#little cloud strife amazing adventures

[aleeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

I'm sorry I've disappeared from here. As an apology, here are some photos of the adventures of my little Cloud pin.

[thedeliveryservicefanfic]

The Delivery Service, Chapter Two

The art in this chapter was created by strawderryST! Follow them on X and Ko-Fi!

CHAPTER TWO: A Day in the Life

The side of the motorcycle opened with a soft whoosh sound. Cloud Strife; ex-terrorist, current delivery boy; replaced his sword and let the side close with a click. He looked at the carnage around him. In his travels he encountered a tiny nest of allemagnes. Cloud always winced when he saw them - something about the giant one eye in the monsters always unnerved him. Now that the fight was over, he indulged himself in a little shiver, then kicked his bike in gear and rode off.

Fenrir moved fast through the tiny forest outside of Mideel. Cloud had made a delivery of medical supplies to the wrecked town, glowing green with the Lifestream. The citizens seem to be okay with living there still, simply erecting the town around the green pools. Cloud was always amazed at the fortitude of people. It seemed no matter what life threw at them, they always seemed able to adjust. 

And there has been a lot to adjust to, Cloud thought as he wove through a batch of flowers, careful to not destroy the whole bed. I seem to be able to adjust to it as well. Go me. He added with a tiny hint of sarcasm, but he knew he should be proud of himself. Cloud thought he had made great progress, personally, after the adventures he had… and the friends he lost. He was more open. He was less riddled with angst. He enjoyed laughing and spending time with his friends, which he had so few of.

Cloud cherished them, however. He respected them and trusted them fully. Tifa Lockhart, his closest companion, who could comfort a crying child with a gentle touch yet use the same hand to punch through a brick wall. Barret Wallace, who was a wonderful father to his daughter, but was and exceptional sharp-shooter. Nanaki, who was wise beyond his years yet still liked to play chase with the local kids. Even Yuffie Kisaragi, whose explosive energy could light up a whole city-

Cloud winced. Yuffie, who is currently missing. No one knew where she went. She left no note, called no phone. Her father had no idea where she was. There was no sign of struggle in her home. 

There was no sign of her anywhere.

It has been six months since her disappearance. The second the group heard about it they all began searching for her. Vincent Valentine disappeared as well- thought they knew he was out looking for the girl on his own. Vincent seemed to have a soft spot for the young lady. The man called a few times on his new cell phone, yet answered no calls received. He had no success. 

Cloud shook his head, clearing his mind of the sadness building. We will find her. She is family. He had to clear his mind and get ready for his next delivery; he would need to be focused. 

It was not exactly bandages he would be delivering next. 

He made his way towards the docks, preparing to board a boat set for Junon. In a day’s time, he made it to the busy city and walked down the back alleys to a sleazy hole in the wall. 

Cloud knocked on the door, waiting until a short bald man answered it. When he did, Cloud smiled at him.

“Alex Nakamura?”

“Yes?”

“You are wanted in Wutai for domestic violence and attempted murder of your wife. I’m here to bring you in. Please come quietly, I believe that would be best for you.” Cloud said, watching the other man turn pale.

“Fuck off! I ain’t going nowhere with ya!” The man tried to close the door.

Cloud simply extended one hand and stopped it. He glowered at the criminal as he pushed the door back open. “You were given a chance. Now I’m going to have to be angry with you.” The young blonde stepped forward, letting the man scramble backwards in fear. 

“You can’t do shit. Wutai police ain’t got no jurisdiction here.”

Cloud smiled unnervingly and the other man shivered. “I am not police. My client said to find you, bring you in. He didn’t say you had to be alive. Instead, he insisted that you weren’t.”

The other man desperately swung out a fist, which Cloud caught in his strong hand easily. He almost laughed at the situation- Cloud knew he was not going to murder this man. He would never kill anyone, unless in extreme situations. But it never hurt to let these people know that he could be capable of it. 

He was not above making unwilling participants hurt. 

“You… you can’t. You can’t do this.”

Cloud easily pulled the man towards him and twisted his arm around so the back of him was pressed against his chest. “You have no idea what I can do.”

“Who are ya? Huh?!”

Cloud allowed the sick smile to grace his features once again. “I’m just a delivery boy.”

_____________

Tifa Lockhart sighed as she scrubbed the already clean table again. This place, her bar, her home… was spotless. Glimmering with cleanliness. It had been so for the past couple of months, with people simply passing by the opened doors. She had small rushes of people here and there- particularly on some weekends, after the oil rig workers get paid and come home to the city- and that was just enough to be able to pay the bills and keep herself stocked.

Not that she had to buy many supplies, anyway. The bartender always seemed to be in stock of everything, even overstocked at times. She had to cancel the last two weeks of deliveries, which made Cloud frown at her and question why she had to. Tifa never explained, just shrugged at the man as she pushed an unpaid bill under the counter. Cloud was upset at losing a reliable customer, but she knew he was more upset that his closest friend had seen fit to not trust him with what was going on.

The brunette sighed again as she moved away from the table and walked towards the bar. This Monday afternoon was a bust. Tifa lifted the hatch, went behind the counter, and put her towel away in her bleach bucket she kept there. Then she noticed something- she was running low on gin, one of her most popular and cheapest alcohols. Tifa also noted that she was low on those cocktail onions that personally made her gag, but were popular with her patrons.

Tifa could not help the big grin on her face. Finally! Something pro-active to do. She opened the register and was relieved to find that she had just enough money to cover the goods and the delivery charge. Still smiling, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and pressed the number one button, her speed dial clicking in to make the call.

After a couple of rings, a warm voice answered. “Tifa?”

“Hey, Cloud. I need to place an order.”

There was a pause. “I’m glad. What do you need?”

Tifa noticed his pause and wondered and wondered what the man was thinking. “Just a case of gin and cocktail onions. Can you pick them up on your way home?”

“Absolutely. Do you need them by a certain date?” Cloud asked, and unbeknownst to Tifa, had his fingers crossed that his friend would need them by tomorrow. That would mean she was busy and business was getting better at the bar. He would willingly push his other delivery to the next day if she needed the product soon.

“No. Take your time.” Tifa said cheerfully, but felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. “I hope things are going well for you, wherever you are.” 

“Wutai. I’m collecting payment for my last job. I’m going to Rocket Town after this.”

Tifa smiled. For Cloud, this was a lot of information he just gave, and he gave it willingly. She was so proud of her friend. “May I ask what you had to deliver?”

“It might be better for you to not know.” Cloud shifted the phone around, judging by the odd muffled sound. Tifa felt her stomach clench tight. “Not good business.”

Tifa perked up a bit. That was Cloud-speak for he was willing to share, but it might be best to do it in person. Yet something was bothering her. “I don’t really like it when you do those kinds of deliveries.”

“Need to pay the bills somehow.”

“You know damn well you make enough money legitimately.” Tifa argued, but knew she was going to lose this fight. Too many times people contacted Cloud with a tale of woe, or some sort of injustice that happened. They offered money, and sometimes Cloud took it, sometimes he didn’t. Sometimes he would get a phone call from a friend of theirs to take care of something sensitive, and he would go off for a few days to take care of it. 

Like the soft heart that he was, the ex-mercenary accepted each and every job. Sometimes Tifa understood why he took the jobs, and sometimes she would help him. Most of the time, she sat at home, filled with worry.

“When I get back home, I have to get ready for another job.” There was a pause, and when he came back on the line, Tifa could tell that Cloud was smiling. “I would need some help.”

Tifa sighed. “I’m in.”

“I knew you would be. A case of gin and those gross onion things. Got it. See you Friday morning.”

“Bye, Cloud. Be safe.” The phone died in her ear, but Tifa knew he heard the sentiment. It was  how she always ended their conversations.

Feeling elated at her brief but wonderful conversation she had with her friend, Tifa reached over at the radio she kept and turned the machine on. An upbeat tune flowed out of it, and she started humming along with the song. 

The door to her bar swung upon, and her friend Barret Wallace and his daughter Marlene walked in. The young girl practically ran to Tifa, who already had her arms open for her hug. Barret chuckled at the sight and sat down on his usual stool at the bar, waiting for his excited daughter to jump up next to him. The ten year old sat next to her father and smiled up at him. 

“Can I get a soda, Papa?”

Barret nodded. “One soda for the lady. Give me a beer.”

Tifa grinned. “You got it.” The bartender went to get the drinks. “How are you guys doing?”

“Not bad.” Barret accepted his beer and took a deep drag from it. “My crew found another reservoir. Was happy to write out their bonus checks for them.”

Tifa nodded. “Nice. Well, I’m prepared for the celebrations!” Tifa gestured at the empty tables, and Barret frowned at her. 

“Teef, you know I would be happy to help ya out. Accept it.” 

“Yeah! Papa has a lot of money now!” Marlene giggled, sipping her soda. 

Barret flushed a little, looking uncomfortable. “I don’t got a lot to spend it on. Let me help you out, your family.”

Tifa shook her head. “I’ve told you a thousand times to stop that. I am fine. Really.”

Ruby red eyes locked with deep brown ones. If Marlene was not around, Barret would go a couple of rounds with Tifa. But instead he sighed and said, “Alright.”

Marlene finished her soda. “Tifa, you’re coming to my play on Friday, right? I play the princess!”

“I know!” Tifa said excitedly. She recalled all the nights of pin-pricks on her fingers as she tried to sew the little girl’s costume together. How could she forget that she played the princess with the impossibly pink lace dress? “I’ll be there. Cloud too.”

“Cloud will be there!” Marlene’s face shone, her grin growing bigger if that was at all possible. 

Tifa laughed, knowing that the little girl loved the man. “Yup. Said he would make it home by Friday morning.” 

“Would be nice to see the needle-head. I actually miss him.” Barret said, thinking. “It’s been like two months since I last saw him. Where’s he been?”

“You know Cloud. He likes to stay busy.” Tifa emphasized the last word, and Barret caught her meaning.

“Ah. Well then, we’ll see you both Friday. Don’t be late.” Barret tapped the bar top, leaving money for the two drinks behind. “See ya later!”

“Bye, Tifa! Love you!” Marlene waved goodbye and followed her father out the door.

Tifa waved goodbye to the both of them, smiling. The smile faded when she saw that Barret had left one hundred gil behind for a ten gil order.

_______

Barret walked in his office, uncomfortable that he had to be a boss for the day. Normally he liked to be down with his workers, digging in the soil, placing pipes in the ground and furnaces in homes for people. Every once in a while, however, he had to be the boss; that meant he was stuck inside on a beautiful day filling out paperwork with his secretary and making phone calls.

Barret shook his head. He had found oil. He was helping his fellow man out more than he had ever done before. He felt accomplished; he made the decision to stay at home and have an office… for Marlene. It wasn’t fair when the girl had only seen her father a few times a year, while he selfishly traveled around the world and had fun looking for more oil reserves. 

Yet, and especially during the spring season, he missed the adventure. He missed riding in his truck, or in one of Cid’s airships that he employed for his business. He missed being dirty and scraping by to make ends meet.

The wealth he earned was of great help, certainly, especially when it came to his daughter. She was able to go to a good school, a school he helped found actually; and she was living in a modest but safe and sturdy house. The father never had to worry if his daughter was going to eat that night, or that he would not be able to get her medicine if she ever got sick. It was a relief. 

Though I got all this money now, too much, and I ain’t deserving of it all. Barret leaned back in his desk chair, alerting his secretary. Drew looked up from his desk.

“Everything alright, boss?” Drew asked, his pen pausing in mid sentence. He was busy issuing an order for new trucks. 

“Yeah.” Barret signed off on a week’s pay and threw it in his designated out box. Drew would know what to do with it. “Just bored. Think I might donate to the hospital again. Maybe the school. We need help with a park. I think a park would be nice for the neighborhood.”

“Excellent idea. I’m sure we have the money in the budget for such donations.”

“Nah, I’ll do it myself. Got too much fucking gil as it is.” Barret stood up and walked around his desk. “How’s that going?” He wasn’t even entirely sure what his help was working on. 

“Fine, boss. We’re almost done with this work.” Drew motioned to his stack of papers. “Just got to submit a work order to Highwind Mechanics, send the check to Strife Delivery, and make sure Sheila in accounting gets the paychecks printed on time. Should only take about twenty minutes.”

“After that's done, go home. You did good today.”

“Okay. You stepping out, Barret?” Drew said, itching to turn on a radio and listen to music as he finished his work.

“Yeah. See ya tomorrow.”

“Goodnight.” Drew nodded and Barret left his trusted secretary behind.

Really ought to make that kid partner, the amount of work he does. He deserves this so much more than I do. 

His cell phone dinged, the sound indicating that he had received a text message. He snarled. He hated the whole texting thing- he had Marlene teach him, but it was still difficult for him to do it one handed. He wished people would just call him on the phone, it was so much easier. The big man took his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open.

Get me that fucking order! See you Friday. – Cid

“Your so lucky you are on my good side, ya little shit.” Barret muttered to himself and closed his phone. The excitement for Friday was bubbling up inside of him. Everyone was coming to see Marlene’s play- everyone except for Yuffie and Vincent, however. That stung a bit. He wished he knew where his friends were. But as it was, everyone else was coming on Friday night for the show and for dinner afterwards.

The family was coming together.

(Art done by strawderryST! Go support them please!)

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[talenlee]

FFXIV: Rin Stormenni

This is an explanatory writeup of one of my Original Characters (OCs). Nothing here is necessarily related to a meaningful fiction you should recognise and is shared because I think my OCs are cool and it’s cool to talk about OCs you make.

“If you follow this path, of this abyss of love, then you must do it knowing. You will be bane, outcast, criminal, rival, sinner. All the world will hate you, young one, and you will have no kingdom but that of strife.”

The young man beamed, dripping still with tyrant’s blood.

“Then I shall be the Prince of a Thousand Enemies.”

Self-made outcast. Valiant crusader. End of days. Bun goes hop.

It’s not arrogance if it’s justified.

Rin Stormenni is one of the strange footnotes in many another adventurer’s history. A short, fit blue-haired Viera boy with a seemingly out-of-location accent wherever he goes, he projects an air of being flighty, thoughtless and effortlessly airheaded. Big, heavy topics don’t tend to stick to Rin, whether they be the struggles of economies or the horrors of war. He’s also not welcome in many cities, it seems, with guards typically either knowing they want to get rid of him, or assuming they want to get rid of him.

Rin is also a terrifying force of absolutely heartless violence.

Typically, people call the kind of thing he is some kind of paladin, dark knight or other form of mage-knight. Obviously something about Rin is magical, because this is Eorzea and everyone is at least a little bit magical, but his magic is that of clouds of roses, of barbed thorns, and of trailing black shadows. There is something haunted in every wood, and that kind of darkness is the darkness that permeates Rin. Something about Rin speaks of a time when blood and claw were the greatest truths, where a bad king could just be killed, and he has not forgotten that.

In other people’s much more complicated, much more complex stories, he’s the character who sits in the background asking why don’t we just kill them?

Rin doesn’t seem to have a job, he doesn’t seem to have much in the way of money and yet despite that he’s always seemingly free to wander around and get up to things. His freeness plays out in even the things he achieves – he may slay a dreadful beast, get a huge reward, and immediately hand it on to someone who was nearby because they were nearby. What Rin values more than anything to do with power or prestige is stories, and he thinks a story about someone else doing something amazing is more interesting than a story about him getting a big pile of somethings.

Oh, and if you ask Rin, he’ll happily introduce himself as a Fae Prince, claiming to be The Prince of a Thousand Enemies. He does not explain this.

Mechanics

Mechanically, Rin is a Dark Knight. He also has levels of Dragoon. If I ever want to level him with a healer class, it’d be the Sage. The unifying trait between these three classes is that they have a leap which lets them close in on an enemy quickly, creating the phenomenon I’ve joked about of bun goes hop.

There’s nothing interesting to talk about here; any given member of one of these classes is every bit the mechanically indistinct execution puzzle that any of the others are.

Final Fantasy XIV is a lot of things but it isn’t good at being a game really. It isn’t the kind of game I like to play, with individual expression or fluid play moments. It’s largely, a game of walking between conversation nodes and occasionally there’s an unsatisfying fight between them. Then if you’re very good you get to do a dungeon or an alliance raid, and those tend to be fun when you’re not super bored with them. Because of that, it’s weird that I wind up making alts in this game, and that Rin isn’t even the last of them.

(It’s because Final Fantasy XIV is where my friends are, and they’re more important to me than mere play experience.)

Place in the World

Thing is, Rin’s right?

Like, he is a Fae prince. Through some means or another, he wound up in the domain of a Faerie Queen, and whether through violence or charm, he rules that domain. Very rarely, he just takes people in to visit it, to show them a throne of stone surrounded by vines, in a moonlit palace, but it isn’t like he’s making stuff up.

It plays into other things about him that are strange; despite the dangerous things he fights, he never seems bothered by them, nor particularly concerned about things like the fear of tempering. During the Day of Blasphemies, he was seen leaping from fight to fight, striking Blasphemies once and then refusing to kill them. Days later, several of the people that became these blasphemies were found again, unable to explain what happened to them or how.

Rin is not a character who fixes the big thing. He’s someone who stands in the face of the things we’re told we have to fear, have to care about, and laughs. Because we don’t. The world is full of dumb things that aren’t important, and they demand obeisance, and he refuses to give it to them. When presented with the demand to kneel, Rin responds as befits someone who’s overjoyed to make new, better kinds of enemies:

With violence.

Okay, but what kind of places does Rin show up in? Places with trouble.

Rin isn’t the Warrior of Light, not even in his personal canon. In the narrative of the game he runs through he keeps showing up at these events where people are all: What about the Warrior of Light!? We need the Warrior of Light here to deal with this! and he’s like: What really? Eh, lemme take a crack at it, and it turns out, no, you don’t need a warrior of light, you need an idiot with a big sword.

If you’re the Warrior of Light and you talk to him his response will probably be something in the vein of ‘cool!’ and not any interest in trying to dissuade you. After all, you’re probably right. What would he know?

Rin is a big fan of hearing people tell their stories. He is happy to listen to your problems and he wants to learn about what would make you happy, what problems would drive your story forward, what would help you overcome some barrier to your own life. And then, if he can, he’s going to try and find it for you. This is obviously, very, very silly and runs the risk of encountering some very reckless problems. Just ask his friend, the Queen of Coins, who got handed a criminal empire because he told a lie good enough.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[dcbbw]

The Witch Hunt

This fic is a highly fictionalized account of true events. I wrote it as a way of coping with the discourse and said it would never be publicly posted. But thanks to an ask from @twinkleallnight (and her persistence that anything I write needs to be shared and enjoyed by all), and discussions with my boos, bears, and Coven sisters … here it is.

HUGE THANK YOU to @ao719 for the amazing moodboard.

Thank you to my writing sisters for re-reading this story and assuring me that it still makes sense.

For all who will read this fic, THANK YOU! Your time, efforts, and energy spent reading, commenting, and/or reblogging is greatly appreciated more than you know.

Please excuse any and all typos, missing/extraneous words, and/or grammatical errors. (I rushed through my final editing)

Only the Commoner and the King belong to Pixelberry.

Song Inspiration: Every Breath You Take, Scala/Kolacny Brothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt63b4x2Xec

Word Count: 3,546

Eastwick

Light years and many moons from Reality, there is an alternate universe called Fandom where both children and witches live. The witches are a large coven, and spend their days writing spells; incantations of love, lust, and laughter … sometimes of darkness. The spells are for their intended and beloved, and tell of the lives and adventures the sorceresses wish to experience with them.

The witches live in a corner of the Fandom known as Cordonia, in a small town called Eastwick; for the most part, they all got along well and were supportive of each other.  Within the coven were three sisters: Hilda, Zelma, and Glinda. The sisters lived together in a large Victorian house, complete with wraparound porch, bay windows, and spires. All three were well-known and well-liked throughout the coven.

Glinda was the most popular; her bright cheery smile and sweet personality made her a favorite throughout Eastwick.

Zelma was the friendliest; she knew nearly all the other witches, and read over their spells to ensure that nothing went wrong. One incorrect word or improper enunciation could twist the spell’s intention completely.

Hilda, who was also a wizardess, was the most empathetic; she offered hugs and a listening ear to the strays of the coven: The witches who either had no magic, or if they did, no idea how to use it. Her sisters were usually tolerant when Hilda brought home her newfound, friendless acquaintances … except for Apple Core. There was a reason the oldest citizen of Eastwick had never truly been a part of the coven, but Hilda insisted Apple Core just needed love.

The sisters were sitting at their kitchen table, writing spells for their love interests. Zelma was in love with the Commoner of Cordonia, as were many others; it did not deter her from sending her love spells into the universe, neither did it stop the Commoner from returning her affections.

Glinda and Hilda were in love with the King; as was the case with the Commoner, the sisters were in competition with many for his both his hand and his heart. Glinda had decided that she and Hilda would love different versions of the King so as not to make things awkward between them. Glinda fell in love with the blonde-haired, blue-eyed King, while Hilda’s King had dark hair, dark eyes, and Asian features.

“I love him so much,” Zelma murmured as she finished her spell, her eyes landing on a picture of the Commoner she had summoned in their crystal ball.

“And he loves you in return,” Glinda said while tapping her quill pen against her chin.

“He loves an alternate version of me. If he knew what I really looked like, he wouldn’t,” Zelma lamented.

“Our beloveds see our hearts and souls, not our outer appearances,” Hilda stated as she waved a wand over her spell of lust.

Silence as the sisters worked to finalize their spells before casting them into the Void. Suddenly, there was a jarring of the earth and a loud clap of thunder; it was so loud and sharp,  Glinda covered her ears as the house shook.

Zelma looked up, her eyes darting around the room, as if the source of the disruption was in their home.

“The Dark One is casting.” She looked at her sisters uneasily.

WestWorld

On the other side of Cordonia, in WestWorld, The Guardian’s head lifted at the sound of distant thunder. Her eyes fell to her glass of water, now slightly moving across the table from the remnants of the shaking earth. Her gaze narrowed.

“The Witches!” she hissed.

WestWorld was where the children of Cordonia lived. There were some adults:  survivors of trauma and abuse from their previous worlds, but the majority of the residents were children. The Guardian lived there to ensure the under-aged residents were properly housed, clothed and fed. She shielded them from the Witches, whose sorcery and magic were misunderstood by WestWorld.

The Guardian and her Army believed in love and light; no sex was needed for that. Angst and strife were not needed for that. Darkness definitely was not needed. So, the Guardian warned the children constantly not to venture into Eastwick and to never, under any circumstances, read the spells that were cast into the Void from the other side.

And now, the Witches were casting darkness into the Void … again. Dark magic was the only thing that would have such far reaching effects.

The Guardian retrieved an ornate gold box from her cupboards and removed the lid to reveal her crystal ball. She chanted as she waved her hands over the ball, summoning up a spell to inform her of what was happening.

The Dark One appeared in the glass, looking rather smug and pleased; her image faded, to be replaced by the parchment containing her spell. The Guardian fell into her chair, her eyes wide with shock as she read what the Dark One had cast.

The Guardian felt her stomach churn; the children would most certainly want to see what had caused such a disruption in their world. Normally, the citizens of West World were content to read their tales of otherworldly creatures from a time long past, or of the single mothers who loved their childen beyond measure.

But they were children, and they were curious.

And now Dark One was once again summoning the Guardian’s charges to the other side.

The Guardian rose hastily from the table, and ran through the halls calling for her Generals.

One Week Later

Eastwick

The Dark One sat in her living room, her eyes fixed on her Book of Spells, searching for an answer, a solution.

Something.

The Guardian and her Army were calling for the Dark One’s head. They wanted her banished from all of Cordonia, and her spells erased from existence.

The Dark One shook her head to herself.  

That was unacceptable.

The Dark One was in love with the Commoner; she always had been since she first laid eyes on him. However, The Dark One knew she would never stand out in the sea of spells filled with love and lust. She didn’t speak that language.

No, she needed to speak to the Commoner soul to soul.

She focused not on his perfection, but his flaws and insecurities. She sought out the Commoner’s dark side that no one wanted to hear of or speak to. The Dark One offered the Commoner her broken pieces, her sorrow and hurt … and he was finally accepting them.

He was falling for her.

And she refused to let anyone stop them from being together.

With a small sigh, The Dark One sipped from her glass filled with hibiscus wine. This was not her first run- in with The Guardian. When The Dark One cast her first appeal to the Commoner’s dark side, her spell was met with resistance from both Eastwick and Westworld. She had taken a day away from the coven, not in shame, but to consider whether to remove her spell. If it inspired such strong feelings from her fellow witches, would it repel the Commoner?

But it did not.

He began looking her way. He urged her to tell him more about herself; he whispered more of his secrets in her ear. And The Dark One decided not to remove her spell simply because others were jealous the Commoner’s attentions were turning to her.

But now, The Guardian was viciously attacking her, over simple spells! There were threats of her murder if she did not comply with The Guardian’s request. Her sister witches, save for a few, were silent. The chosen to do battle with WestWorld fought alone; however The Dark One was given suggestions, instructions, and encouragements in private:

Listen to their concerns.

Perhaps you need to not cast so many spells.

Just stand down for a little while; it will blow over. The battles always do.

The Dark One thumbed slowly through her Book; her eyes took in the words that her soul had spilled. Her blood, sweat, and tears covered every page. And she knew what she had to do. She would step away from the coven; not because The Guardian told her to, but to protect the innocent.

It meant leaving the Commoner behind and The Dark One wasn’t sure she could do that. She had finally captured his attention and found her understanding.

But she would try.

She just had to do one last thing …

That night in Cordonia the earth shook, and the thunder clapped loudly and incessantly as The Dark One released nearly all her spells into the Void.

The Three Sisters

At the home of The Three Sisters, Zelma fretted as the house shook and dark clouds covered the sky.

“She’s been casting nonstop for a week! They’re threatening to kill her! And now what is she doing? The Void cannot handle so much dark energy.” Zelma stopped pacing to angrily throw her hands in the air. “She’s going to make it so none of us can cast!”

Glinda poured hot tea into three delicate teacups. “Perhaps we can appeal to The Guardian.”

“She won’t listen to us! With The Dark One being so unreasonable, The Guardian will set her sights on us. I’ve dealt with WestWorld once and I’m not eager to be once more tossed into that fray,” Hilda argued as she added honey and lemon to her fragrant beverage.

“If we use our powers of invisibility, she may. I see others from both sides are appealing to her in that manner.”

Zelma and Hilda barely heard their sister; they were watching the crystal ball reveal spell after spell flying past, flurries of parchment and ink whisking before them as if in a windstorm.

“Stop it! Stop the ball!” Hilda yelled.

With a frown of confusion, Glinda waved her hands over the sphere and froze the image. The sisters read the spell before them, eyes widening at the darkness it revealed. When they finished reading, they looked at each other, each trying to process what they just read.

Hilda straightened up. “This…this is not good. Perhaps I will approach the Guardian. I see where she has let the children read one of my spells. She praised it.”

“Perhaps … “Zelma said doubtfully as she reached for her cup.

The knock on the door startled the trio. Glancing at the clock, Glinda wondered aloud who it could be at this hour. Hilda went to the door; she was the oldest and viewed herself as her sisters’ protector. She pulled open the door to see Apple Core.

Apple Core was an outcast amongst the witches. She was without magic, and very demanding of members of the Coven. Apple Core had no true home and only one friend.

“Hello, dearie,” the outcast croaked.

“Good evening,” Hilda responded politely.

She noticed the older woman’s threadbare cloak and cracked, dry lips. Hilda stepped aside, pulling the door open wider as she did so.

“Please, come in. Perhaps partake in a glass of water? And a bowl of brew?”

Apple Core smiled thinly as she entered the household; she ignored Glinda and Zelma rolling their eyes at each other.

“The Dark One is releasing her magic quite freely tonight,” Apple Core remarked as she settled into a wooden rocking chair.

Glinda went to fetch water and brew for their visitor. Zelma and Hilda sat side by side on the sofa.

“Yes, she is. I plan to reach out to The Guardian as she and I are on friendly terms.” Hilda smoothed down her dress.

Apple Core looked at her quizzically. “Why on earth would you think that?”

“She has let the children read one of my spells.” Hilda said with a hint of pride.

WestWorld never allowed a spell to be voluntarily brought into their corner of Fandom.

“Your spell has been removed and cast out of WestWorld. The Guardian has discovered that you are mutuals with The Dark One, and therefore are guilty by association. In fact, all three of you are now on The Guardian’s blacklist.”

Glinda was returning with the sustenance for the visitor and heard the last part of the statement; her voice held an edge when she spoke.

“What are you talking about? I was never mutuals with The Dark One, and Zelma broke ties with her months ago! Hilda has maintained ties with The Dark One, but in name only!”

“This has become so much more than a push to banish The Dark One. And I fear now, even if she leaves, the damage has been done. Deep damage,” Apple Core said cryptically.

Her eyes fell to her bowl and the glass of water; she greedily licked her lips. “The best thing to do … frankly, the only thing … is to deflect The Guardian’s anger and ire back where it belongs. On The Dark One.”

“But how?” Glinda sat next to her sisters.

Apple Core slurped her brew directly from the bowl; splashes of broth splattered both Apple Core’s dark cloak and the silver spoon still sitting on the tray. Her eyes rolled over to the three sisters. “I can only point you in the direction, I cannot lead you.”

Hilda spoke slowly and thoughtfully. “The spell we just read; perhaps that will be enough to redirect The Guardian. I can speak to her invisibly. It can’t hurt.”

“Have you ever used the Spell of Invisibility?” Glinda asked, scoffing slightly.

“Hmmmm, once?” Hilda shrugged.

Glinda shook her head impatiently. “I’ll show you!”

Apple Core finished her meal and rose from her chair. “Your secret is safe with me, dearies. Just know, I have seen many battles fought between the two sides, and this one is going to be far worse than the others before. And a word of caution … The Dark One has even more spells; she just isn’t releasing them yet.”

“MORE spells?” Zelma exclaimed, wondering just how many spells The Dark One had. She rose to  usher Apple Core to the door where she bid the woman a good evening, watching Apple Core’s dark cloak billow behind her as the outcast made her way back to a hut on the outskirts of Eastwick.

Two Weeks Later

Eastwick

Zelma was sobbing as her sisters tried to comfort her. The battle with WestWorld was intensifying at a rapid rate.

Hilda’s attempts to divert The Guardian had failed: The Guardian had already read every spell The Dark One had cast into the void, which led her to seek out who among the Witches approved of such an abuse of power. The Guardian’s research went back over a year and was helped along by several informants, all invisible and anonymous to her but she had her ideas as to who the people were.

Names filled her ears, portions of spells and those who supported them crossed her desk. Her lips tightened a tad more with every name she came across. The Guardian needed a plan; a plan to end this once and for all.

This was so much bigger than simply The Dark One.

Zelma had wanted to approach The Guardian with news that one of the informants was bogus, and a spy for both sides. But in her haste and eagerness, she forgot to cloak herself with the Spell of Invisibility.

The Guardian’s lips had curved in a slightly cruel smile when the two women faced each other in their crystal balls. The Guardian knew who Zelma was; Zelma found out who the Guardian was. The witch flushed beet red and began to stammer, but The Guardian waved her hands and both balls went dark.

Zelma panicked. She knew about the Blacklist and didn’t want to be on it. Zelma didn’t want to be in WestWorld’s crosshairs at all.

She saw what had happened to Hilda; she saw what they were doing to The Dark One. Zelma immediately wrote a letter of apology to both the Coven and WestWorld. She tried to scrub any traces of her affiliation with The Dark One; but still, they remained.

The Guardian refused to listen to Zelma’s apologies and excuses. Moreover, she was angered by the outpouring of love and support for Zelma. But The Guardian held the upper hand, and she did not hesitate to use it.

Zelma was blacklisted and outed.

Her best friend in the coven had her spell creating abilities revoked.

Yet another friend wrote an appeal to both sides, asking to come to a consensus as to the best way to protect the children. She too was outed and blacklisted.

The only concession made by The Guardian was to restore spell creating privileges and to assure Zelma that she was in good company:  Her sisters, along with many others, would be joining her on the list.

Invisibly, Glinda, Hilda, and several others from the coven reached out to The Guardian; they were either ignored, or met with dismissiveness. Hilda’s plea was met with acknowledgement she raised valid points, but The Guardian would not waver on her decision.

This was for the children.

The sisters and their friends were both resigned to and relieved at their fate. Perhaps this Blacklist would be a good thing. They were buoyed by their fellow Witches requesting to be added to the list.

WestWorld and Eastwick rarely interacted; another layer of separation may be the best thing.

WestWorld

The Guardian’s head was in her hands, her fingers splayed across her face. Everything was going to hell in a handbasket, so quickly.

Too quickly.

It wasn’t supposed to go this way.

The Guardian had started her crusade with one mission in mind: banishment of The Dark One. But that hussy hadn’t left; she had barricaded herself inside of her home after releasing hundreds of spells into the Void. For days on end, all that crossed anyone’s path were dark, potentially triggering spells. The Guardian was truly puzzled how one witch could have so.many.spells. just waiting to be cast. And for the Commoner’s love at that; for the King … The Guardian could see that.

At least it was over.

Then began the influx of invisible, anonymous visitors. The Guardian knew they weren’t all witches, at least in the beginning. The Spell of Invisibility was available to all the citizens of Fandom.

Hour upon hour, The Guardian heard words of support and encouragement; tales of trauma; grateful sobs … all from people with no names or faces.

The Guardian knew she was doing the right thing; she and her Army were protecting those who were defenseless. The Dark One was simply the tip of the iceberg. All the dark spells had to go, and the ones who wrote them had to be outed, at the very least.

A new plan formulated in her mind, and her generals agreed with it.

The Blacklist would include the witch’s names, their addresses, and a list of the offensive spells.

And that is when the others began to visit.

They came while The Guardian slept; they came while she was preparing her meals. One came while she was bathing. All told her she was self-serving, trying to draw attention to herself and WestWorld.

That her plan of the Blacklist was simply telling the children where to go.

That they too were traumatized, and this is how they chose to cope.

The others told her they warned the children not to read their spells because the words they spoke were not for young eyes.

They told her to reach out to the people being put on the list, to walk in their shoes for a day or so.

The Guardian’s brain felt as if it were about to explode from too many voices and too much information.

She argued that she had reached out to the Witches; they had blocked their portals to her.

The Witches said that was an untruth.

The Guardian said she was doing what was best: Providing the children with the witches’ addresses and providing them access to their portals was to protect the children and survivors.

The Witches countered The Guardian was readying her Army to attack them. The children had already used their invisibility and anonymity to bully them to the point of encouraging the witches to commit suicide.

The Guardian said she was making Fandom a safe and nurturing environment for all.

The Witches scoffed at that, arguing that was why they lived in Eastwick and the children lived in WestWorld. It was neither safe nor healthy for either side to interact with each other.

It was all too much; this is not what was supposed to happen. Despite what it looked like, she was not looking to start a war.

But one was underway.

And to make everything even worse, The Dark One was casting spells again.

With a slightly trembling hand, she reached for her glass of water as she popped an aspirin in her mouth. The knock on her portal startled her; water sloshed from the glass and onto her frock.

She raised her head as the witch stepped over the threshold. It was Hilda.

A smile on her face, but a serious look in her eyes, Hilda sat uninvited at the table with The Guardian.

“We need to talk.”

Tagging:  @sirbeepsalot @jared2612 @ao719 @burnsoslow @bbrandy2002 @ofpixelsandscribbles @debramcg1106 @marietrinmimi @merridithsmiscellany-blog @queenjilian @texaskitten30 @glaimtruelovealways @indiacater @forthebrokenheartedthings @kingliam2019 @bebepac @zaffrenotes @liyanin @liamxs-world @choiceslife @ac27dj @the-soot-sprite @gnatbrain @anotherbeingsworld @atha68 @hopelessromanticmonie @amandablink @mom2000aggie @cmestrella @iaminlovewithtrr @shewillreadyou @starrystarrytrouble @liamrhysstalker2020 @alyssalauren @queenrileyrose @ladyangel70 @yourmajesty09 @gkittylove99 @neotericthemis @twinkleallnight @umccall71 @superharriet @lodberg @charlotteg234 @sweatyrysconnoisseur @mainstreetreader @busywoman @gabesmommie1130 @jessiembruno @darley1101 @txemrn @tessa-liam @phoenixrising308 @beezm @gardeningourmet @lovingchoices14 @thegreentwin​

[transgamerthoughts]

What I Found In The Leaves

Last August, as the lease to my apartment was about to end, the roof began to smolder until the place I lived was full of smoke. When all was settled and done, my apartment had no roof. My room was spared and most of my things were okay—this part of the story being set in late capitalism, I am required to assure you that the things I purchased were okay too—and I decided to leave New York City to return to New England with my family. One of the first things I did when I arrived was look at the sky and imagine I was up there. Falling or sailing or flying. It didn’t really matter. I wanted to touch a cloud, to feel the whipping wind.

I promise… this is leading to something. In the months since, in spite of comfort and proximity to my family… in spite of the arrival of my nephew into this world—a child I would climb a mountain and punch God for if I needed to—and in spite of a happy job… I have spiraled into depression. My solution was work and writing. To throw myself into my job and to, somewhat foolishly, take on the task of novelizing my favorite game: Skies of Arcadia. Because if you’ve read my work long enough, it always comes back to Arcadia. I am proud of that project but it sparked a yearning in me. To truly connect to the world I was writing. It lit a fire. Before we proceed, let me be clear that by depression I don’t mean the woes of pandemic living or some disaffection with the reality of entering my 30s. I mean a deep and painful darkness with all the implications therein. Regardless to say, my efforts to combat it drained me. To the point that I burnt myself out and with some prodding from my boss, took a vacation. Which I am currently on. This is not the first time this series of events has played out. I made a promise to myself when I started vacation: no writing. I am breaking it because I have found, yet again, a moment where I must desperately drain the wonder in my heart and attempt to explain to you that I think there are magical things in the world, and that I believe there is some type of magic in art—in that strange alchemic or shamanistic way—that transfers to us. This will be my second attempt to explain it, and to explain what it has to do with video games. (Forgive the indulgence of this introduction by the way; an editor would surely have cut it all but I need you to understand two things: I am in pain and there's a part of that pain which I think points to something important.) This is a story of ritual and tea. Of how my senses and imagination came together to send me on a journey around a fictional world, in search of heroes who both do and do not exist. As part of my love for Skies of Arcadia, I’ve become something of a paraphernalia collector. I bought an old light novel from ebay, I used my rudimentary Japanese skills to set up a warehouse dropbox so that two fan magazines could be sent there and then subsequently shipped to America, and I have drank tea based off the game. At the time, I wanted to collect the little tins the tea came in; they seemed excellent collector’s items. What I found with my first round of tea was art unto itself; balances of flavor and spice and blends that symbolized characters and connected me to them. These were crafted by a dedicated fan and fellow writer. I don’t have the time to sit and research all the ways in which tea is used in ritual. Because I am tired and older and depressed and writing a blog post that perhaps thirty people will read. Regardless, to my delight I found that the tea-maker had created blends based off the various moons that dot Arcadia’s skies. For those who do not know the game, which I assume is many of you: each nation of the world rests under a magical moon. There are six, with one—a Black Moon—theorized to have gone missing. Here was my opportunity for a journey.

I bought teas based on each moon, and one based on the world itself. I will post a separate collection of all my individual tastings and reviews later. The important thing is this: I had been given an amazing gift. With these teas, I had something of that digital world which was actual. When we play games, we hear them and see them. Perhaps with certain haptics we can feel them. But we do not smell them or taste them or literally consume them. Eight teas, eight chances to smell and taste that wonderful world. To touch the clouds. Quem quaeritis? This is a famous question asked by an angel to the three Marys visiting Christ's tomb: his mother the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, who is the sister of Lazarus—the man Christ brought back to life after his death. It means: “whom to do you seek?” I was journeying, one tea cup at a time, around Arcadia. From continent to continent, I tasted their spices and experienced hints of their values, their cultures as expressed through the tea. The question played in my mind: Quem quaeritis? Whom was I seeking? The answer is complicated. First, I was seeking something of myself. The part of me that understood magic and wonder. The part of me that believes in the soul and believes that art, in allowing the complex interaction of creators and characters with players, performs some type of soul-magic. It impresses upon us, real and actual changes. I was seeking that piece of me; that part of me that understood that each cup was a ritual that brought about a communion with a distant world. I was searching for the younger part of me that believed in wonderful things. 

I drank the teas in the order our heroes travel the world, and in doing so I was performing a sort of perseveration of their journey. I communed with some place distant and followed in their footsteps. Which answers another half of the question. Whom did I seek? I sought my heroes. I sought the adventurous Vyse and his dogged determinism, I sought the firecracker Aika and her swift rushes to action, and I sought Fina. The woman I wish I could be: feminine, slight, beautiful, kind, brave. Quem quaeritis? All of this sounds like nonsense and when I try to explain the nonsense, I feel a deep embarrassment. To care in the 21th century, particularly in America, is to be weak. To be publicly vulnerable is to make yourself a target. You must be hard and solid as a rock. You cannot believe in magic or else you are doomed. But here I was, chasing myself and my heroes one cup at a time. And I need you to know that it hurt to do that. 

I went to the corner store today to buy some energy drinks. When I got back home, my father asked: “did you find what you were looking for?” I told him “That’s a very complicated question.”

Let me explain. Let me do the thing that I feel I cannot do well anymore; let me do some game criticism. In the world of games, the entities we control exist as two things. They are actors; manipulatable bodies, guided by code and controller inputs, that we guide around as we see fit. In this way, players have extraordinary power. In some ways, it is a… fraught power. We can, as Soulja Boy did, leave Braid’s protagonist in a perpetual flux state: jumping and rewinding. Back and forth, forth and back. Eternal puppets for our amusement, avatars for our power fantasies. Sometimes, as in the case of a game like Skyrim, our controllable actors are little more than flesh suits But actors are, more than anything, just… avatars. Video game actors are also characters. Within their worlds, which are fictional, they have motivations and wants and desires and dreams. They want to live and grow and succeed. Cloud Strife wants to defeat Sephiroth and uncover the truth about himself, Joel wants to protect Ellie and survive in a cruel world. Arthur Morgan wants to find a calmer life and redemption for his sins. They are, as characters, people. But since they are also actors, we can deny them their hopes and dreams whenever we want. We can have Cloud while away his days gambling at the Gold Saucer and, if we want, we can force Arthur Morgan to murder to population of an entire town. The core truth of a player's relationship to the character is this: we decide if their dreams are fulfilled. I find that troubling and I will try to explain why. But first let’s be clear: I do not think the character in games are sentient entities. I outlined this relationship of players and characters in a GDC talk a few years ago, using highly rhetorical terms and my reward was the ridicule of countless gamers who questioned my sanity. Some made videos about my presentation. It was hell. To be a woman, perhaps especially a progressively minded trans-woman, in games is to know a very real hell. To this day, I cannot go a week without some type of horrid experience on the internet. Some judgment of my worth, some assumption about my competency, or in the worst cases some proclamation about my right to live. No doubt this is part of why I needed my vacation. But here is why I find the player/character/actor relationship troubling. It is not merely the abstract notion, the thought experiment that elicits fun but meaningless philosophical natter. The reason I find that relationship troubling or at least complicated is because for all of their fiction, the characters in games can give us real things. They can, through some type of power—a deep power found in the act of story-telling itself—impart aspects of themselves on us. For instance, they can teach us lessons which we then carry into the rest of our lives. My father, for reasons I can’t recall, once told me: “the meaning of life is to serve others.” Though he does not know it, that truism has been etched into my soul. It is a “thing” that my father has given me. But my father is not the only person who has etched something into my soul. Vyse, that dashing pirate, has etched many things into my soul. For instance: “impossible is just a word people use to make themselves feel better when they quit.” That is etched on my soul too. Just as much as anything my father has taught. So we come to the heart of it: what does it mean that Vyse can so alter my being and values, and that he can do it with the same strength and “realness” of my father? What does it mean for a character, who is also often an actor that I guide, to give me such a powerful gift? Because let us be clear: values are “real” things. When I tried to explain that I believe that certain things are actually true, for instance that looking at landscapes does mean that we are looking at something real…. I spent an afternoon with former Jeopardy! contestant Arthur Chu and a cohort of Twitteristas attacking my philosophical surety. So, again, fuck the internet… I digress.. Let’s explore: I believe in the realness of things because of the depth of the emotions those things make me feel, and I refuse to believe that life is just endorphins, hormones, and instinct. That music or games or anything else can make us weep for joy is proof-positive to me of the existence of a soul; of an ineffable thing that is “us.” Not necessarily all enduring but certainly extant. And if this thing exists, it can be acted upon. I know this because my father, with his truism, changed my soul. Changed the core of me. I know this because Vyse and the others did so as well.

I’ve written that games criticism is a kindness; that it seeks the good in art and attacks the banal explicitly because art is beautiful. I write today to suggest this: art is magical. It alters us, not metaphorically, but in the ways it can affect our souls. Which brings us back to character and actors. I control Vyse since he is an actor and I am a player; but he is a character with dreams and hopes and personality. And values. Wonderful values which he shared with me. So what does it mean now that I can send actors to their doom? What does it mean that I can control them utterly when I know for a fact that they can affect and change me? I do not have clean answers for this. Perhaps there are none. Perhaps all I have written is silliness, even as I beg you to please understand. Please. 

Understand the power of stories, understand it in the way that Tolkein did when he said: “Creative fantasy, because it is mainly trying to do something else … may open your hoard and let all the locked things fly away like cage-birds.” Understand that I am telling you that the locked thing is your heart and soul, and that just as a lover or parent or mentor can open that thing… so can the people we meet in our fictional journeys. Vyse is not just the captain of a ship. He is my captain. That means something. Art is ritual and play is ritual. In creation, we place something of ourselves in another thing. In play, we allow ourselves to be transmuted and changed. This is magic, of a sort. I am left wanting however. I followed the path of my heroes in as literal a way as I could, pulling on new senses to understand the world they live in and touch their skies for a fleeting moment. But I cannot reach them; I am Tantalus in the mire. Ever reaching, ever chasing. For that moment I can be the person that my heroes trusted me to become. Note by musical note, word for written word, tea cup by tea cup, I am chasing my captain. When I went back to my apartment the day after the fire, I looked up at the spot where the roof used to be. All I could see was blue sky and I thought I might fall into it. Perhaps in superficial ways I have shared something with my heroes; I have tasted something they have, even though the tea is not actually from Arcadia. It was merely a conduit to my imagination, to the transformed parts of my souls. Yet, I did not find him and I could not find myself. Which is why it hurts, in spite of how wonderful it was. Quem quaeritis? He is not here. So I will keep sailing after him.

[multi-fandom-imagine]

The SOLDIER and The Baker || Cloud Strife || Pt3

Part 1  || Part 2.

A/n: Also vote...please vote / help me because I need your help to decided on what to do since its gonna be coming up soon. {{ vote here }}

Ps. this got to long so the kiss and date and everything else is gonna be in part four. {{ like I am sure this is past 4,000 words }}

A: 2 B: 0 C: 1

Tag List: @ayamenimthiriel​ || @kitsamii. || @courageouslystupid​

Rude was stuck in a rather tough spot, the man did not know what to make of this. He thought he might be able to find any records of the young woman, it seemed to be as if they were completely wiped. Sighing he pinched the bridge of his nose, pulling of security footage of when he ran into you the man managed to get a picture of you.

He needed to know who you are, how did you know Aerith. Sighing he tilted his head to the side as he printed out a picture of you though tensed feeling crumbs hit his shoulder.

“She’s cute.” Even though it was muffled thanks to the food in the person's mouth Rude still knew who it was. “Who is she?”

“The girl I ran into.”

“The one who made these amazing muffin...haha really?....so did you get a name?” Reno asked peering at the picture of you from the candid photo, your hair was tied back in a loss ponytail and you were wearing a dress similar to Aerith’s. He thought you were rather pretty, he also thought that smile was cute but you must be someone important if Rude was looking into you.

“I did not.”

“So...you have nothing on her then?”

“You would be correct.”

“Well Shit.”

Rude sighed as he placed the picture down, maybe he should check into with Tseng to see if he could find something, or Rufus might know. 

“Shit indeed.”

“So Cloud...”

“hmm??” Cloud glanced over at you, he watched as your fingers clutched the Mythril Rod in your fingers.

“I...what was it like being a SOLDIER?” You sighed glancing up at the sky, you never knew why seeing the stars gave you so much comfort. Perhaps it was something that you used to do with your father until he vanished.

“It’s a job...I did it to keep people safe, a lot of good that did.”

Turning to face him, you just smiled at him. “I think you’re doing a wonderful job of watching me and Aerith.”

“Huh?” Cloud frowned then shook his head, he should have expected you to say something like that.

“Aw, I thought for sure that would have given me a smile.” You teased rushing off to where Aerith was.

Stopping in his tracks Cloud frowned for a moment then shook his head. “Try harder.”

Your laughter was his only response but it took a few quick strides for him to catch up with you.

“You can see the sky” Glancing up, that was something he wasn’t used too being stuck in Sector 7 and seeing that plate.

Aerith frowned as she looked up at the dark sky with a frown on her face. “They’re still working on a new plate. I don’t like this part of Midgar.” As you three walked down the dirt path she kept speaking. “Back when they were still building Midgar, there was an accident, and the plate fell. People were still moving in, so there weren’t an of lot living there at the time, but....” She stopped as you three ventured deep down the path until you all spotted the Wall Market in the distance, the lights shining brightly in the night.

“And that’s?”

“The underside of Sector 6. “Wall Market.” A real special place.” Aerith then stepped in front of him tilting her head to the side. “But I’m sure you already knew that, right?”

Cloud frowned then turned his head away. “I didn’t tell you?”He then let out a sigh glancing away from you. “I enlisted pretty much right after I left home.” He then turned his attention to look at the stars. “Dunno much about this place, or any of the slums.”

Biting back a comment you then forced a smile on your face as your grasped his hand. “Don’t worry Cloud! that's what you have me and Aerith for!.”

“I.”

Aerith smiled nodding her head not letting him get a chance to speak.”Y/n is right ya know.” Though that didn’t stop her from telling him about the Wall Market, things you didn’t even know. 

“Lucky for you I know a different way to Sector 7....One that tragically doesn’t go through Wall Market.” Giving you a wink you were positive that you only saw she gave you a small nod to his hand. Sighing she grasped one of Cloud’s hand as you grasped the other. “And it’s just through this tunnel here.” she pointed a long tunnel ahead of you.

“It’s best if you just listen to her Cloud, Aerith isn’t going to stop.” You state though the man let out a defeated sigh. Muttering under your breath you three continued to walk through the dark tunnel into you had to duck under a broken beam.

Emerging under you couldn’t help but let out a groan. “Wonderful.” Seeing the Collapsed expressway, you started to wonder if you would ever make it to Sector 7.

“It’s been like this...ever since the plate fell.” Aerith shrugged as she let go of the man's hands peering down below.

“And their’s no other way?”

“It will be an adventure.”

Sighing you rolled your eyes though then let go of his hand once you reached a ladder. You and Aerith slipped down waiting for the man, tugged out the blue flower he wanted to give to you the man was amazed it was still intact.

Biting bit tongue, he took a deep breath deciding now would be the best time to do it. Once he made it down the ladder he cleared out his throat then thrusts the flower in your face, not wanting to meet your gaze. “Here...for the cupcake...”

Hearing Aerith’s squeal you blinked, blushing as you took the flower. Smiling at him you could still feel the warmth on your cheeks. “Thank you Cloud, it’s beautiful.” Looking at the blue flower over you realized it must have been from the young woman's garden. You then tucked the stem in your hair so the blue petals were resting on your ear.

“So...what do you think.?” Doing a small pose you were taken back by what he said. 

“Beautiful.”

Though the moment was ruined as Aerith then grasped your arm tugging you forward. “Ahhh! so cute!”

Cloud sighed as he then crossed his arms over his chest, now he wished he waited to give it to you so he wouldn’t have to deal with Aerith. Shoulders slumping he glanced around the small little area you were all stuck in trying to figure out a way to get the ladder up.

Wandering off from the two you did not know why you were being drawn to this particular area. Slowly making your way to a darkened corner, hearing a small cry you then knelt. “Hey it’s okay....you don’t have to be scared.”

Though you suddenly let out your cry falling back on your butt when a white creature jumped out at you. Sitting up you didn’t even notice that Cloud and Aerith rushed over to you. The man clutching his buster sword pointing it at the creature sitting on your chest. Aerith gave you a beaming grin kneeling forward pushing Cloud aside.

“Oh y/n! do you know what that is?” 

Still recovering you slowly bring your hands up then run your fingers through the soft fur. “A Carbuncle.....they were in the storybook my mom used to read to me when I was little.” Smiling you continued to pet the creature, it leaning into your touch. “Well, it was nice meeting you little um Carbuncle.”

The Fennec fox-like animal tilting its head to the side once you placed it on the ground. Standing up you walked a few feet before the animal followed you then jumped on your shoulder, its teeth sinking into your Mythril Rod.

“I think it likes you Y/n!” Aerith was smiling.

“Can you trust it?” Cloud, however, was not, the man rather not risk anything happening to you. Shaking his head from those thoughts he did not know why he was thinking that. He kept his gaze on the creature, the Carbuncle had pale blue fur, its large ears twitching as the thing turned its gaze to him while its puffy tail wrapped around your neck gently. He could have sworn the damn thing gave him a smug look.

“Don’t be stupid Cloud! Of course, we can....besides it likes Y/n and you want her to be safe right....?” She started to rock on her heels then smiled tapping the Carbuncle’s nose. “Did you know that the horn is made out of ruby? but don’t let this little one fool you...they have potent healing powers.”

Well if that was true then he guessed that it was one more thing that could keep you two safe. “I...fine....though if it...I’m getting rid of it if it’s a pain in the ass.”

Letting out a laugh you scratched behind the creature's large ears. “Thank you, Cloud and it looks like you need a name.”Hmm how about Celestine...because you have that pretty little stone on your forehead.”

Celestine let out a small chirp, grinning you, Aerith, Cloud, and your new companion was off. 

“Thank god we are out of that mess.” Panting you were leaning forward doing your best to catch your breath, you never thought you could have that hard. Who knew that so man monsters were trapped in a collapsed tunnel, god it was going to be shit getting back to yours and Aerith’s home.

Celestine hopping off your shoulders as you looked around the Evergreen Park of Sector 6.

“Wow....that must be the gate to Sector 7...you must be happy Cloud” Turning to face the blond you smiled at him though it was hard to read the expression on his face.

“I...looks shut how do we open it?”

Now standing beside you Aerith shrugged giving him her smile. “More importantly how about we take a break? Sound good.”

“No, I don’t have time-”

“Aerith now’s not really.”

Ignoring both of you, she continued to smile giving you a small push towards the dome house. With a sigh you climbed up the wall sitting on top of it, not expecting Cloud to be by your side.

“Wait! Aerith what are you?~”

With a laugh, Aerith waved both of you off. “Now is a good time for you two to get to know each other better!”

Dropping your shoulders you brought your knees to the chest to see her chase after the Carbuncle.

Glancing over at Cloud you gave him a weak smile. “She’s something?”

“Yea” Frowning Cloud opened his mouth though he didn’t know what to say to you, what could he say?

“You know...me and my dad used to do this all the time...look at the stars I mean.” Glancing up at the night sky you started to get lost in a memory. “He’d sit me in his lap and point out all the different stars.” Frowning you rested your head on your knees. “I miss him.”

“What happened to your parents?” Cloud wanted to know though he’d understand if you didn’t answer him.

“My father? I don’t know what happened to him...one day...he was just gone a-and for my mother? she died... let's see...um I was eleven.” You tried to blink away tears though as you were crying you felt a hand rest on your cheek. 

“I’m sorry.”

Clearing out your throat you let out a laugh smiling at him. “It wasn’t all bad...Aerith’s mother took me in after my mother's death and when I grew older I moved back into my old home.” You didn’t want to worry about the man but you weren’t going to lie, it felt nice for him to touch your cheek.

Pulling his hand back, the man forced himself not to blush. Now he could see why you and Aerith were close. “I lost my mother too.”

“Oh! Cloud I’m.” Stopping yourself you sighed resting your head on his shoulder. “I’m sure she would be proud of you.” You didn’t mean to say it, the words just slipped out but they were true.

“Huh.”

You both turned to face each other, it wasn’t until now that you got a good look at his eyes. “Wow...your eyes.”

“Oh. It’s ‘Cause of the Mako. All SOLDIER’s have em.” He shifted his body, turning away from you. If his cheeks weren’t red before he was positive they were now.

“They’re beautiful.” Biting your lip you forced out a laugh standing up, dusting your dress off you noticed that the Carbuncle was curled up in Aerith’s arm. “Sorry I’m bumming you out...w..we should go.” Climbing down took a little time though you rolled your eyes once Cloud jumped down.

“Show off.”

Before Cloud could respond Aerith smiled as she slipped under the dome playhouse. Giving you both a grin she must have moved something before she slipped back out.

“This is how you get to sector 7 in style..go ahead.” Aerith did seem a little disappointed that her plan on leaving you two alone didn’t work.

Walking towards the entrance he sighed turned his attention to look at both of you. “Will you two be okay getting home alone?”

Shifting her body that statement seemed to make Aerith a little pleased. “And If I said we wouldn’t be?”

Looking over at you Cloud frowned taking a step forward. “Then I’ll go with you two.” Shaking his head he started to walk off.

“Cloud...I thought you had to get back.” You reached out to grab the man's wrist though you were quickly shushed by Aerith.

Rolling your eyes you stepped away from the woman you tried to hold you back. “I’m sure your friends miss you...so you ready to head back?”

“No.”

You weren’t expecting to hear that, though Aerith nearly squealed as she grasped your arm. “Oh see Y/n! he’s gonna miss us.”

Just as you were going to convince the man to leave all of your attention turned to the doors opening up to a Chocobo pulling a lavish cart.

“Tifa?” 

You and Aerith watch Cloud rush off after the cart and it didn’t take long for you and Aerith to follow after him. The two were talking you tried your best not to listen in but that didn’t seem to both Aerith as she stopped the man in his tracks. 

“Oh no you don’t....you’re going after her.”

“She’s right Cloud...I heard awful things about that man.” You weren’t going to mention that you heard them from your mother.

Listing to both of what you and Aerith had to say he then dropped his shoulders making his way to Wall Market. “Let's go.”

“Perfect!” You and Aerith smiled walking ahead of Cloud, the Carbuncle letting out a chirp. 

“Couldn’t agree more.”

Stepping into Wall Market your eyes went wide, you never have seen anything like it before. Wincing you ignored the pain that started to form in the back of your skull, wandering away from Cloud and Aerith that started to the drive you instead started to pet the Chocobo.

“Aren’t you a cutie.” Smiling your fingers scratched the creature's cheek though you were startled by a voice.

“I’m surprised she even let out touch her....you must be somethin special.” Turning to the voice you spotted a tall man, a beard, and a cowboy hat. He was flipping a coin in his hand.

“Oh!...I’m sorry? I just really love animals and Chocobo’s...they’ve always been my favorite.” Giving him a small bow he let out a chuckle, it wasn’t until you finally noticed that Cloud and Aerith were watching you too.

Before Sam could get close to you, Cloud placed his body in front of yours though that didn’t stop for the man holding his hand out to you.

“You’re the splitin image of your mother.”

Eyes going wide you quickly stepped out from behinds Cloud back. “You knew my mother?!” “Darlin...your mother was one of the best workers I had.” Sam wrinkled his nose as he grasped your chin.“I’d say you got everything from that woman...minus that smile...I’m assuming you got that from your dad.” He didn’t sound too pleased when he mentioned your father.

“Though I seemed to have gotten distracted for the matter at hand.” He narrowed his eyes at Cloud. “I told ya what you need to know now take a walk and leave me out of it.” he seemed to have waved the man and Aerith off though it looked like he was debating on saying something to you with a shake of his head he stepped inside the building.

Confused you didn’t even notice Aerith say something until she placed her hand on your shoulder. “Right y/n?”

“Oh...right ha ha!.” Putting a smile you did your best to agree to them though soon you three were off to the man's mansion though your thoughts were still swimming from what Sam had told you. Your mother worked for, which would explain why she knew about Corneo. Frowning you did your push those thoughts down but you wanted to know more, perhaps you could sneak off to talk to Sam again.

Not paying attention you slammed into Clouds back but you must have been nothing since the man didn’t even move this time.

“You okay y/n?” Their’s Aerith concern for you again. Blinking you let out a laugh pushing your troubling thoughts away.

“Oh? I’m fine.” 

Celestine, on the other hand, jumped back on your shoulders, letting out a growl once one of the men standing in front of the door stopped Cloud from entering. Though they must have said something since Aerith volunteered both of you.

“Aerith!”

“What! he said pretty boys couldn’t enter so we’re the only choice!” Narrowing your eyes you nearly punched the guy in his face when you heard him insulting your friend. “Aerith isn’t homely! have you looked in a mirror!” You snapped stepping out from Clouds back pointing at the man.

“Hey Leslie, this one is really cute....with a little make up she’d be a knockout.” “What?!” You could have sworn your voice went up an octave and you had to catch Celestine from leaping at the guy.

“How about I knock you out.” Cloud let out a small growl pushing you behind his back again.

Aerith narrowed his eyes as she stepped close to one of the lackeys. “Cloud? Permission to kill?”

“Denied.”

Before Aerith had a chance to respond the man Leslie did. “If you’re really sure you want to join an audition, then you’re gonna need an official approval.”

“How do we do that.?”

“The trio--the only ones in town who’re considered authorities on Corneos particular tastes.” Leslie sighed then shifted his body. “First, there’s Chocobo Sam....and then there’s Madam M over at the massage parlor. Last but not least, there’s the Honeybee Inn’s Andrea Rhodea.”

You stopped paying attention once Leslie mentioned Sam, maybe this was your chance to talk to the man alone. Shaking your head to turn to the voice that called out to you, looking up you spotted the concerned look on his face. 

“Well, what are we waiting for.”

Smiling you then turned to Leslie giving him a thumbs up. “Don’t you worry..we’ll be back.”

With a nod, you then stepped out the door with Cloud and Aerith following you but Cloud was the one to stop you in your tracks once you were on the bridge.

 “Are you two sure about this?”

“Of course Cloud! if y/n is in then I am too! no fear!”

Doing your best to steady your nerves you didn’t even notice how much your hands were shaking. While part of you wanted to help Clouds friend you just wanted to know about your mother. Biting your lip it took for you to dig your nails into your palm to run to the man once you spotted him still flipping that damn coin.

“Not you three again.” Sam frowned but gave a glance towards your direction. “Told ya once, I’ll tell you a thousand times- Got nothin’ for you. Now scram.” He then waved you off.

Digging your nails into your palm, you were getting sick of all this. “Hey! Hear us out!” You stepped forward, getting close to the man. “You’re one of the Trio, right? I want you to get...” No not you, you couldn’t pull that off. “I need to you get Aerith in for the Audition.”

“Y/n.” Aerith frowned stepping closer to you, she wished you had more confidence, she thought you were beautiful and just as strong at using magic.

“Why not?”

Now that was a surprise, you didn’t think the man would agree so quickly. “Sure, next time an audition comes around I’ll put your name in the hat.” and their it was.

“You can’t...this has to be the one.” You protested. “Please can’t you do something?”

Eyeing Aerith, Sam then shook his head as he turned his attention back to you. “No can do sweetheart..I already recommended Tifa in the running and she’s got this in the bag.”

“How do you know he’ll pick Tifa? he could pick me?”

“Damn you really want in don't ya?”

Giving him a smile Aerith nodded her head. “Sure do.”

Giving her a smirk he played with the coin in his hand. “Then how about we play for it.” Flipping the coin he then caught it in the air. “Call it, Missy. Heads or Tails? Guess right, and I’ll grant you your wish. Guess wrong and you’ll leave me in peace.”

“Heads.”

“Tails. You lose.”

‘You lost...that couldn’t be right...you came to far to lose.’That was the thought running through your mind.

“Hey, Don’t look so glum.You’re a pretty enough gal, just...not quite Corneo’s cup of tea.”Sam nodded towards Aerith. “But if only the Don will do, try convincing on of the other two...that’s why it’s a Trio and not just the me-oh. Now Skedaddle” He then started to walk off though it was Cloud that stopped him in his tracks.

“Wait...Mind if I see that coin of yours?”

Giving him a smirk Sam tossed him the coin as Cloud inspected it. “Trick coin...I had a hunch.”

Gasping, your eyes went wide as Aerith continued to flip it over. “You bastard!...you’re a cheat!. You must be mistaken! Because my mother would never work for a conman like you! My mother was kind! she helped anyone like you! You’re delusional and have to have me mistaken for somebody else!”  You screamed at him as Cloud grasped your arm, the man could sense something powerful emerging from you. 

Panting you were shocked when the man started to laugh, shaking his head Sam walked down the steps as he pointed to you. “I like you, I’m sure you got a great left hook like her too.” Grasping his chin he then titled his head to the side. “How about this...I’ll get you...only you into the audition...though you can’t go and speak to anyone else...and nobody can know about this...so...do we have a deal?” He held out his hand to you.

Biting your lip you then looked up at the man with determination in your eyes. “Deal..but you’re going to tell me about my mother.” Grabbing his hand, you glanced back at Cloud. His protest falling on deaf ears. “I’m sorry...I have to do this..I’ll see you two soon...We’ll meet at the bridge in two hours.”

Aerith sighed as she watched her friend retreat into the shop, turning to Cloud she placed her hand on his shoulder. The man’s gaze now watching the closed door.

“Come on Cloud...let’s go try the other two...I still gotta chance. Besides y/n can handle herself.”

“Hn.”

Once you stepped into Sam’s well you didn’t know what to call it, your eyes quickly fell to the photo on the wall. Feeling your eyes started to water you noticed your mother immediately.

She was smiling that the camera, a cowboy hat on her head. A pair of boots, skirt and a shirt tied off at her stomach. She looked so young, so happy, shaking your head you then turned to face the man who was now leaning up against a counter top.

“Now that I’m here...talk.”

The Carbuncle jumping off your shoulder as it watched Sam closely.

“Well darlin...this is along tail so you might wanna sit down.”

[azure-steel]

@mercyxkilling​ said: “can i kiss you?” other crew members be damned, she didn’t care. let them have their show if they wanted to watch. Send "Can I kiss you?" to see how my muse responds - No Longer Accepting

Pls accept and enjoy this lil ficlet about these babs. Because of you my adoration for this franchise has be revived TENFOLD and I just can’t get enough of these two being so disgustingly adorable together.

I adore you and your amazing muse so much, and I should tell you more   (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

It All Happens In The Mess Hall~Cloud x Mercy a Mass Effect Story.

It was possibly the one place aboard Mercy’s ship where Cloud spent the majority of his time, that and this was where his relationships with the rest of the crew members began to gain any real traction. A neutral ground where it became so very apparent that almost every member of this ragtag group was here for the same reason. To earn a few credits and perhaps sate a thirst for a little adventure. 

And they all loved their captain with every fibre of their being. 

Cloud had spent the initial weeks of his time amongst the crew largely by himself, but this was nothing really new; naturally coy the task of attempting to relate to others was laborious at best. Even as a member of T’Loak’s court had he been a man one on his own, not that there was any love lost there whatsoever. It had never truly been a problem, not when alcohol and red sand was in copious supply and enough of an escape from the arduous day to day life living amongst the rest of the filth occupying the Omega station. Moreover this environment was so wholly different, wholesome almost, to a fault, and the longer he spent on the outside of this tight-knit collective, the longing to be included began to eat away at him. Often would he remove himself from the hall when the crew would filter in, sensing all those eye puncturing the flesh between otherwise broad shoulders. They didn’t trust him, and they had every reason to be wary.

Shotgun - a battle worn Krogan mercenary - was the first to approach him here in the mess hall, though it was after Cloud had all but shit himself believing this guy was about to pop his head like a zit (Listen... this bastard is BIG and looks very angry almost always, can’t blame a guy for feeling just a tad intimidated beneath his shadow) that he came to realise Shotgun was very interested in the firearm he was servicing at that time. 

A rather worn and very well loved M-300 Claymore - A Krogan weapon. 

A common ground was established in that moment, taking root and from that grew an unlikely friendship between them, and for a time the pair were seemingly inseparable. It was the first time in a long while in which Cloud was reduced to fits of laughter at the Krogan’s many stories, and, boy, did he have a lot of those. Maybe some were a little far fetched and embellished, but it really didn’t matter. The guy was hilarious, and Strife very much enjoyed his company, even if the guy liked to overshare on occasion. Discovering that male Krogan have four testicles dangling between their legs was enough nightmare fuel to keep the blond awake for two nights straight after the fact. And needless to say maintaining eye contact with Shotgun had been a little more difficult than usual for a few days until Strife had eventually gotten over himself. At least he knew where the term ‘QUADS’ originated now... 

No wonder Krogan were so pissed about the Genophage, all things considered of course; these guys were clearly breeding machines as well as living breathing tanks, evolved over millennia for the very purpose of brutal warfare, civil or otherwise. It seemed the Salarians and the Turians had a lot to answer for.  

Still, oversharing and absurd knowledge about alien reproductive organs aside, the mess hall, and Shotgun’s kinship was the beginning of Cloud’s gradual unification with the rest of the team. As far as he was concerned, Mercy had very little to do with that aspect, though he knew very little of the woman and what gears she was working behind the scenes. He was, unfortunately not privy to the private smiles she kept hidden in the shadows when she would spy his social development amongst the men she cared so deeply for; he had no true reason at that point to believe she even cared about it. Though Cloud had every reason to figure that simply having him onboard, despite the toxic levels of contention his presence here initially - and unsurprisingly - wrought, was enough for her men to decide that he was, at the very least, useful; a first for him really. 

But Shotgun had done well to push open the door left ajar by their comrades and gave Cloud a golden opportunity to further still this usefulness he’d never been able to appreciate before now. He would help Vinnie during meal prep even if Cloud was only the busboy for the most part, setting tables, clearing them, washing dishes; all part and parcel of mucking in as it were and it seemed the older guy appreciated the aid. And the Turian Brothers - Adavixus and Artisius - would sometimes invite him to play in their tournaments of Numerfictil whenever Cloud was present in the mess; a game very similar to dominoes where decorative tiles with strange symbols were used to beat those already placed upon the board. It took a while for Strife to learn what each symbol meant, but the brother’s persevered with the highest level of patience. Other crew mates would join on occasion, bringing to the table cloudy bottles of homebrewed lager fermented from alien fruits beneath one of many heating vents on the ship; often pungent, almost always violently potent in which contests between the humans were born to see who could stomach the most ‘poison’ in one sitting. 

Cloud almost always lost those bets and would suffer greatly for them the following day. Though never would he complain, even when the hangover rendered him practically useless and crumpled agonisingly deep in the darkest recesses of the communal shower block. To be gathered amongst comrades around the smallest table in the mess, to be shunted playfully via the shoulders and included in the guffaws and jests from the mouths of men hailing from all walks of life and the far reaches of the galaxy, he’d be stupid to trade it in for anything else. They’d dubbed him Strifey - and he liked that more than he cared to mention. To be included, to form meaningful bonds, for all of his sorry life, that was all he’d ever wanted and it had taken him until now to even realise it.  

He was beginning to like it here, along with all the colourful people surrounding him. How strange it felt to begin associating a star-fairing ship as home. 

The trust was building, and for the first time for as long as he could even dare to recall, Cloud was being greeted with welcoming nods, hard slaps to the shoulder and raised hands on his commute to the days tasks either in the mess or the engine room where Darius resided, a rather strapping Italian-American man honing a booming voice but with the patience of a doting father teaching his son how to maintain the family vehicle. He was beginning to enjoy the eyewatering stink of engine oil and general man stink, and Darius was all about teaching his new protég�� everything he could about ‘Nova’s’ inner workings and how to maintain her. 

Even his relationship with the previously emotionally elusive captain had begun to flourish. In the beginning Cloud was under no illusion that his biotic abilities were of some great interest to her. She honed similar attributes even if her gift was granted to her under very different circumstances. Yet Mercy would pick at him, complain about the state of his armour - as shoddy as it was but fit like an old favourite slipper hence his reluctance to do anything about it - though with an air of comedic affection laced from an otherwise viciously sharp tongue. On occasion she would reprimand him when his performance was lacklustre, when his actions or lack thereof became detriment to the collective of her crew. He didn’t like those days, to be reminded of his flaws and failings, and yet, from those instances began what could be considered a strange flurry of respect for a woman deemed hostile from anyone on the outside looking in. Because never in those instances did she beat him down, but drove into him how she didn’t believe he was better than what he was giving, but that she knew it to be true. Another instance where, for the first time, he was given food for thought, something to chew and improve on. 

Some hard lessons were learned this way, and her methods were brutal often resulting in volatile spats the whole ship could hear, yet somehow Mercy seemed to know that a firm hand was needed to keep the newest member of her team grounded, and no mistake was ever repeated twice. Yet after all of that, apologies for her hard hitting words would be delivered mostly without fail, once again, in the comfort of the mess hall. Cloud, of course, would take them with the upmost humility. She was the captain after all, her word aboard her ship, was as good as the word of any God. 

Despite all of this, with every mission Strife would be on the front lines with her, standing down heavy fire from the enemy and teaming up with this formidable and outrageously powerful woman to deliver precise and deadly attacks. And it was the culmination of that power, coupled with the harsh demands to be better where a whole new problem began to develop deep in the recesses of his cluttered head. Cloud didn’t recognise it at first, all he knew for certain was he was frustrated, and Mercy’s presence seemed to aggravate that issue exponentially. It wasn’t until she invited a stranger into her cabin some weeks after that the penny finally dropped. 

He was falling for her. And the sight of her bringing that man into her intimate space was a pain like no other, so much so that it fractured something inside of him he wasn’t sure he could even fix.

White-hot jealousy began to override his good senses, unable to shake the notion that it wasn’t him occupying the spaces in her bed, and throwing himself into work was doing so very little to alleviate the devastation of - once again - being on the outside looking inward. Wishing to be a part of something so very far out of his reach. 

But what could he do? Cloud knew of other crew members trying their luck and getting knocked back. He didn’t think he could handle that level of humiliation, and so he settled into a foul gloomy limbo of wanting her and never being able to have her. Residing to live vicariously through his own sexual fantasies and fucking his pillow whenever he was alone. Pathetic didn’t even come close to how he viewed his own behaviour, when he was reserved and snippy with her, yet utterly miserable was much closer to the truth than he truly wanted to admit, even to himself. Strife had even tried Mercy’s methods of attempting to deal with his predicament, inviting attractive tail onto her ship with the intent of getting his end away in a bid to alleviate the intolerable pressure building in his loins. A failed attempt at best when all he was able to talk about was his disdain for his captain and how she made him feel so damn desperate. Needless to say that instance was a flop at its very finest. 

It was Mercy he wanted, not some loose broad dragged in from a club. No one else's interest could even come close to what he wanted from her. 

Though it wasn’t long after that instance that things began to change; where he would catch her watching him only for her quickly turn away when their gazes locked. Where she would begin to make excuses to touch him, softly, so tenderly, be that with fingers through his hair in the guise of innocent curiosity, or the slow sensual dances illuminated by the strobe lights of every bar and club they’d visit. Where hands roamed over broad planes of covered flesh and set his soul on fire. Where times spent simply talking in the observation deck had drawn them closer, noses bumping together while he’d begin to drown in the warm honey of her eyes, swept away on the winds of every exhale, unable to fight against the gravity of her, and relishing how his heart pounded against the walls of his chest in eager anticipation of that very first kiss. 

Cloud was so fucking ready to fall in love with her, to plummet beyond that point of no return only encouraged by her imploring hands and those heavy lust filled hues. To kiss her, touch her, make sweet love to her and make her his. Even if they were interrupted each and every time by convenient obstacles in the form of Benny and Vinnie. 

It all came to a head during one of their many sparring sessions, tensions released as they fucked like animals on the cold floor of the training room, where she’d cried his name and nothing in the galaxy had ever sounded so sweet, where the sharp grazes running across his shoulders had never hurt so good, marked to claim him as hers together with the sensual rocking of hips and desperate pleading moans. And there on after Cloud was common presence in those spaces in her bed, peeling away the layers, touching her in her most intimate places, securing hot wet kisses against scorched flesh while she straddled his waist and rode him beyond that sheer edge of rapture itself. No amount of booze nor substances could compare to this addiction, just her hands on him was enough to make him hard, just her lips moaning his name hotly against the shell his ear enough to make him cum, for her and only her over, and over, and over again. 

Wild and untameable was she, and he wouldn’t change her for all the credits in all of Citadel Space; no finer feeling had he ever experienced to know that she, this apparition of everything Cloud knew to be beautiful, inside and out, had chosen him in the end.  

Keeping their relationship from the rest of the crew was impossible, they were too obvious with how they merely looked at one another, the way they had started to protect one another in battle, how they were caught so many times locking lips within the shadows of corridors. Yet even then, everyone knew, if the knowledge of their relationship wasn’t widely accepted as being out in the open, it was still very much common knowledge. And for her men at least, harbouring that information was insufferable. 

Until one day, in the usual place where the crew gathered, where she would muscle Shotgun out of his seat next to Cloud to claim it as her own, and she looks at him from beneath those long dark lashes and the words “Can I kiss you?” oozed from her lips like the finest syrup. Cloud gazes back, baby blue’s dropping to her mouth before flickering upwards once more to meet with those gorgeous honey glazed eyes. He doesn’t offer an answer, least not a verbal one, choosing instead to close that distance, his mouth enclosing those glorious luscious lips with the softest of coquettish sighs. 

And much to the gleeful appreciation of the crew sat amongst them, jeering and whooping in a sort of celebration for this affection they’d found in the most unexpected of circumstances. 

Because like everything here aboard the Nova, it all happens in the mess hall. 

[aion-rsa]

Tumblr’s Top Fandoms of 2020

https://ift.tt/37LLRPI

It’s been a weird and often devastating year, and our social media has reflected that. Tumblr has just released its top fandoms of 2020 and it’s fascinating to see how a year of pandemic and quarantine has affected transformative fandom and broader cultural trends. In a year when almost everyone spent a lot more time at home, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the most blogged about topic on the social media platform, followed by animated dramedy Steven Universe, Belgian SKAM adaptation WtFOCK, K-pop supergroup BTS, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. We talked to Tumblr’s Trend Expert Amanda Brennan about how she interpreted the biggest trends of the year, how this was a big year for animation and international media, and why 2020 was the year everyone stopped worrying about what was cool and just embraced what they love. But, first, some 2020 Tumblr statistics:

Top 20 of 2020 

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Steven Universe

wtFOCK

BTS

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Artists on Tumblr

Critical Role

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Boku No Hero Academia

Black Lives Matter

Pokémon

COVID-19

The Witcher

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

The Magnus Archives

Reylo Rey & Kylo Ren, the Star Wars universe

RWBY

Sanders Sides

Catradora Catra & Adora, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Zuko | Avatar: The Last Airbender

Top 25 Ships 

Rey & Kylo Ren, the Star Wars universe (m/f)

Catra & Adora, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (f/f)

Richie Tozier & Eddie Kaspbrak, It (m/m)

Geralt of Rivia & Jaskier, The Witcher (m/m)

Aziraphale & Crowley, Good Omens (m/m)

Zuko & Sokka, Avatar: The Last Airbender (m/m)

Luz Noceda & Amity Blight, The Owl House (f/f)

Kara Danvers & Lena Luthor, Supergirl (f/f)

Park Jimin & Jeon Jungkook, BTS (m/m)

Dean Winchester & Castiel, Supernatural (m/m)

Live Action TV

Wtfock

The Witcher

The Mandalorian

Good Omens

Skam France

The Umbrella Academy

Doctor Who

Supernatural

The Untamed

Killing Eve

Animated TV

Steven Universe

Avatar: The Last Airbender

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

The Owl House

Invader Zim

Ducktales

The Dragon Prince

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Gravity Falls

TV Characters

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Zuko

Catra

Jaskier

Sokka

Adora | She-Ra

Geralt Of Rivia

Katara

Aang

Crowley

Aziraphale

Movies

Frozen

The Old Guard

Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker

Birds Of Prey

Twilight

Hamilton

Little Women

Parasite

Sonic Movie

Lord of the Rings

Movie Characters

Kylo Ren

Harley Quinn

Bucky Barnes

Batman

Steve Rogers

Tony Stark

Rey

Spinel

Peter Parker

Richie Tozier

Actors

Chris Evans

Henry Cavill

Sebastian Stan

Adam Driver

Tom Holland

Pedro Pascal

John Boyega

Robert Pattinson

Tom Hiddleston

Timothee Chalamet

Actresses

Katie Mcgrath

Jodie Comer

Daisy Ridley

Margot Robbie

Zendaya

Lili Reinhart

Naya Rivera

Brie Larson

Florence Pugh

Jodie Whittaker

Books

Harry Potter

Percy Jackson & the Olympians

Warrior Cats

The All for the Game series

Pride And Prejudice

Midnight Sun

The Secret History

The Raven Cycle series

Carry On

Six Of Crows

Authors of Books

J.K. Rowling

Rick Riordan

Erin Hunter

Nora Sakavic

Jane Austen

Stephenie Meyer

Donna Tartt

Maggie Stiefvater

Rainbow Rowell

Leigh Bardugo

Video Games

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Among Us

Pokemon Sword And Shield

Undertale

Minecraft

Sims 4

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Danganronpa

Overwatch

Persona 5

Video Games Characters

Obey Me Lucifer

Obey Me Mammon

Tom Nook

Link

Sans

Cloud Strife

Dandelion

Kirby

Raihan

Arthur Morgan

Animal Crossing Villagers

Raymond

Marshal

Poppy

Fauna

Julian

Claude

Marina

Stitches

Bob

Ankha

Anime & Manga

Boku no Hero Academia

Haikyuu!!

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Beastars

Naruto

Mo Dao Zu Shi

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

One Piece

Fruits Basket

19 Days

Anime & Manga Characters

Midoriya Izuku

Bakugou Katsuki

Dabi

Wei Wuxian

Aizawa Shouta

Hawks

Todoroki Shouto

Kirishima Eijirou

Lan Wangji

Levi Ackerman

And, now, our chat with Brennan. (This Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.)

Den of Geek: I’ve heard you refer to the users as the Tumblr hive-mind or the orchid, whatever it is. I was just hoping you could generally talk about what the Tumblr hive-mind is to you? Which is the way of saying, who uses Tumblr generally? And how and why? If you can even extrapolate those things. Go!

Amanda Brennan: Most of our audiences is Gen Z; it’s at 48%. Our new user registration with Gen Z is even higher; I’m pretty sure it’s 60%. These are people who come to Tumblr because they love something so much they just want to share that love with people who love it as much as they do. I know that feels like a giant umbrella, but that’s the thing: Tumblr is what you make of it. If you love sports, sports Tumblr is intense hockey Tumblr, so good. If you love TV, you’ll have all of that. K-pop Tumblr, totally amazing. Furby Tumblr is off the hook and they make these incredible creations. I’ve recently gotten into Stained Glass Tumblr.

There’s layers upon layers. No matter what you love, there’s something on Tumblr for you. That’s both the easiest thing and the hardest thing about it. You have to go in being like, “Alright, I’m so into this thing, what does Tumblr have for me?” It’s not like the other social media networks, right? It’s really about what you love rather than who you know.

Yeah, I like that. I did want to ask you specifically about the process of how you track trends and how you make decisions about what to track?

We built the whole taxonomy that powers fandom metrics based on what Tumblr talks about. I’m a librarian, as you know, and I kind of reverse engineered it. My first year in review at Tumblr in 2013, they handed me a spreadsheet and they’re like, ‘OK, go to town.” So I was like, “Cool, let me pull out the threads that I see.” We really let the data tell us how to analyze it, if that makes sense. So when it comes to what we track, I have a running notebook that I’ve kept all year of the things that I’ve wanted to have in year in review.

The Witcher has been on my list since it came out. Animal Crossing has been another one. The Old Guard had a huge moment. I was just writing notes, like, “Oh, what is this thing? And we’ll keep an eye on it.” I have an amazing team. We all are into our own pieces of Tumblr. So we’ll all work together to just keep an eye on different fandoms. I don’t know if you know about Minecraft YouTuber fandom?

Yeah. I was actually listening to the latest Fansplaining last night and they mentioned it in that. I was just like, “OK, a new thing.” There’s always a new thing to learn about.

There’s always a new thing. That’s the beauty of Tumblr. It’s so fluid in fandom. You can go from one fandom to another and then you’ll see like, “Ooh, what is this thing?” I’ve got Supernatural on the brain, as who in the fandom doesn’t right now. [This interview was recorded on the day of the Supernatual series finale.] I was telling someone, the whole reason I got into Supernatural was because I saw a gif from the show on Tumblr and I was like, “What is happening? Let me go back and watch this entire series.” That’s the vibe of Tumblr, right? You see a thing and you’re like, “Oh, I need to know everything about that.”

Read more

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Hmm. Yeah, for sure. I was interested in talking to you or getting your insight into how trends you saw or data you saw that were maybe tied to the very unique experience of being in the middle of a pandemic.

Yeah. I was looking back at the predictions that I had made last year and like four of those things didn’t even come out. It was just so unexpected. There’s two things that we really saw tied to the pandemic. The first was “cottagecore” as an aesthetic. It kind of touched everything because it’s soothing, it feels comfortable. In March and April in the early days, when you didn’t know what to do, you’re stuck in a forest isolation. Cottagecore has got this vibe of chosen isolation. It was very fantasy-driven and something to reach out for.

That evolved also into nostalgia. I think this year’s really big theme is nostalgia and comfort. We saw huge returns to fandoms like Twilight and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Avatar going on Netflix was such a world-breaking moment. Not only did it introduce a new, younger fandom to the show, there’s a lot of Avatar content once you get into it, but it brought people back to a younger time in their lives. Remembering and rewatching. The Avatar fandom, as you see, it’s all over all of the lists. Zuko is number 20 on all of the things on Tumblr this year. Avatar was able to redefine people’s year. Because you know what, we’re all at home, I’m going to binge Avatar. Reignite my love for this fandom.

A lot of TV too, because TV is episodic, you get lost in it. Movies had a really rough year. When we look at the movies, movies like Megamind were trending this year. That comfort movie that you go back and watch 17 times.

Yeah. I was curious about that too. The balance or proportions between older fandoms and newer fandoms, like the Avatar example. I was curious how much that changed this year? How much you thought it was tied to the pandemic? How much is tied to accessibility and things, like Avatar coming to Netflix? Do you think that is an interest in older fandoms? Or that it’s going to continue past the pandemic?

Yeah. I think another high-level theme of this year is the rejection of cringe culture. I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but I’ll tie it all back in. I think people are realizing what their values are and not being afraid to admit that they like a thing. Not caring what other people think of the things they like. Unabashedly loving the things they love. That’s why I think we do see a resurgence in these older fandoms.

Because people who may have loved them their whole lives, or may have been nervous to share that they liked it when they were younger they’re not afraid anymore. They’re like, “You know what? Twilight, it’s not that great, but I love it. This is my emotional support vampire.” Recognizing that you can be critical of something. You can see where its flaws are, but you can still love it. That duality of fandom is something that is going to persist into next year. That freedom to just like a thing, because you like it. Be able to see its flaws, but still be like, “You know what? Overall, this brings me joy and the world is melting down.”

I’m on board with that mission, that plan for 2021. I did want to ask about the role of non-English language media, especially live action stuff. Generally because I was someone who fell into The Untamed this year, but I saw that there were two SKAM remakes as well that are on the top 10. In general, have you seen over your time at Tumblr, and maybe especially in the past few years, an increase in non-English language content? Do you think that is mostly English speakers and Americans being more open to that or being able to find it easier? Or do you think it’s also an influx of people from outside the United States coming to Tumblr? Or both?

Interesting. The data that we work with is actually stripped of all user information. I don’t really have an insight into where these people are coming from. I do think that users in general are more open to content in any language. Tumblr is more interested in characters than where the story comes from. Thinking about The Untamed, it’s just such a compelling story, it doesn’t matter if you have to read subtitles.

To parallel it to something in major pop culture, Parasite. People are becoming more open to just watching content because it’s good. SKAM is really fascinating to me because the number one live action show is wtFOCK. Then, I think two years ago, 2018, the original SKAM was number one at some point. This show really transcends language barriers. It transcends geographical barriers. At the core, the story of the teenagers is just so relatable to anyone. We’ve seen lots of translation happening and not just into English. Translation of SKAM into other languages, just because people want more of these characters and their iterations, no matter what locale they’re based in. I’m waiting for some professor to have a class on it, because it’s so fascinating to me.

I also wanted to ask about how you thought the election cycle affected Tumblr this year, if there were any trends or data that you were like, “Yes, of course this is what people were doing on Tumblr this year.”

Tumblr has always had this backbone of social justice. This year, it came out stronger and in more force. No matter what fandom you were in or interests, everyone I know on Tumblr was participating in sharing social justice stuff. Even politics, if they weren’t from the US, those kinds of memes that were like, “I feel for you”. The way that fandoms do. I see your show is ending and I’m sorry.

The one thing that Tumblr really had leading up to the election was such an appreciation for the postal service. Especially Gen Z, their world is so much larger due to digital connection. Mail order, just as well as sending letters and keeping in touch with your digital friends is just as important as keeping in touch with your IRL friends. All of the artists on Tumblr, so many of them turn to mail order to replace cons. This is their livelihood. By the time the fall hit and the postal service was having all these issues, people are ready to jump in. There were the Transformers dressed like mail people.

https://morethanmeetstheass.tumblr.com/post/626466946047705088/i-completely-forgot-to-post-this-guy-here-this-is

There were all these comments like “support your postal workers,” “support the USPS.” It really boils down to the fact that we are all connected and the mail service is something in the US that connects everyone. Even overseas. Supporting these artists whose livelihood went from IRL to online and having to deal with all of this.

And the “Super Putin Election.” The confluence of those elements. I was just surfing on my personal computer and I was on Tumblr and I saw a post being like “Destiel’s canon.” I’m like, “Excuse me?” I immediately texted my team. I was like, “Open up your work computers, let’s go.”

It’s time.

We all signed on trying to figure out what’s going on and watching the numbers. That, to me, is thrilling. I said this to someone else, but it felt like the night of The Dress. To have that moment where everyone on the internet is feeling the energy. The things that kept getting layered on top of it. Putin and Sherlock and all the anime mysteries. It was breakneck speed, and it was really thrilling just to be in that moment, and so Tumblr.

I did want to ask you about an increase in animated fandom and potentially anime fandom. A lot of these things I’m anecdotally or just observing things in my own little corner of the internet. It just seems like animation and anime, probably at least partially because Netflix has accumulated a much larger anime collection and seems to be investing in these sorts of things. Have you seen that increase? Could you talk about it, if so?

It plays into what we were talking about earlier, twofold. That nostalgia vibe, the late nineties anime vibe, that art style. Also your comfort zone and being open to more stuff just because it’s good. Not worrying about reading subtitles and stuff like that. But anime in general had a huge year. Haikyū!! ending also transposed into other fandoms because that moment of the final panels, it brings people together. People being so excited to see this massive thing come to a close. You might not be familiar with Haikyū!! in general, but you’ll see the fanart and be like, “Oh, I feel that.” It’s the emotion of it.

The popularity of Avatar did also open people’s doors to like, “Oh, well, what else can I watch? What else do I want to learn about”? Boku No Hero was consistently on our Week In Review every week. BEASTARS is another Netflix anime that’s at the top. Then Mo Dao Zu Shi, thinking about The Untamed, the story of Mo Dao Zu Shi is so fascinating. I don’t think I can name another piece of content that has that storyline. People are just ready to take it all on.

I did want to ask you, I think you’ve probably talked about some of these already, but what were some of the biggest fandom moments for you on Tumblr this year?

Oh boy. So many things going canon. Catradora was a huge, huge moment. I cried watching that. The Witcher, Jaskier, introducing this whole new world to Henry Cavill. I saw a post yesterday that was like once Superman was goth, a lot more people realize that he’s hot. Repurposing and looking at things in a new way. Among Us, so huge. There is a user who is doing a comic about White and Pink being in love. She’s giving them lore. She’s giving them backstory, personalities. It is amazing.

Unus Annus, I am not very into streamers, but I’ve caught some of those videos. When they had their final stream, I was tuning in. I was like, “Are you really going to delete the channel?” Then they did. Just watching the fans have that moment, even though I am not in that fandom, it was wonderful so meaningful.

Harry Potter being taken by the fans. Fans own Harry Potter now, and that’s what matters. The Old Guard also came out of nowhere and really blew Tumblr away. The Immortal Husbands. I love that ship. I’ve got to touch on almost all of the places, MCR, My Chemical Romance. Those fans have woken up and they didn’t get their tour, but they will. They’re not going to sleep until they do.

Because we maybe all have Supernatural on the brain, to a certain extent. I’m just curious how you think, that show’s been on for 15 years. The fandom has gone through literal generations. How do you think the fandom is going to change?

There’s always going to be a supernatural gif for everything. People will continue gifing it. It’s going to surpass what it is and it’s going to become that comfort show. This is a personal anecdote, but when I go to the dentist, every single time supernatural is on. It’s just like, “Oh, I get to watch my boys while I’m getting my teeth cleaned. That’s good.” It’s always going to be there. It’s always going to be there for people when they need it the most. We’re going to see a lot more fan creations. People love these boys, men now they’re adults. People love these characters. I haven’t watched this season. I am going to watch the finale tonight. I’m going in almost cold. I know that a lot of fan favorites have returned. My prediction for Supernatural fandom going forward is seeing these side stories come through in fanfiction even more than they already do. Lots more Charlie. That’s personal of mine because I love her.

I don’t think you’re alone in this.

Yeah. Who doesn’t love Charlie? Seeing these smaller characters come out and just shine in their own fan works, more so than the world might’ve provided them in canon.

It feels dangerous to make fandom predictions based on what happened this year, but if you have any predictions and or hopes for the coming year in terms of Tumblr and fandom?

Where we’re at now and going forward, it’s all about true authenticity. Screw what people think. We’re rejecting our old ways of thinking. We’re about flipping perspectives and forgetting what you thought was important in exchange for what you truly love. 2020 has helped us all figure out what our values at our core are. It’s about choosing something that makes you happy, that supports you, and your people. Choosing the happiness of those around you and making sure that you’re fighting for the goodness in life. Which sounds really sugar sweet, but one of the things, again, that I love about Tumblr is it is about putting people first based on the things they love. That’s what I see happening.

Explore the rest of Tumblr’s Year in Review lists here, and let us know what your biggest 2020 fandoms were in the comments below.

The post Tumblr’s Top Fandoms of 2020 appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3lPIRa9

[granddaughterogg]

First time with the Horsemen, part 1 (Fury, Strife)

Sooo a long time ago I received an ask to this effect. I am apparently unable to cram such a story into just a few paragraphs, so it got really long. Since no one reads long-ass posts anyway, I decided to break this bad boy in two. War and Death’s versions will follow tomorrow. Have fun!

Fury

The sun was setting slowly – not that you could see it through all the clouds. A slight drizzle stained the windows. It’s been a long, sleepy day. You and Fury spent it mostly on the sofa. That afternoon she asked you to teach her how to do makeup „the human way” (that’s how she put it, bless her. As if there was ONE way.) You brought in your laptop and introduced Fury to the amazing world of youtube tutorials.

Six hours later your eyeshadow palettes, brushes and used cotton swabs were scattered everywhere, creating a colourful barrier around the couch. None of you felt like getting up and cleaning this mess any time soon. Rain whispered in the background. You lied on the side, supporting yourself on an elbow. Fury spooned you with her long body, both arms curled protectively around your waist, her sharp chin nested between your neck and your shoulder. She was clearly dozing off. You could hear her wheezing slightly with every drawn breath.

Her huge, animated hair was everywhere – like a friendly octopus. One adventurous strand all but filled your nostril.

„Hey” you whispered. „Wake up. That tickles!”

Fury blinked slowly and fixed you with a blurry, dazed stare. Her face has been wiped clean from the thick black markings that usually graced it. She was still beautiful but looked different. Younger. Almost innocent.

„Oh, I’ll tickle you alright”, she murmured, brushing your collarbone. You let out a stifled, breathless chuckle. There goes the impression of innocence.

„How low should I go today?” she asked with a mischievous gleam in those milky peepers. „Should I stop here?” You gasped slightly when she kissed the skin of your breast. „Or maybe...here?” Two dexterous hands swiftly pulled up the hem of your T-shirt. You almost cried out when she pressed her lips to your abdomen.

„Just go all the way down”, you sighed.

She lifted her head and tossed you an inquiring stare.

„Are you sure?”

„As sure as I’ll ever be.” A small, nervous giggle escaped your lips. „Not that I would know. After all, I’ve never gone all the way before.”

Her eyes were big and thoughtful now.

„Oh, you didn’t?”

„Well, nope. Not with a girl either. The perfect opportunity somehow never presented itself. Like…until now.”

Fury closed in on you, her lips curled with the most cat-like smile you’ve ever seen.

„My surly brothers won’t be home until tomorrow,” she said. „I guess this is the perfect opportunity.” She covered your mouth with hers – it was a short but deep kiss. It made your insides backflip. „You’re in such good hands.”

„Yeah, I kinda have the idea” you ventured, your heart thumping.

She unzipped your jeans, pulled the thin cotton of your panties aside and kissed your pubic mound. You gave out the smallest moan.

Suddenly all the fabric has been forcefully pulled away by a pair of dexterous, dedicated hands. You were ass naked, and Fury was kissing you right in the soft, moistened centre.

This time you moaned louder.

She laughed and went in with the tongue. There was nothing in the whole world that could prepare you for this sensation – this resilient, skilfull wetness, pressing at the very core of your pleasure. She licked and then sucked a little. You went breathless from crying.

„Do you like it?..” she murmured.

„Please don’t stop”, you gasped.

„Oh, I don’t intend to any time soon” she stated and went back to sucking.

Rain whispered in the background. Your hips moved rhythmically up and down, meeting with her mouth in full force. You were lightheaded from bliss and you’d be damned if you let it go.

Strife

The thing about Strife is that it’s so easy to lose yourself in him. Out of the Four, he’s the one who radiates sexual energy in its rawest form. He’s also the most handsy by far. Even before you two started to seriously fool around - you could hardly pass him by without being patted or just grabbed and held. This dude has no concept of personal space.

Not that you mind. Not most of the times anyway.

He kisses like there’s no tomorrow. You always have to change your underwear after he kissed you.

It was during one of such prolonged sessions of getting all taut and tender inside – that he nipped your earlobe and whispered: „Hey girl.”

„...Mhmm?” At the moment it was hard to produce a coherent sentence.

Strife grinned. „What do you say we take things to the next level?”

Your eyes went wide. Your stomach dropped. Oh, no. Now you’ll have to tell him.

You darted back, trying to contain mild panic.

Strife had excellent eyesight though. He noticed how your face changed.

„What is it, babe?” he asked, frowning.

„I’d love to,” you said softly. „But Strife...I am a virgin.”

He blinked. „And?”

„Do you have something in your ears?” You felt so embarrassed, you almost lashed out at him. „I’ve never had sex before. With anyone! I have no idea how to...”

„Babe”, said Strife with a low voice.

You looked into those kind eyes, gleaming with golden light.

He held your chin in his palms and leaned in so that his long nose almost brushed yours.

„Kiddo.” That husky timbre that he used to snap back at Death or make wisecracks with – it was incredible how tender it could be. „I’ve had sex with everyone and then some. I put the ho in the Horsemen, remember? I know how it’s done. And it’s gonna be alright. You’re gonna be alright.”

„Than...teach me,” you said, burying your face in his shoulder.

„With pleasure. Like, literally.” His laughter made the little hairs on your neck stand on their ends.

„But not here. I bet one of my beloved siblings is gonna walk in on us every minute now. Shall we take my steed and fly away to a special place?”

„Yes!”

Strife’s idea of a special place turned out to be the top of an abandoned high-rise building. Reborn Humanity had yet to reclaim that one. It was covered with soft, lush moss and other vegetation. Little flowers peeped through the grass.

The sunset seemed riper up here, but you were in no mood for admiring the vista.

„So...what happens now?” You shot him a nervous, eager glance.

„It’s usually a good idea to get out of your clothes first...” Suddenly he was just behind you. Those nervous, skilful fingers of his went everywhere. You trembled and nodded with conviction. He made short work of your jeans and T-shirt. His own shirt and pants soon followed, scattered around on the moss.

You’ve seen Strife shirtless before – he was not exactly the bashful lot - but what you saw now was something else. Like, something ENTIRELY ELSE. You were seriously torn between the need to admire his lanky physique - and, well, panic. Had legs for days, this one. That you kinda knew. It showed.

What you never dreamed of was that he would prove to be so...big.

Then again, you had zero comparison.

Strife noticed your frightened expression, chuckled and sat you between his long legs, back pressed to his wide chest. You leaned in, eager to feel his touch. „Later”, he murmured reassuringly while palming your breasts. „We’re gonna take care about you first.”

And take care of you he did.

His fingers first enticed a flame under your skin, then made you wet and started to meticulously work you open. You trembled and sighed - first a little, that quite a lot. Strife’s golden eyes glinted with joy while he riled you up.

You pressed one flaming cheek to his torso and groaned through half-parted lips.

„That’s right”, he whispered. „It feels good, now doesn’t it?”

„Y-yeah...”

“Want me to do some more?”

„Yes! Please...”

He slid two fingers inside and then you seriously lost your shit.

Suddenly you were not exactly sure where you are – or who you are for that matter. Strife’s touch turned you into a sobbing ball of pleasure. He sure knew how to find your inner sweet spot.

You started to move jerkily. Up and down, up and down you went, grinding urgently on his large hand. The other one held you in a steady, secure grip. You felt completely safe. You felt weightless.

You came abruptly, arching your upper body so that the back of your head pressed into his torso, your eyes shut close, an unholy wail escaping your lips.

It was as if a wave came crashing over you – and left.

You went limp in your Horseman’s embrace.

„Babe”, he whispered into your hair, while swaying you gently. „Baby. Kiddo.”

„Strife.” It was just a whisper.

„You did great for a first time, you know.” Tenderness laced the words.

„Yeah”, you breathed, turning your face to look him in the eyes, warm and glowing and full of joy. He had such a smug grin on that angular mug of his. He sure earned it. „I love you too.”

[cloti-fics]

Avatar | Chapters 1-22 | Author: kitsune13

Summary:

Given the opportunity to become the will behind their favorite video game characters, no one hesitated. Little did they know that the 'game' was more than anyone thought or that it would spiral so far off course.

Adventure/Romance — Rating: M

Pairings: Cloud Strife & Tifa Lockhart

Other Characters: Barret Wallace, Nanaki, Yuffie Kisaragi, Cait Sith, Vincent Valentine, Cid Highwind, Sephiroth

Fandom: Alternate Universe

Read on FF.net Completed work! Special thanks to @headspacedad for this amazing piece! 

[greyias]

Gaming Meme

Thank you @aki888 for the tag!

Not sure who hasn’t done this yet... so please feel free to tag yourself in if you’d like to play! 

1. Favourite game from the last 5 years?

Hahahahaha... Star Wars the Old Republic.

2. Most nostalgic game?

It’s a tie between Final Fantasy 6 and Secret of Monkey Island

3. Game that deserves a sequel?

Oh... I don’t know. A lot of games I wound up really enjoying and getting into were part of a series.  

4. Game that deserves a remaster?

Um, Final Fantasy 6 deserves a real 3D remastering in 3D like Final Fantasy 7 et all got. I mean, I know why it didn’t, but that story, those characters, and that world deserve the royal treatment in my opinion.

5. Favorite game series?

Monkey Island, Final Fantasy, Sims, and it looks like SWTOR/Bioware games go in there. (I refuse to choose!)

6. Favorite genre?

RPG, Action/Platformers, and adventure/puzzle type games. Mostly anything character based where you can get sucked into another world and really get attached to the cast.

7. Least favorite genre?

First person shooters

8. Favorite song from a game?

Terra/the title theme from Final Fantasy 6. It has so much emotion and just evokes adventure, mystery, and longing to me. It also has some amazing remixes.  

9. Favorite character from a game?

This always change on when you ask me, but right now? I’m so stupidly in love with Theron Shan from SWTOR. Not even sorry, I love my Disaster Spy Princess.

10. Favorite ship from a game?

Theron Shan x Jedi Knight. Just... I have so many feelings about these two idiots. I love them so much.

11. Favorite voice actor from a game?

Troy Baker, Kari Wahlgren, Laura Bailey 

12. Favorite cutscene?

y u maek me pick? Ohhh... okay, if I have to pick just one, I think right now my favorite is the last cutscene in Rishi, because it was the first time I had seen my favorite two idiots genuinely smile and be happy in the game. I have so many other moments I love, but right now that’s probably my favorite. (And I don’t even have pictures of it.

13. Favorite boss?

...I’m trying to think of non-SWTOR answers here, but that’s where my brain is at. I think for boss fights, one of the ones I find most fun is the Malgus fight in the False Emperor storyline. While it can be a little frustrating, I like the fact that it has this little hero moment built in for each member of the party. Just kind of a cool thing that really draws you in.

14. First console?

Atari somethingsomething. My brother hogged it so I didn’t get to play it much.

15. Current console or consoles?

PC, PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP, and I have a Nintendo DS somewhere. 

16. Console you want?

I’m kind of happy with my PC? But I’ll probably have PS4 envy at some point when they inevitably publish a game I can only play there.

17. Place from a game that you’d like to visit?

Tython and Odeseen. I love the forested mountaintops. 

18. Place from a game that you’d like to live in?

Maybe Inaba from Persona 4. Other than the kidnapping and murder, it seems like a nice quiet town, if a little boring. And I’d live at that tofu shop.

19. Ridiculous crossover that would never happen but would be super fun?

Final Fantasy and Disney. lololol like that would ever happen! Can you imagine Mickey Mouse and Cloud Strife meeting up to do battle with Sephiroth? RIDICULOUS AMIRITE?

20. Book that would make a good game?

The Kingskiller Chronicles seems like it would be fun! 

21. Show/Movie that would make a good game?

A serious HIghlander game would actually be quite fun. Sword combat, immortality so you heal up between battles, lots of lightning and pyrotechnics. That crazy NeoGeo game based on the animated series almost no one remembers doesn’t count. Although I’m sure they had a NES game or something too.

22. Games you want to play?

The list is too long, and my Steam library is getting out of control. About half the time I wind up watching the cutscenes or a Let’s Play on YouTube and call it a day. Although I might pick up Quest for Glory or King’s Quest because I’ve had a lot of fun watching Paw Dugan play them and other adventure games. 

23. Have you gotten 100% completion in a game?

Probably not. I get distracted easily.

24. Have you cried over a game?

Yes. *glares at every favorite for their heartwrenching scenes*

25. What power-up or ability would you want IRL?

Just let me teleport so I can be lazy and not have to sit in traffic every day, plz

[aleeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

My birthday was this Saturday so I made a cake today to take to school, took a lot of photos of Cloud helping me through the process

[panjiku]

The OTP Game

Pick your 10 top OTPs without reading the questions: 1.  Mimato (Yamato Ishida × Mimi Tachikawa — Digimon Adventure) 2.  Clerith (Cloud Strife × Aerith Gainsborough — Final Fantasy VII) 3.  Zutara (Zuko × Katara — Avatar: The Last Airbender) 4.  VaniHopu (Hope Estheim × Oerba dia Vanille — Final Fantasy XIII) 5.  LuluShir (Lelouch Lamperouge × Shirley Fenette — Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch) 6.  KAIMiku (KAITO × Miku Hatsune — Vocaloid) 7.  MaouEmi (Sadao Maou × Emi Yusa — Hataraku Maou-sama!) 8.  MikoChiyo (Mikoto Mikoshiba × Chiyo Sakura — Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun) 9.  Lancaster (Jaune Arc × Ruby Rose — RWBY) 10. SasuSaku (Sasuke Uchiha × Sakura Haruno — Naruto)

Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 6 (KAIMiku)? In 2011 I got curious about wtf Hatsune Miku was and watched World is Mine then Another: World is Mine and it all went downhill from there :’D

Have you ever read a FanFiction about 2 (Clerith)? Yeah, but I haven’t read any in a VERY long time. I think the last FF I read for them was somewhere between 2002 and 2005, ahaha.

Has a picture of 4 (VaniHopu) ever been your screen saver/profile picture/tumblr? No, actually.

If 7 (MaouEmi) were to suddenly break-up today, what would your reaction be? *SOBS GROSSLY*

Why is 1 (Mimato) so important? Mimato was the first fandom I ever truly was a part of when I was a teenager and then got back into when I picked up drawing again in my 20s. I made an LJ community (yamatoxmimi) and was friends with a lot of FFN writers back in it’s heyday; I keep in touch with a few oldfarts of the fandom. And it’s amazing that such a crack ship has so many supporters even to this day :> In their respective world though they’re 1/4 of the Chosen Children. As a pairing, they’re not important towards the story at all considering they only interact once in the series, bahaha... *cries softly*

Is 9 (Lancaster) a funny ship or a serious ship? More of a funny ship though they have their serious moments.

Out of all of the ships listed, which ship has the most chemistry? Ahhh, it’s so hard to choose?! I’m going to say Zutara. They went from bitter enemies to trusting each other, a betrayal and then earning that trust back to eventually becoming a power duo. They’ve both had similar life experiences that they’ve bonded over and the tension between them urrghh. And they just work so well together. I’ll be honest though, Clerith probably has the best chemistry, especially since they pretty much were attracted to each other on their first meeting. But instead of having this entire post be about Clerith, I figure I’d talk about another pair, hahaha.

Out of all of your ships listed, which ship has the strongest bond? CLERITH, fosho. Their love transcends death *cries* Aerith’s presence lives on in Cloud and helps him even in the Lifestream; they’re connected to each other spiritually. Though literally SasuSaku has the strongest bond. I mean Naruto as a whole is about bonds, especially within Team 7, hehe. Y’know maybe I should switch my answers for this with the last one, lmao.

How many times have you read/watched 10’s (SasuSaku) fandom? Hoo boy, going through all of Naruto is a job, but I think I’ve re-read part 1 of the manga like 2-3 times while it was still in syndication. I dropped it a little bit into part 2 then picked it back up near the end and I don’t follow Boruto at all, but I did read the Sarada side-story after the original manga ended. I’ve watched all of Naruto’s original anime once, but only about 5 episodes of Shippuden.

Which ship has lasted the longest? In real life? Clerith. In universe? SasuSaku.

How many times, if ever, has 6 (KAIMiku) broken up? Hard to say since I don’t know all of their songs. Also depends on which version of a certain song you consider your canon (i.e. From Y to Y). But that’s the beauty of Vocaloid: you can use the characters as you see fit :>

If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive, 2 (Clerith) or 8 (MikoChiyo)? LMAOO, Clerith, hands-down. I can’t even imagine Mikorin and Chiyo in a zombie situation unless it was one of Nozaki’s manga ideas xD

Did 7 (MaouEmi) ever have to hide their relationship for any reason? Yeah, as individuals they do. Emi as the Hero Emilia Justina and Maou as Demon Lord Satan. And it’s very strongly hinted that Emi harbors feelings for Maou which she denies/hides. I’d imagine if they got together they might try to hide their relationship for awhile if they were to ever return to Ente Isla but we’ll just have to wait and see since HataMaou isn’t over yet :)

Is 4 (VaniHopu) still together? QAQ noo… They’re doomeddestined to be star-crossed lovers till the end of time. In fact the last time they were together were in the original FFXIII ;^;

Is 10 (SasuSaku) canon? *flails and cheers* It’s the only pairing on my list that’s outright confirmed and shown being canon. And it still feels so good after 15+ years of shipping it.

If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win? HMMM. About half of my list is power couples so this is a toughy. BUT I think LuluShir would, if only because Lelouch would use his geass to come out on top, lmao. Though thinking about eye powers now, SasuSaku might because of Sasuke’s Rinnegan. Definitely a tough choice between those two pairs; depends on whose eye would trump the other :D

Has anybody ever tried to sabotage 5’s (LuluShir) ship? Beeeeesiiiiides the other Lulu ships…? *shields* Not really sabotage, but C.C. said it was a bad idea for Lelouch to get involved with Shirley if he wanted to pursue his dream (please excuse is this is wrong, it’s been so long since I’ve watched Code Geass. Definitely need to do a rewatch soon esp with the upcoming third season). And… oh… well, I guess Rolo >_> *cough*

Which ship would you defend to the death and beyond? Alllllll of theeeeeem~ But my OTP of all OTPs will always be Clerith, so them first and foremost.

Do you spend hours a day going through 3’s (Zutara) tumblr page? Not at all until very recently (like since a week ago). It was always a ship I idly supported until I got back into ATLA again, and now I’m hopeless :’D

If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she’d break them all forever, which ship would you sink? I… well, most of them are impossible or separated somehow anyway… but… M-Mi…mato…? Because it’s utter crack and they only interacted on-screen once (thanks to tri) so nothing would change anyway ;-; I was going to suggest MikoChiyo, but at least they have their canon friendship (which is BEAUTIFUL btw) so I gotsta pick the obv pair that has no chemistry except in fanon.

[aerithsaves]

New ship Tag: Aeris and Cloud Take to the Skies

Why a new tag? As suggested, a new tag for positive posts about the two characters might help with the current resurgence of LTD discussions, people telling other people to get over the LTD/that they don’t care about the LTD/can’t we all just get along, and other assorted strife the pairing frequently gets saddled with. So, here is my suggestion (and I will try and post some stuff to get it started).

Why this tag name? A lot of posts, tags, blog titles and so on fixate on the relationship or the character’s roles within FFVII and associated media which feels quite limiting. Instead of that, I would like the focus to be more on alternate universe ideas (because canon) and new adventures/outcomes/opportunities. Specifically I’m also trying to invoke Aeris’s interest in the Highwind and Cloud’s willingness to help her fly in it – something they never did, but could have if things had turned out differently.

So. New tag. I can’t really dictate rules or anything but please:

Yes

Aeris/Cloud as a couple (focus on the pairing)

Reasonably obvious, but please try and feature them both equally or focus on them together for the most part. Please try to avoid Tifa’s death being part of the setup (yes I am guilty of this, but not doing that kind of thing anymore)

Aeris/Cloud casual hook-up

It can just be sex, not love. Sex-friends, one-night stands, past lovers who meet up again, etc are all fine.

Aeris & Cloud as friends (if this does involve another ship, then focus should be on their interactions more so than the ship)

Platonic shipping is important. I can’t remember who said it, but why not ship two characters in every sense – not just romantically. This includes work colleagues if that makes a difference to you

Aeris/Cloud as part of a polyamorous configuration (though focus should be on the two of them or equal across participants)

With Tifa, with Zack, with Zack, Tifa & Sephiroth, with whoever!

Aeris/Cloud as a couple after past relationships (the two of them moving on together)

The past relationships is likely to be Zerith all things considered (please do not bash that ship), but in AU anything is possible. Please do not use this as an excuse to attack Cloti.

Aeris /Cloud as a couple prior to other relationships (the focus has to be on the two of them again though)

The pairing breaking up/Cloud moving on with Tifa or someone else is fine, but please don’t use this as an excuse for spite and attack the Aeris/Cloud pairing or whatever the subsequent one is. Also please demonstrate why the relationship was good before it fell apart. No doomed relationships from the start please.

FFVII (1997)

Naturally. The best resource for Aeris’s character and her interactions with Cloud. Plenty to draw on; meeting after the first mission, falling into the church (more so If you ignore Crisis Core), the bodyguard deal, staying the night, Aeris walking Cloud home, Wall Market as a whole, rescuing Aeris from Shinra, party make-up as they start travelling (if you select her), talking about the Highwind, talking at Costa del Sol, Gongaga (if she’s in your party), Aeris learning about the Cetra at Cosmo Canyon, stealing the Tiny Bronco (if she’s in your party), Gold Saucer date (if the outcome), party make-up for the Temple of the Ancients, Cloud’s dream, Aeris’s final smile.

FF Tactics

The flower girl might have no name, but the reference is clear. Life in Ivalice: go!

Kingdom Hearts

I haven’t been keeping track that well, but I get the impression Cloud wasn’t actually looking for Aeris this whole time (as clarified by Final Mix). Feel free to disregard this (AUs!). Subject to future change obviously, but KH and KH2 offer a few, small interactions for now.

Advent Children

Fine if Aeris is alive via some mechanism (AU, resurrection, whatever).

Future Releases

Eg. FFVII Remake. The only requirement for shipping is both characters are alive and well in the same time period and actually meet (crack-shipping does mean you can skip both these requirements, but in general they are helpful). So even if the Remake or some other spin-off canonises or appears to canonise a pairing, this is no reason to ship or not ship something or to no longer enjoy the pairing. Take the positives. You can ship a character with more than one other character even if the relationships are mutually exclusive!

No

Proof of canon/Proof of ship superiority

It does not matter. You like what you ship. They like what they ship. You are incredibly unlikely to change their minds no matter what the argument/evidence and vice versa. Original authorial intentions, accidental canon, retcons, change of writers; doesn’t matter! Stick to the ship and your interest in it. Canon is completely optional.

Digs at other ships involving one or both characters

As above. Please don’t trash a linked ship for any reason, and don’t accuse them of abuse or anything similar

No self-sacrifice, no suicide, no love beyond death – keep them both alive for the relationship

Given Aeris’s plotline (near certain to remain the same in the Remake) it’s preferable to not have Cloud perpetually mourning/unable to cope (or if Aeris is doing this if an inversion setup is your thing). Positive remember? Cloud can be deeply into Aeris and then move on after as above, and again AUs allow you to ignore the tragedy.

Ultimania/interview quotes/latest translation controversy (whatever it happens to be when you read this)

Even if the authorship of the books were certain (that detail is very iffy), post-canon releases/explanations tend to shut down avenues of speculation rather than leaving them open/giving more scope for exploration. Plus there’s at least one language barrier and scope to slant a translation any way you want. Also half the time the ‘canon’ of these books is less statement of fact and more leading speculation/unused ideas from development. So none of that please. 

Also the notion of pre-planning everything is very much in vogue and people like to think writers always do this, so naturally there is a tendency to imply or assume pre-planning from writers. What they say afterwards does not have to affect anything. Also language barrier again. Translators also have biases – both admitted and unconscious – and good translations are more art than science. A translation into any other language does not have more weight than the original or any other translation.

No Tifa bashing of any kind

Tifa is not an obstacle to be overcome or removed. She is a character in her own right, and if Aeris and Cloud are paired together this should provide opportunities for development for her that does not involve Cloud as much (or it can totally. Cloud and Tifa can be amazing friends. 

Please don’t just pair Tifa up with someone else to neaten things up (and if you decide to put her with Barret you should also feel obligated to develop that ship) or just leave her on her own because you don’t like her). Aeris was/is Tifa’s friend. If Cloud hates Tifa/Tifa hates Cloud or Aeris then you are doing this wrong.

Parallels to other FFs/media

Running themes in FFs tend to extend to Cid, Chocobos, Moogles, spell/summon names and crystals. There are occasionally other character/similar place names used more than once. But. Childhood friends to lovers is not a huge focus of the series (the majority of main couples do not express this trope). Neither is love after death. 

But even if these were recurring and important motifs the piggy-backing of one pairing on a different game’s pairing is somewhat frustrating and should be avoided (plus: Rinoa/Squall is more of a mix of Aeris/Cloud and Tifa/Cloud than either of them in isolation. I have reasons). In addition, something from a different fandom who seem to share parallels with the ship has little bearing on the ship itself (but could be inspiration for an AU)

Racism, sexism, bigotry of any kind

Just no.

Cheating

To clarify on the Aeris/Cloud after another relationship or before another relationship or the casual hook-ups – please do not have one or other cheat on their partner with another character (whoever this would turn out to be). Nor should this ever be the reason for the relationship breaking down, and no undiscovered adultery either please.

 So if you want to be positive about the pairing – and are able to do so in a manner that does not involve taking pot-shots at more popular pairings (as much as this may be painful to admit if you’re into this pairing, we are in a minority and this might not change) – please use this tag.

[pixlh3art]

I feel like the comparison here between Smash and Overwatch isn't quite fair. The kid who doesn't like dying to the McCree combo (also known as "getting McRightClicked")? He needs to get over himself. Even at the highest level of competitive play, getting McRightClicked is still a thing that happens to people. In certain situations, it's what works. Does it feel a little cheap when it happens to you? Sure. Does that make McCree an overpowered or unfun character? Not at all. And most importantly, the player who did it had *agency* in making it happen. They got in range for the combo, made sure to have a full clip (opponents will survive if you don't), and executed the right button presses at the right time. It's the way the character works.

With Smash, though, I feel like there is a significant difference. Items and extremely hazardous stages can be tons of fun. That's why they're in the game-it's cool to be playing Cloud Strife against Inkling in New Donk City, and summoning the moon from Majora's Mask to crash into the stage and obliterate your opponent in one hit is amazing and preposterous.

But, for me, the biggest thing that make playing with stage hazards and items on is that it doesn't feel like you're fighting your opponent, it feels like you're fighting the GAME. If you have Smash Ultimate (I also think this stage was in Smash 4, and maybe Brawl too, I'm too lazy to look at the wiki), do me a favor. Grab a friend and hop into a game on 75M with all items on, and spawning at the highest frequency possible. Will the first few matches be fun? Absolutely, it'll be preposterous.

However, 75M is *extremely* hazardous to navigate (for those unfamiliar, it's based entirely upon the iconic section of the original Donkey Kong). Playing Smash on 75M is like playing a platformer that occasionally breaks out into a fighting game. With items at high frequency, the winner won't be determined by "who can hit the opponent more times" but by "who is fortunate enough to have the most/best items spawn near them?" Tell me, if you and I are playing a Smash game, and a Master Ball spawns right on top of me, I throw it, and out pops Solgaleo, who dives into you and knocks you immediately into the blast zone because we're playing on 75M, where the blast zone is extremely close to some platforms, was it really me who killed you? Or was it the game?

Competitive players don't like items and excessive stage hazards because they add an element of *randomness.* I think it's entirely unlike protective padding in football-instead, imagine if, randomly during the game, an impartial third party was allowed to run onto the field and try to trip random players. Or sometimes stole the ball from a player on one team and handed it off to the nearest player from the other. Would that be fair? I personally don't think so.

The way that this post frames no items/hazards off is so strange to me, because to me, it's the opposite of "playing with one hand behind your back." If I wanted to do that, I would either literally play with one hand behind my back, or attempt to run through World of Light (the newest game's adventure mode) without Spirits, a thing that several pro players do on their livestreams. It's extremely difficult because the game *expects* you to use Spirits. It gives your opponents specific advantages (the floor is lava, your opponent is metal) and expects you to use specific counters (lava-floor immunity, Metal Killer). Not doing so is a choice that these streamers make for some reason (the reason is it's a gimmicky way to get views), but it's *clear* that they chose to be at a disadvantage.

When using items and stage hazards, on the other hand, the advantages and disadvantages are doled out almost entirely randomly. Sometimes when you get a Poké Ball, Deoxys will pop out and shoot an enormous laser at your opponent. Other times, Goldeen will pop out and do absolutely nothing. It all entirely depends on luck. That can be fun, and there are definitely still "lucky" moments in competitive Smash today. But I don't think anybody would want to play "Coin Flip Simulator" competitively.

Generally, the rules of competitive Smash are built around making things fair for everyone. For example, some Brawl tournaments banned stages whose main platform was thin enough to allow players to jump upwards through them. Why? Because Meta Knight players could sit underneath them, jumping and spamming up-air, and no other character in the game could really challenge that technique. It made him unfair (more so than he already was, because holy shit Meta Knight was broken) . They try to eliminate elements that would artificially tip the scales in one player's favor. Is it perfect? Hell no. But adding complete and utter randomness to the mix is generally not going to give you a fun, long-lasting game.

Quick final note: People who still insist that Melee, a game that came out in 2002, is still the most competitive and "best" Smash title, really need to get over themselves. Was it good? I guess. Is it better than Brawl? Maybe, Brawl was kind of a mess. But jfc the game is almost old enough to vote and Smash Ultimate is a really fun and competitive game, and it's also *super balanced* when compared to Melee in terms of character viability. It also has more than two goddamn stages. Christ

Me: I love Smash! It’s such a fun PARTY game! :)

Competitive Smash Player Still Using a Gamecube Controller in 2018:

[spindashed]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1dV4YriZVM)

Over time, if you follow my blog, you will see me write “counter articles” in response to the fandom, and non-fandom videos, reviews... etc.

Lets begin!

1.) “Have an actual story this time.” I can partially agree with this.  I do agree that having a in-depth story per console game adds to the value of the experience. More so than stories that are short and simplistic. Sonic Unleashed had an amazing story, and it’s gameplay was great!  I loved the daytime stages, and I personally LOVED the nighttime stages too!(The werehog was a nice touch, it gave flavour to the story, and it had a very “God of War” vibe to it, both the game mechanics and the fact that you had to solve puzzles.. Huge points from myself especially since I love the God of war series.) That said! phrasing your first rant with: “Have an actual story this time.” Is quite an ignorant statement.. 

I strongly feel you’re grasping at straws with this one, because I could easily sit here and list the “actual stories” from each game. Sure some games had shorter plots, or plots that weren’t seriously in-depth like Unleashed, but there are stories there. Saying otherwise is just straight up ignorant.  Besides! Sometimes simplicity is best.

2.) “Only put fan favourite characters in the game’s story if it’s for a legitimate purpose, however, no more of the ‘The adventures of Sonic and Tails’.” This one is a funny subject. When Sega had Sonic’s friends in game as playable’s, there came a point where   people were LITERALLY bitching and complaining about how they’re so sick and tired of Sonic’s friends!!!! That all they wanted was “SONIC” as a playable..

Now that Sonic has been the only playable in most games, fans are now complaining about how they want Sonic’s friends back.. Smh.

For some fans, having certain characters as playable’s (I.e. Shadow.), would bring a lot of joy... Fortunately with myself, I’ve been a Sonic fan since 1991, and usually have a preference to only use Sonic, so I’m personally happy with Sonic only games. But my personal preference aside; I think it’s safe to say fans of specific characters would be far happier to see their favourites appear even if they are NPC’s (Non playable characters) oppose to them not appearing whatsoever..  In my personal opinion, I’d say if Sega/Sonic Team decide to have a NPC appear, they should have them doing something, even if it’s an Easter egg kind of thing in the background for fans to catch.

3.) “Don’t reply too much on nostalgia.” Alright! Green Hill Zone crybabies need to get over themselves. Wahhh, Green Hill Zone is back... Why! Wahhhh.. Are you sure you’re even a Sonic fan? The Green Hill Zone was LITERALLY the FIRST stage in the series!  It was brought back, because it’s timeless it’s iconic just like Sonic himself. The Green Hill Zone is like Mario’s Mushroom Kingdom, like Cloud Strife’s Midgard, like Link’s Hyrule... I can go on..  Not to mention: It has COMPLETE justification to reappear in Sonic Forces, considering it’s where Classic Sonic spends a lot of his time. (This has been verified by direct source: “Sonic revisit GHZ often, because he really likes that Zone.”)

If Classic Sonic is brought back to the present time, where else would you expect him to be found? Gtfo.

(Green Hill Zone) “A lot of us are getting sick of it..”

Speak for yourself. I should also note, the most vocal fans in our fandom, often also tend to be the haters.. The same crybabies that whine about everything.(Wahhh Sonic’s eyes are green. Wahhh Sonic’s arms are blue...)

4.) “Stage to stage is fine, but if you’re gonna have a hub don’t be lazy with it.”

a.) I loved Sonic Unleashed too. I give you that.

b.) If you actually played the game in full, and paid attention to the concept of the story, you’d understand that the hub world stages being completely “white” was justified, and even when you bring life back into it, the background stays white because Time Eater FUCKING ATE TIME!

If there is nothing left in existence other than pocket zones (a.k.a the hub worlds.), it’s either going to be white space, or black space. Deal with it.

c.) Sonic Generations was one of the best games of the modern era... I think based on what the game was in it’s overall entirety, we can cut the hub world’s details some slack. Besides, what glorious games have you made? Talk is cheap, remember this.

5.) “No stupid cringe worthy jokes.” Alrighty, I can agree with this one.  Knowing how to blend good humour in with the right action and seriousness is key for greatness.

I feel that because Sega has begun aiming the games at a younger audience, despite the fact that the younger audience of today actually play the same “serious” games that we adults play..  The jokes can come off a bit much sometimes.  I’ve been a long time reader of the Archie comics (Which I’m sad to see it’s probably been canceled.) That said, I’d enjoy seeing Ian Flynn write for Sonic games, I think he’d be a wicked asset to the games.

6.) “If you’re going to have Wisps be more creative and actually make them fun.” I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again! For people who ACTUALLY play the games.. They obviously served a purpose in “Sonic Colours” storyline.

It was literally explained in “Sonic Runners”, why the Wisps were still in Sonic’s world. (After the events of Sonic Colours, some Wisps liked Sonic’s world so much, they decided to stay on earth/mobius.)

In Sonic Lost World, they were completely optional to use or not. Plus Wisps are basically items/power ups. KEY WORDS: “Optional to use.”

I don’t see anyone complaining about it when Mario uses his reoccurring power ups, so why must Sonic fans be so cringe.. And lastly, I’m starting to think people in our fandom are headass af..  This time around, in Sonic Forces, the Wisps aren’t there like they have been in the past. They are now “Wispons” as in they power up “Avatar’s” gadgets. (Maybe spend less time complaining, and pay a little more attention to the content revealed.. smh.) 

The fact that people are actually complaining about basically an item/power up, which the Wisps literally are; is as headass beyond words as can be..

7.) “Make sure the custom character feature lives up to the hype.”

a.) Sega literally stated “Avatar” (Which is what Sega calls him/her.) plays a heavy role in the events/story of Sonic Forces. Again you would know this if you actually paid attention over flapping lips.

b.) Sega/Aaron Webber also literally stated that the Avatar character doesn’t actually talk, voice actors have been hired, and they do grunt and have voicing to some extent. This may or may not be something that will change. But as far as things go at the moment, they won’t have any real lines.

c.) Avatar is each person’s PERSONAL OC, which literally means, if Avatar doesn't live up to the hype, you as a player failed. Sega is simply giving fans a tool, it’s up to the fans on how to use it.

8.) “Have a Super Sonic final boss fight.” I agree having Super Sonic in the games is fun, mostly because I love Sonic including each of his forms..  But I find this one ironic, because you were literally just complaining about how Green Hill Zone has been back too many times, and how the Wisps were back again.. And yet you want “Super Sonic” to be just that. (Perfect example of the crybaby logic at it’s best.)  Thank you for proving my point. *Thumb up!*

9.) “Try as hard as you possibly can to not make the game short.” I think you should go try to make your own game.  It’s easy to talk, but if you have no experience in the industry that’s quite the ignorant statement man..  But don’t get me entirely wrong. I understand where you’re coming from. Games are not cheap these days, and feeling like we have some good content to really dig deep into goes a long way.

10.) “No stupid power up that spawns when you die too much so you can skip ahead to the next checkpoint. Not only does activating it happen on accident, but it’s like the game is holding my hand.” It’s funny, because Mario games have an option where if you die around 3 times, you have the option to let Luigi complete the stage for you. (I.e. skip the stage.)  And no one complains about that. The only catch from what I understand is skipping a stage in a Mario game will keep you from unlocking everything in-game.  I think it’s a pretty fair, or good optional thing to have.

11.) “Either change Sonic’s Voice or Roger Craig Smith Improves.” Jason Griffin was one of my favourite voice actors, no doubt! But Roger isn’t all that bad. Not to mention the voice actors do actively try to improve, but they’re also doing what Sega directs them to do. As far as I’m concern, this is a complaint based on bias, and is not worthy of the “my opinion” title.

12.) “Have a moment in the story that somewhat shocks the player.” Plot twist are great, but when you have fans that wear the “expect card” right on their forehead, even if Sega comes up with a pretty good plot twist, I’m sure the fans will find something to complain about. (Notice 99% of your video is a big complaint?) 

13.) ”Have Unleashed-esque presentation.” I can agree with you on how epic Sonic Unleashed was all day. And I would love a “Unleashed-esque” presentation/depth to all the games. But lets be real, you and I both know the loud people in our fandom will find something to complain about regardless.

14.) “Don’t be kiddy.” I’ve been saying this one for a long time now. Sonic should always be catered to us long time old fans. The younger fans will come into the fandom on their own.

One of the hottest games for people was the “Call of Duty” games. Despite being rated for the older crowd, I cannot begin to tell you how many underaged kids were playing these.

My point is, kids like what we older fans like.  (I should also note, I have never cared for the COD games.)

15.) “Make the gameplay more open than in previous games.” “Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric” was an open world game.

It was also meant to be a much fuller and in-depth game, but due to being rushed, and having to have massive game content cuts, it ended up being what it was. (Check out Sonic Synergy. What Sonic Boom RoL was meant to be, and it looks amazing.)

16.) “Fix the Ranking System.” This is the first time I’ve heard anyone complain about the rank system...

This one is also a ironic one, because if you check out the Mario games, those games are some of the easiest brain dead games you can play..... People eat them up, and yet when Sonic is time to time easier going, it’s a bad thing? Smh.

17.) “Fix the Ranking system animations.”  This one is a bit better of an opinion.  I did enjoy how Sonic would react to the rank in Unleashed, and how the music was dictated based on your play quality.

(I feel this one was an actual constructive criticism. Thus I accept this one.)

18.) “Have Crush 40.” There have been a few games without Crush 40 that had some real great OSTs. “Sonic Unleashed” was one of them. What I will say with this one is: I’d love more rock and even metal tracks in future games.. 

19.) “Have actual boss fights this time.” I’m pretty sure we’ll get a good serving of decent boss fights with Sonic Forces. 

20.) “Fix the Classic Sonic Physics.” a.) Plenty of people wanted Classic Sonic back. And when Sega brought him back, being true to the cringe our fandom is judged on, the crybabies haters started pushing the bandwagon for all who wanted a ride...

b.) Classic Sonic had pretty damn well the play style he had in the classic games, I think you’ve lost your damn mind.

(*Note: I should add, anyone who dislikes Classic Sonic is headass.  Without Classic Sonic, there would be no Modern Sonic. Respect the roots.)

21.) “Don’t make the final boss Eggman.” I’m not sure if I want to slap you or strangle you for this one.

Eggman is Sonic’s fucking nemesis. Get over yourself. Mario has Bowser, Cloud has Sephiroth, Ryu has Bison, Megaman has Dr.Wily, Blah blah blah blah.. The list goes on forever.

Every Super hero has his main villain. And it’s not ALWAYS Eggman. Sonic has fought other main bosses just as equally as everyone else in their own respective games.

22.) “Eliminate the lives system.” SMFH! That’s all I can do for this one.

This is by far one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. I guess every other game best get rid of the lives system too right? Get the fuck outta here.

24.) “Put the Chaos Emeralds in the story.” Adding the Chaos Emeralds for the sake of adding them for what tiny fan service addition they give to the story, just like throwing in Super Sonic for the mere fan service would be literally no different from just throwing random Sonic friends into the story for mere fan service, your arguments are literally contradictory as fuck. Smh.

25.) “No false Advertising.” As mentioned earlier: Sonic Boom was what it was strictly because the game was rushed, and “Big Red Button” literally got a last minute notice that it was for the weaker system compared to what they had been making it for. Thus the game had significant content cuts, and was released incomplete.

Hence why Sega literally gave a public apology.

26.) “Bring back humans to raise the stakes.” Humans have both appeared and been absent across games. This will not make a difference to overall game quality so once again, this is a ridiculous complaint.

27.) Just make a good Sonic game please, is that too much to ask?” a.) Sonic fan’s expressing their opinions makes the game better ONLY if it’s constructive criticism! The games will not ever be better when the bitching and complaining is void of a positive point to improve said game. (i.e. “the constructive” part.).

b.) “I call it actually caring.” *See 27a. If you still cannot comprehend that, might I suggest getting a cat scan? 

28.) “I’m in grade school.” Why is it, school kids always seem to think they know it all. lmao.

29.) “This is not a Sonic hate video.” Than how about making a video with a overall positive tone. This entire video was nothing but the same tired bs.. Complain, complain, complain.

Try talking about what you love, and if you’re going to give constructive criticism, back it up with a positive fix. 

This fandom is already far too full of haters, and bandwagon riders that can’t think for themselves, we don’t need any more of that cringe.

“Sonic is my SECOND favourite game franchises.” Of course it is. 

*Closing Note: The Sonic hate, complaining for the sake of complaining, and constant negative tone with out purposeful point is tired af guys. It’s also far from cool. Don’t be a bandwagon baby.

If you are in this fandom, and all you think of is negativity when Sonic comes to mind, it’s time to leave the fandom and never come back.