THEIR ASSES OFF?!  Barret talking about his past?!

“The other two [Cloud and Tifa] couldn’t remember the last time they’d laughed so much.” 

Let’s be real... probably when they were like 14 - maybe. 

There’s also a part later down that I didn’t get where Barret makes fun of them for getting trashed during this night. I would kill to ALSO see that. 

But... laughing, drunk Cloud? Laughing, drunk Tifa? Plz. 

Happy... sounds like the correct term.

Now there are moments as time goes on - mainly after the bar is open - where Tifa thinks about once the bar gets ready, is Cloud going to leave...

This is where I think people take it as they’re nothing. Tifa I think just has a very hard time accepting that not everything is going to be taken away from her. The impression I got from reading this is it was all in her head. Cloud himself gave no indication that he wanted to leave. (The Geostigma catalyst is later)

And here’s why I said I got no feeling that Cloud wanted to leave. (Oh here’s more about Tifa’s guilt). Above this, Marlene says Cloud and Tifa can be her parents and the two look at each other. Cloud doesn’t look away. Cloud also says Awesome with conviction. Looks at Tifa almost to confirm it’s okay... but these two like to talk without words. I think he knew she was getting nervous, so this was his way of saying “See? I’m not going anywhere?” 

Marlene gave him a nice little assist here so he didn’t have to say anything and Tifa didn’t have to ask. 

Tifa, I think, was already going through her major guilt turmoil - she had an immediate reaction to it. I think she knew, deep down, that Cloud eventually WOULD have this problem, and when she sees the slip from Elmyra for the Forgotten City, I think she knew that was the catalyst. 

“Stop worrying about what they were to each other.” I’ve seen a lot of jokes, mostly on Japanese Twitter posts, that Cloud assumed Tifa was his girlfriend. Like, he didn’t realize he needed to tell her that. I read a post about this somewhere too, that they got the impression Cloud (in the land of Cloud’s mind...) got was that Tifa was his girlfriend and knew this. I’m not sure if it’s because of Under the Highwind, I don’t know if it’s because he pulled the same shit on her and talked to her while she was sleeping. I have no idea. 

To me, Cloud and Tifa don’t have to say they’re boyfriend and girlfriend. It seems kind of funny after all they’ve been through. They’re almost like extensions of each other at this point. 

Okay so the above is from The Kids are Alright. Evan goes to see Tifa at the bar because he just saw Cloud and needs to get to Nibelheim. And Cloud tells him to talk to Tifa. 

I have to laugh about this Evan staring at chest line... lololol

Let’s talk about how she describes Aerith. “Friend doesn’t do her justice.”

...Did Tifa have romantic feelings for Aerith? Probably not (though we’d all be fine with it because Aerti is adorable). @holysmotez​ Made a very good post about how Aerith can be seen more as a holy/religious figure. I think Tifa saying this really does enforce that with me as well. 

Also this is the part where you find out there’s blackmail pictures of all three of them in the dresses: Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith. 

But I marked an interesting one - “I’ll be fine. And I’ve got Cloud, too.” She sounded confident.

Now, I was blowing through this at this point. I will go back and do a normal reading of it, but after this, Kyrie and Evan go on a journey round the world it feels like. There’s Nibelheim talk. They talk about some of the people who were killed during the Reunion and are found at the northern crater. 

And here is the end of The Kids are Alright. 

Cloud tells Evan that they’re a family. 

This is AT THE END OF AC when the church is being utilized as a way to heal folks. On thing that also seems odd... A lot of people were under the impression that Cloud disappeared for months... but it was like a week. Tifa blows him a kissy kissy at the end of the movie, then apparently walks up with him and the kids to see Evan and Kyrie - very family like. 

I also did not get any jealousy vibes from Tifa and no I’m hiding this cuz Aerith feelings from Cloud.

The part where he tells her where he found Denzel felt more like he knew she was worried about him closing in on himself again (which he already was anyway), but her reaction didn’t come off as she felt jealous nor that she felt he was hiding it cuz feelings. She wanted to go cuz she wanted to go and be with him and maybe feel her friend (more than friend) there.

I got the same feeling as I did when he was taking extra jobs to get extra money for his bike. Like I should have told you I was there, and it wasn’t really planned. I think he was praying or whatever the equivalent would be. He was feeling guilty, going down a bad path... because he wasn’t just visiting the church in AC. He also was visiting Zack’s grave. I mean, he let the Buster Sword rust to hell out there. (Angeal knows what you did, Cloud.)

So here’s how I feel after reading this, and now I do think that Remake is setting this up better.

Aerith is the same type of person to Cloud and Tifa. They both feel the same way about her. She feels the same way about them. It’s different than a simple friendship, but it’s not romantic. Spiritual is a good way to describe this. 

There is the part where Aerith says Cloud was more than a friend, for she had loved him. By itself I’d say holy shit, wow, Aerith had romantic feelings for Cloud. After reading the rest of this, thinking of the OG, AC, CC, and Remake - yes, she loved him - but not like she loved Zack - she loved Cloud as a special person, not in a romantic sense. I think she almost felt like she had to protect him, because in this same part when she says she loved him, she also says she knows he has almost a delicate heart, but also needed to find a way to warn him about the shit about to go down. 

I think if you asked Aerith about Tifa, she’d say she loved Tifa too. I think OG didn’t do a good job of building up the Tifa and Aerith friendship to show exactly how important she really was to the whole thing, but time constraints, technology, whatever, a lot of games in the 90s suffered from this type of shit. Get the game out! We’ll figure out the rest later...

This also does not talk about Cloud’s feelings on Aerith. The only indicator we really get in this is that Cloud felt guilty that he could not protect Aerith. 

My guess is he told Tifa this at one point, probably during one of the conversations that she needed his help to stay strong. That’s not romance. He felt obligated to protect her because he was supposed to be her bodyguard, but beyond that, he just protects people. He doesn’t have to be madly in love with them. There’s a difference in how he reacts to her death and Tifa’s simulated death. Cloud is able to function, fight Jenova, and carry her off to drop her off in the lake. 

Tifa’s he completely starts to freak. We see what he does in Nibelheim and overtakes Sephiroth. I am not sure what would have happened if Sephiroth didn’t stab him and Tifa had died at that point... I really don’t know. 

In any case, you should go read these novels too. The Kids are Alright has Kyrie and Leslie in it. Evan I’m sure we will see at some point soon.

Don’t be afraid to read them... I was because of shit information online, so I hope this puts you at ease.

Oh, Barret and Cid have a conversation about Cloud and Tifa being together too... 

[nikkiwriteswords]

Heads Up Seven Up:  WIP challenge

If you are tagged in this post** you have to post the last seven sentences of the last WIP you’ve worked on and tag seven more people to keep the challenge going.

Tagged by the magnificent @matriarchcomputer for this WIP challenge, thank you! This is from a purely self-indulgent fanfic WIP with my favourite ot5, ASGZC (ngl, a lot of it is just @znaccfair and I screaming headcanons at each other, so it’s pure luck I even had seven consecutive sentences to post):

"I'm not going to tease you, dear. What you want is perfectly normal, and is something we can try to give you once you have a better idea of what you want. I simply do not think that trash is where to start." He reaches onto the bedside table, where a parcel sits. Zack doesn't recognise the bookstore packaging. 

"Try this one," Gen offers, and stoops to peck Zack on the check. "Happy reading, love - I won't be far if you have questions."   

**I’m just going to tag blogs I like or people in my feed (some of you may know me as @pastelcheckereddreams​, that weirdo in your activity feed) as I haven’t been interacting a lot on this blog recently (clearly, my current obsession with FF7R is entirely to blame ^^^^^^).

There’s no pressure to take part, of course especially if you don’t write, i’m just shooting blind here ngl, and you can include any nonfiction/theory WIPs you’re working on if that’s more your style! I’d love to hear about them.

@znaccfair 

@whetstonefires

@breezeinmonochromenight

@holysmotez

@sunriseseance

@notomys

@head-full-of-things

[void-tiger]

I don’t know what specifically Haggar could’ve been waiting for with this theory (let’s be honest, veeladee didn’t know HOW to handle her character whatsoever. Or rather, the EPs didn’t). But...

She just knew too much.

Sure she was searching for Thace in s2, but her stealing information suppliments from Shiro just makes too much sense as to why she always seemed to be working from the exact same information base as the audience.

There’s also how...Shiro and BlackLion kinda baited Zarkon too soon? It isn’t like Shiro to begin his segment that kicks it all off...unless...she had just a scratch of influence he didn’t even realize he was trying to fight off.

Why DIDN’T Shiro just wait until after Thace checked in with Kolivan to beging baiting?

(This is also why I don’t really like Kolivan—he doesn’t play well with others. He easily could’ve said “don’t do this until AFTER I hear from Thace.”)

Basically, the instant Shiro and Black baited Zarkon, they HAD to make the plan work, as they’d literally swung a club at a hornets’ nest while laughing.

(Which, Black and Shiro using Zarkon’s interferrance on THEIR terms was such a cool idea. I was hoping that Jiro would be able to do something similar with that brainhack after it was confirmed what Haggar was doing to him.)

But...digressing a little. But is Haggar even someone who does well with an Endgame? She makes EXPENSIVE one-shot “toys” for not really any reason than liking glass cannons for funsies that are ironically somewhat adaptable to other situations...but...generally don’t last longer than their first use.

(Robeasts. Komar (SO not sustainable. What d’ya do when you run out of PLANETS, witch?) Naxella. Hell even Champion/Project Kuron.)

Idk. She seems more conserned with activating a one-time weapon on a whim once another use isn’t viable anymore. And may-or-may-not insist on recovering her “blackbox” from the wreckage.

I have a Shiro question/topic for you greater minds out there

And that’s the subject of Shiro’s/Kuron’s betrayal. I have some conflicting thoughts, or perhaps I can’t quite tell if this is a figment of my overactive imagination.

I preface this ofc. Seeing as most of VLD happened largely by accident, I’m aware that it’s foolish to ascribe anything logical or deliberate about its loose bible and shoddy narrative patchwork.

But damn, Knights of Light. Where everything that was so wrong and out of place reached critical mass, then embedded themselves in me like flying shrapnel. I was so fucking relieved to learn that these episodes were very likely conceived with BP Shiro in mind bc that made so much more sense. Shiro/Kuron’s journey matched with Zarkon better than Keith’s, given Shiro earning the BL and his bayard, and then while under mind control, Kuron betrays the team.

The latter relates to one stray fragment I can’t quite pick out, and that’s whether a betrayal arc was brewing for Shiro before things were paved over with the clone arc. I’m thinking probably, but if that were the case, then what would that have looked like? How would it have panned out if we had OG Shiro either remaining alive or coming back as BP? The most straightforward circumstance, I think, is that Haggar could have hacked Shiro through his arm. But then, what next?

I know, I know. The S3-8 will-it-blend experiment is too fucked to try and read into. I’m not sure why I’m typing all of this out. But in the hands of different and more considerate creative leads, armed with a solid bible and on the same page as the parent studio, how do you think an OG Shiro betrayal arc could have worked? Would you have wanted a different struggle for him?

[void-tiger]

Tagged by @curiosity-killed (thanks!!! and thanks for the other tags, too!)

Tag 10 People you want to get to know better or catch up with :)

Favorite Color: teals. How much green vs blue or how saturated or dark is quite honestly a sliding scale. But, all the teals. Following that, sunset orange, plum or wine purple, coral pink, crimson, and honestly jewel tones in general.

Last Song: ...idk?? I kinda have to be in the mood to listen to music and then it’s just a bunch of pandora stations on shuffle. Currently it’s classical guitar christmas carols and whatever gets dragged up with that. Or...a mix of starset, imagine dragons, peter hollens, and occationally classical arab (or byzantine and orthodox music). Or OSTs and covers from youtube. I’m pretty picky with my music, and besides just mixing stuff together I...kinda don’t really pay close attention to artists, bands, and titles. (Analyze why I like music, yes. Actually remembering a piece? NO!)

Last Movie: ...eeeeeeeppp idk this one either. Uh...something from my brother’s Disney+ months ago?? Um. Either The Greatest Showman or...think I rewatched Treasure Planet.

Currently Reading: ...allegedly Pride&Prejudice but. I just can’t get into it. At all. (It’s honestly reminding me of forcing myself to watch the 2000s-Something adaption and feeling both Lost and Bored the entire time. Might need to just throw in the towel. I haven’t tried to open that book in over two weeks.) I do better with fanfic, honestly

Sweet, Spicy, or Savory: ...okay How Dare with making me choose between Spicy and Savory?! But...probably Spicy. Closely followed by Savory. Sweet is...well I like some sweet stuff but almost never the super sweet stuff (but my underdeveloped sweet tooth might be ‘cause most desserts and fruits are a complete NOPE!!! on texture. Or are so over sugared that they start to taste sour and can trigger migraines now that I’m an adult.) I honestly get my carb fix with...well, carbs or starch, and Stimulating Taste For Dopamine! from practically dumping a small storage container’s worth of spice into my food when I’m cooking.

Tea or Coffee: can’t honestly say. I’ve never really had tea, aside from some awesome spiced stuff in Jordan. So, coffee. Specifically if it’s flavored or a mocha. Ain’t got no time for undoctored drinks!

Tagging @aairachnid @holysmotez @tundra-tiger @noisypaintersong @synergetic-prose @foxy-pawsy @puppetmaster55 @headspacedad @mckinlily @birkholtz and whoever wants to play :)

(and no obligation to play if you’re tagged and don’t feel up to it.)

[headspacedad]

holysmotez replied to your post: holysmotez: Shirotember Day 7 - Black Lion It’s...

My pleasure! Thinking about their bond and the struggles they have in common never fails to make me emo

it was such an amazing relationship set up.  Forever VLD OTP

[vegetacide]

@holysmotez Random gif for you...

Edit..and after posting .. noticed it was a Birthday one....oops.. 

[starryeyedastronaut]

MAKE YOUR CHOICE: FIC EDITION

Tagged by @arthur-morgvn thank you <3 this was so much fun to do!

slowburn or love at first sight // fake dating or secret dating // enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers (Both. Both is good yes) // oh no there’s only one bed or long-distance correspondence (both really good) // hurt/comfort or amnesia // fantasy au or modern au (It depends on the genre of the original story!) // mutual pining or domestic bliss // smut or fluff // canon-compliant or fix-it (1. Casually adds canon-divergent here too 2. Gimme the good ol' canon-compliant to fill in the out of panel content tho)  // reincarnation or character death (character death is a big NO) // one-shot or multi chapter (Both. Both are good! It's really hard to keep up with lengthy fic sometimes tho)  // kid fic or road trip fic (BOTH) // arranged marriage or accidental marriage // high school romance or middle aged romance (Casually adds here 'just finished college, unemployed and poor af' romance) // time travel or isolated together (oh dude! Both!) // neighbors or roommates // sci-fi au or magic au (again, it depends on the genre of the original story) // body swap or genderbend (what about role swap? I love role swap) // angst or crack (no big fan of crack, tho crack taken seriously is kind of interesting!) // apocalyptic or mundane (also depends on the genre of the original story lol)

Tagging @headspacedad @void-tiger @redretro @kamirakuebasu @holysmotez @familyofpaladins @babybirdblue06 (no pressure tho, feel free to ignore) also open to everyone who likes fanfic and want to do this!

[void-tiger]

@holysmotez

I think one of the funniest things I’ve accidentally taught my parrot is yelling “WHAT?” The best part is that if he says something weird and and someone else says “what???” he usually repeats what he just said. Like just now, I was cooking in the kitchen and he heard me boiling water so he asked “you wanna noodle?” but I couldn’t quite hear him so I yelled “WHAT” and he repeated “you wanna noodle?”

Mostly he just likes yelling it, though.