#re4 is so much better with claire. it’s so much better

[hidingoutbackstage]

Thinking about the Claire over Leon mod

[noctuadora]

About the Japanese relationship charts circulating around RE Twitter…

I've been seeing these images used to spark discussion... and arguments. Shipping wars aside, I was more intrigued by this Japanese term used to describe Leon and Ada’s relationship.

I want to explain these words in more detail, so this post will be about that + answering questions that some might ask. I'm also including Leon and Claire's chart as well.

Note: I am currently studying Japanese. I made this post partly because I like to understand advanced terms that are unique to a specific language. Despite this, my explanation is not immune to errors.

Leon and Claire’s relationship chart in Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021).

Explaining this first because this is fairly easy to understand.

信頼関係 (しんらいかんけい・shinraikankei) - A relationship of mutual trust.

Kanji breakdown:

信頼 > reliance, trust, faith, confidence // 関係 > relationship

It should come as no surprise to anyone that Leon and Claire trust and rely on each other.

Q. ‘Is the term exclusively used for them only?’

No. 信頼関係 was also used to describe Leon's relationship with President Graham (and Jason or Patrick).

Leon and Ada’s relationship chart in Resident Evil: 6 (2012).

This is the term that others can't seem to grasp well (I mean they kinda do, but they also misinterpret it weirdly). In the English version, their relationship is described as ‘fatal ties’, but I don't care about that - I'm focusing on the Japanese version.

腐れ縁 (くされえん・kusareen) - an undesirable but inseparable relationship.

Kanji breakdown:

腐れ > to rot // 縁 > relations

The highlight of this word is the kanji 腐る, which is a negative verb used to describe something rotting/decaying.

The "inseparable relationship" part may be interpreted as romantic to some; as some shippers say, 'they are fated' (more on that later). But first, we need to understand what 腐れ縁 means in more context. Here are some excerpts I've taken from multiple sources.

離れようとしても離れられない関係 - A relationship that you know you should let go of, but can't. (This is consistent with OG RE4 Leon's line of 'she's a part of me I can't let go'.)

Note: 離れ (はなれ・hanare) mostly means 'to let go (of something/someone)' and 'to separate/to give up/to part ways'.

離れよう、縁を切ろうとしても断ち切れない好ましくない関係 - An unfavorable relationship that you can't cut off no matter how much you try to.

Note: 好ましい (このましい・konomashii) means desirable. 好ましくない (このましくない・konomashikunai) is the negative conjugation of it. 好ましくない関係 - undesirable relationship.

Just from this alone, you can see that their dynamic is difficult to understand. And that's what 腐れ縁 is.

Q. ‘Is the word 'rotten relationship' an accurate translation of the term?’

Google Translate translates this word LITERALLY. I think there is no true English equivalent of 腐れ縁, but yeah, 'fatal ties' is the term closest to it.

Q. ‘Can Leon and Ada be described as 'fated'?’

The answer is yes... and no. Here is another excerpt I find to be interesting:

「運命の相手」 を思わせるようなニュアンス ですが、 実際には好ましくない関係に使われることが 多い言葉です。- The term 腐れ縁 does have a nuance that is reminiscent of "destined/fated partner (or in other words, 'the one')", but in reality, it is often used to refer to undesirable relationships.

Q. ‘So... Is their relationship that bad?'

The answer to this question will depend on your own interpretation of Leon and Ada's dynamic - and that's why people are quite divided when it comes to them. It is said that 腐れ縁 can be positive... in the sense that if you experienced it before, you can now have a better judgment of people (lol). But in some cases, a long-lasting rotting relationship (like theirs) could mean that they at least have some level of mutual trust only they understand. It can work... but even the article I've read wasn't so clear on how it can work, so.

If you made it this far, I hope you found this interesting. :)

[xxacademy]

i'll let you in {part one}

leon kennedy x fem!reader

summary: you've had your eye on a handsome co-worker for quite some time. dreaming of a chance you'd get to know him better. a chance that he'd let you in. *set around RE4, but no real timeline*

this is the set-up for romance and smut to come :) thank you for reading, i genuinely appreciate it <3

word count: 1.4k

content//warnings: afab she/her reader. alcohol.

you want to be noticed. you want nothing more than for him to compliment your hair, or tell you that you did a good job. but he never has, and why would he? he barely knows who you are.

leon kennedy is an agent for an elite government task force, and so are you. the catch being you’re assigned to different teams, and never have been assigned together. this was tragic, years of working as an agent and never once being assigned with Leon? of course not.

it really only started out as a shameless crush. i mean the man is a bit of a celebrity. if the name “raccoon city” is spoken, images of leon and claire will always come to mind. leon is regarded as a hero, it’s hard not to get butterflies around him.

but my god, his looks don’t help. his body is built and decorated with scars, his eyes are tired but sensitive, a haunting shade of blue. he looks rugged- like he’s seen some shit (and he has). you digress.

but, he's genuine. you can see by the way he interacts with his colleagues, he’s unassumingly empathetic. especially for someone known for a dark and sarcastic sense of humor.

although, what allures you most is how quiet he is. in briefings he only says what needs to be said, maybe a one-liner here and there. never really granting an opportunity to interact past that. but, you are dying to know what on earth is he actually thinking. his eyes are always eluding to more. so contemplative and hard to read.

these feelings toward him really came up strong about one month ago.

you remember getting off work at about 11pm. you didn’t have much to go home to and you were still wide awake. so, you decided to stop by a local dive bar. it was a monday night so the bar was vacant. just a few regulars doing what they always do, drinking it all away.

you were shocked by who you saw sitting at the end of the bar. a blonde-haired man wearing a black leather coat. both his elbows were up on the table, grasping a glass of (presumably) whiskey. his head was tucked into the nook of his arm. he looked beaten and tired.

leon.

you felt nervous, like a middle schooler face to face with their crush. you wanted to talk to him, but again, he didn’t look like he was wanting company. he hadn’t even noticed you walk in.

you decided to mind your business, sitting on the opposite end of the bar. you ordered a drink and kept quiet. secretly watching him. he didn’t move for a long while. only occasionally taking sips of his drink.

yawn. sleep crept on you. the tiredness only amplified by the alcohol. you start to get up, pushing your wooden barstool back from the table for it to only make the most ear-wrenching sound against the tile floor.

“fuck” you hush under your breath, darting your head up out of shock.

your eyes land on his sunken blue gaze.

“i’m sorry, i’m sorry!” you plead, feeling horribly embarrassed about the noise. his abrupt stare turns into a gentle smile.

“y/n? i didn’t expect to see you here.”

“i could say the same to you” you grin.

leon nods his head in agreement.

you didn’t really know what else to say, fumbling through your mind to find something to fill the silence with.

“are you heading out?” leon asks, beating you in the somewhat awkward game of who can fill the silence faster.

“yeah, actually, i was just about to call a cab,” you say pulling out your phone.

“oh-okay then, have a good night” he smiles. he looks like he had more to say, but instead opted to let you go.

your heart is fluttering, giving you that butterfly feeling. all from a couple meaningless words.

you make it outside to the street curb, stumbling slightly, cold february air cloaking any exposed skin of yours with its chill. drunk and shivering, you impatiently watch the dimly lit street, at the same time you devise a plan on how you’re going to retrieve your car in the morning. you’re lost in thought, just waiting.

“hey,” a deep voice calls out. making you jump, breaking you out of your train of thought.

“oh! sorry, you scared me! sorry, oh-hi, leon-” your frantic reaction was amusing to him. you looked so innocent and vulnerable. just a drunk girl waiting for a cab. definitely not the badass, gun-wielding agent he saw at work.

“i thought i’d join you will you waited, probably safer that way.” he laughed at himself. “not that you really need it, but still.”

“thank you, i appreciate it.” you smile.

leon stands next you, looking out at the road alongside you.

“its interesting how long we’ve worked together, but i still barely know you.” you laugh. the alcohol making it easier to voice your honest thoughts.

“yeah it's unfortunate, isn’t it.” he replies.

“yeah…” you want to tell him more, you want to go on about how you’d always hoped that one day you’d get to know him better. but that would be too much, of course.

“what brings someone like you to a place like this?” he asks.

“someone like me?” you playfully retort.

“i’m not sure how to explain it. you just don’t seem like someone who would spend the evening alone at a shitty bar.”

"yes, you're right. i genuinely don't know why i'm here either. it's been a rough couple of weeks, i honestly just needed a break."

"sorry to hear that, y/n. i know how you feel. it seems like we only see the worst the world has to offer in our line of work."

"truly" you laugh, defeatedly so.

your cab finally arrives. you turn to leon, your pretty eyes looking right into his. "thanks for the company leon, i guess i'll see you later".

he smiles, "anytime."

...

you haven't really spoken to him since then. the past month has been busy, leon was gone for about a week, away for a mission. and you have had lots of paperwork and training on your plate. it's been nothing more than a simple greeting in passing between you too.

until today.

sitting in your office, you're prompted to meet in the conference room for a new job assignment. upon arriving you're greeted by your boss and leon. after taking your seat and going over the brief you learn that you two have been tasked together with a mission. the mission is nothing major, which is relieving. but, you feel your stomach well up with anticipation. a mix of nerves and excitement.

your boss leaves the room, leaving you alone together.

leon smirks "well this is exciting, isn't it."

part two

[issa-pheonyx]

Leon S. Kennedy X GN!Reader [Angst]

𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗳𝗲𝘆'𝘀 "𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗠𝘆 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻". 𝗜 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗴🤭👀

▌│█║▌║▌║ L̳͈͉̅̊ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚v̸̵̝͙͆̈ͤę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ M̶̷̲̊ͥ͋͟ę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ L̳͈͉̅̊ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚v̸̵̝͙͆̈ͤę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ M̶̷̲̊ͥ͋͟ę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ L̳͈͉̅̊ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚v̸̵̝͙͆̈ͤę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ M̶̷̲̊ͥ͋͟ę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ L̳͈͉̅̊ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚v̸̵̝͙͆̈ͤę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ M̶̷̲̊ͥ͋͟ę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ ║▌║▌║█│▌

You fell for him. Hard. But, when you realize he was chasing the lady in the red dress it hurts. You still hoped it will change by being in his presence and all, yet it still confuses and hurts you more worse. Cause no matter the actions and affirmations you do for him he is oblivious and just sees it all platonic and supportive. Claire has told you countless times to let it go. You were in denial, of course, which Claire decides to stop pushing you about it. It seem like the only way for him to make you stop falling for him is to hurt your heart again

Which he did. You gave him help when it came to patching him up,"Ada...this reminded me when she helped me when I was unconscious-" "I don't care." You cut him off. As you were done you cleaned up after yourself and Leon looks at you puzzled,"What was that?" He asked concerned. You sigh trying to refrain your shaky voice as the brink of tears was going to fall,"I said I don't care, Leon. Lets go on our separate ways after this. Go find Claire and Sherry." You go to the door and he was about to stop you, but he lets it go not wanting to make it worse

Later on after predicting Ada was dead and escaping with Claire and Sherry. They both questioned about you, thinking the worst. "They're...okay. They just walked out on me when I told them when they were patching me up that it reminded me of Ada and they said 'I don't care' and left." Sherry tilts her head in confusion as Claire shakes her head,"Seriously, Leon? They have done so much for you. Much more than what that woman has done that you don't even realize it!?" Leon slowly thought about the moments you were making him laugh, being a shield for him, helping him escape from being cornered by Mr. X, and so much more. His heart beats fast causing him to realize he has been crushing on the wrong person and that he may never see you again

Cutting to RE4 he still thinks about you. He hoped for encountering you somewhere in the areas he has his missions at. Nothing. He didn't want to give up. That's when he is informed on a very serious and dangerous mission which was to save the President's daughter in Spain. "But, before you go we will have you partnered with a special agent of ours. They will help you along the way. We are counting on both of you." You walked in the room as you saluted and put your hand back down to your side. Leon's eyes widen witnessing it was you, more grown like he is

However, you claim you do not remember him. Not a single memory. He mentions about Raccoon City, mentioning Claire, Sherry-hell even Ada. "Agent, please I don't have time for nonsense. We have things to do." Leon shuts up, but he was not letting go. During the mission of him shielding you, having your back, patching you up (yes, you both take care of Ashley, but it seems like she is sticking by you the most; she's got a favorite), and all those things reminded him when you were doing that treatment back in Raccoon City

HIs attraction was increasing more now that you are both working together. When they kidnap Ashley again he took advantage of talking to you about the past,"(Y/N), I know you're lying to me! You do remember me. Claire told me everything and-" "Oh, so now you like me? Did it really take so many years for you to barely realize that, Leon?" You glared at him as he stood there like a guilty son of a bitch,"I should've know better, but I want to take the time for it now-" You took something out of your sack from your utility belt. It was a ring,"I'm engaged, Leon. When you were reminded of Ada when I was patching you up that was enough for me to clock out. Feelings off from you." He couldn't believe his eyes. If he wanted to he would find you more quicker. He has no chances now

After that it was all professional between the two of you. Making it back though, it was really awkward. Leon kept trying to convince you to be with you, giving you gifts at your desk like flowers, sweets, fucking expensive jewelry or anything at this point. He has fallen for you, but felt for him harder and now it is too late. Being friends with him would just hurt him so much, because he is reminded that you are still taken by someone else instead his idiot self. He learned to be more aware of things now even if it means monsters breathing down his neck

▌│█║▌║▌║ L̳͈͉̅̊ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚v̸̵̝͙͆̈ͤę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ M̶̷̲̊ͥ͋͟ę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ L̳͈͉̅̊ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚v̸̵̝͙͆̈ͤę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ M̶̷̲̊ͥ͋͟ę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ L̳͈͉̅̊ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚v̸̵̝͙͆̈ͤę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ M̶̷̲̊ͥ͋͟ę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ L̳͈͉̅̊ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚v̸̵̝͙͆̈ͤę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ M̶̷̲̊ͥ͋͟ę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ ║▌║▌║█│▌

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴! 𝗜 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁. 𝗠𝘆 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝘁��𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗦𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹~🖤🫣

[crazylittlejester]

Hi I saw in you pinned post that you like resident evil. My question is who in the chain do you think would play resident evil

IVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS FOR MONTHS AND YOU HAVE ENABLED ME TO YAP ABOUT THIS THANK YOU SO MUCH. THE ANSWER IS ALL OF THEM SORT OF:

- Time I think would dabble in it a bit, maybe he’s played some of the og games, definitely none of the remakes because he has no time to game anymore, but I think he’d listen to the others yap about it any nod along because he doesn’t know everything but he knows it’s important to them and has enough knowledge of the characters he understands what they’re saying

- Wars and Twi play together, not because they can’t handle it alone, but because they freak each other out more than the game and for them that’s fun. Like Wars will put his hand on the back of Twi’s neck when he’s creeping around in game and give him a heart attack, and Twilight will randomly scream and point at NOTHING to freak Wars out. Them playing re5 together was a disaster and there was a lot of screaming and there were fucking TEARS during the Wesker fight. Time came in thinking someone was dying but no, they were just playing re5 of all games. They did NOT make it through Biohazard without one of them having a legit breakdown (it was Wars). If you ask either of them what their favorite re game they’ll say re5 because they genuinely had so much fun playing it together, but Twilight will go crazy for re4r and Wars LOVES Village

- Sky wouldn’t touch the games with a ten foot pole, he watched those Village streams and got so stressed out watching streamers make bad decisions that he just can’t do it. He likes the lore though and knows enough about Village to hold a conversation. He’s seen all the movies and he likes Death Island a lot, his favorite character is Claire

- Legend is the kind of streamer that would send Sky into a coma because it’s not that he’s BAD at the games, he just will randomly Go For Things ignoring the fact that he’s making incredibly stupid decisions, and it’s a damn miracle he doesn’t die more in game because it comes SO close. His favorite game is Biohazard, and Wars actually hates him for it

- Hyrule gets forced to watch Wild or Legend play and leaves with tears in his eyes every time. He was one time handed the controller for the re4r el gigante fight and he did it in one shot somehow, but he did cry

- Wild will scream every time something grabs him and each time he does Hyrule loses one year off his life. Wild’s similar to Legend because he will just Go For Things but he doesn’t always narrowly escape like Legend does. His favorite is re2r, he’s a big Ada fan

- Four is the best re player out of all of them, he’s so serious about it too and his accuracy is INSANE. He played re5 on his own because he did the first section with Wild and Wild used up all his ammo and Four couldn’t handle such a huge waste of resources so he finished the game with the ai lmao. He did make Wild play re6 with him though because the re6 game play annoyed him So Much he almost had a stroke, and turning on friendly fire and kicking Wild was the only way he stayed sane through the game. He will short circuit if you ask him what his favorite re game is because he genuinely loves them all, but re1 is his comfort game so he’d probably say that. Four is on his hands and knees begging capcom for a Code Veronica remake

- Wind goes in screaming his head off and is not the best at playing but his enthusiasm makes up for it and he gets through the games eventually. He does better in the multiplayer games where he can follow someone around because he gets distracted and forgets where to go (he does NOT check the maps), but he got so stressed about the re4 waterway he had actual nightmares about it and woke up crying because it was absolutely impossible to beat for him, he spent hours on it. He ended up making Four do it for him. He does not fuck with Biohazard or Village, they stress him out too much, so he watched streams for those (he will NEVER let the others know this though)

[downsteepy]

i can't stand it anymore i have to let myself speak abt how much the physical difference between 2r leon and 4r leon (and other leons) hurts me . i have to

this is extremely incoherent rambling but i hope it makes some sense, i'll also probably talk a bit abt his character in general

leon's eyes in 2r are so bright and full of life despite everything. he's still optimistic. he looks healthy, he doesn't look tired, his hair's rather neat and tidy.

and then six years pass after raccoon city, and leon's just exhausted. he looks exhausted. he has bags under his eyes, his eyes seem noticeably duller. they're especially dull in og re4, they look more greyish blue than his usual blue.. but leon's put on all this muscle in 4r especially because he had to essentially, his hair's messier. he's still not quite a mess but he's like. almost slowly getting there.

but seeing pictures of 2r and 4r leon next to each other kills me so much just bc of the fact that 4r leon is just.. so tired looking. he's been through so much shit in 6 years, and then he has to deal with all the shit that happens during 4r.

i do want to cherry pick when he gets injected with the plagas and also when he gets stung by the mosquito thing in death island because oh my god!!! it hurts me so bad!!!!

in death island, as soon as leon feels that sting, he almost immediately panics.

i mentioned it in the tags of my recent leon art but di leon is genuinely more playful seeming, his eyes are brighter, he's put on muscle again. he's healthy.

but as soon as that sting happens, its like hes 27 again. the sting happens on the same side of his neck as the plagas injection, and he's 27 again. he's that exhausted, not quite as bright eyed and bushy tailed 27 year old again.

i kind of got sidetracked considering this is supposed to be about the evolution of his physical appearance but when i think abt 4r leon i can't help but make the death island connection so consider it a bonus.

i'll get back on track but still on the topic of death island but now i'll compare di leon and vendetta leon and probably just talk abt vendetta leon for a bit.

vendetta leon is probably honestly the most exhausted leon's ever looked. while he's still a little silly, it doesn't feel quite as playful, if that makes sense? i feel like genuinely everyone can agree though when i say this is probably like. the peak of leon's depression. he's day drinking on his vacation, so his primary coping method seems to be alcohol. his eyes and the area surrounding his eyes looks darker, he's gotten leaner, he's a bit snippier, and he doesn't want to do this anymore. he's tired. he doesn't want to have to keep doing this anymore.

there is such a stark contrast between leon's appearance + attitude between vendetta and death island and while it makes me happy because he evidently has found some way to heal or a better way to cope, it also just makes me so viscerally sad. vendetta leon makes me so sad just bc of how he appears + how he acts at the end. the difference between him and di leon is night and day.

very quick warning for mentions of suicidal ideation in the next part, i'll try to keep it brief.

re6 leon is also just. extremely deeply sad to me. he also looks incredibly tired, and while he makes a lot of quips, he's not as playful as he usually is. there is a file from re6 where leon speaks about how he's thought numerous times about ending it, but only stayed because of claire and sherry. it's genuinely heart breaking, and not to kind of derail again, but it's kind of sad to me that he only found his anchor in staying alive bc of claire and sherry, and not necessarily for himself. leon very much focuses on others before he focuses on himself, and god that shit hurts!

i've kind of equated 6leon to being a sad wet cat bc of how wet his eyes look and honestly he just. is a sad wet cat. he's just sad. he's dealt with so much trauma that just keeps stacking up, he's gotten so visibly tired, and he just doesn't get to rest. i know it's somewhat of a joke that he wants a vacation or whatever, but like.

he really just deserves that vacation. he deserves time to relax. he deserves to be able to just not worry about things and other people as much for once. he deserves a nice breakfast, and he deserves to get better.

di leon does seem to have gotten better; much brighter and livelier. and that makes me happy. i wish he'd been able to be like this earlier, but i'm happy he's finally gotten there.

i'm happy that he's happy.

[valenfield-inspo]

Valenfield thoughts:

-They've both been through So Much Shit together that it's almost impossible to surprise them any more. They're still careful, because you have to be, fighting bioterrorism, but you get the idea. They both have their own codes and signals for shit, like shorthand. This includes things like a code for using different colored signal flares, or to use when they're talking over the radio.

-They both carry around some sort of multitool, possibly on a keychain. Honestly, they'd carry around a damn toolbox (or explosives- because hey, if you can't unlock the door, blow it off its hinges!) if they could, but usually that gets in the way of all their guns.

-They both know how to pick locks, now, tho Jill is still better at it than Chris is. Jill insisted he learn. He still probably carries around a tool that can saw through locks, when he can spare the inventory space. If he can't: explosives it is, then! Any time Jill hears a muffled explosion somewhere, she just kinda smirks, like, "Yep, that's Chris". It's honestly kinda comforting, at this point.

-They both carry around magnums, because those things are POWERFUL in the RE-verse. And they're easier to carry around than heavy weapons, like grenade launchers and such. (That was one thing that bothered me in the RE movies like Death Island. Leon shows up, and the most he packed for a bioterrorism mission was a few pistols?! The fuck?! Why wouldn't they have him go in heavily armed?! Of course, I guess you could ask the same for the BSAA troops in RE6...)

-They have little weapon charms of one another, because Chris thought it'd be cute. Chris has one of Claire, too, and she of him. Both Chris and Jill have one of Rebecca. (I could see Chris also having one of Sheva and maybe Piers, but the Piers one makes me sad.)

-Speaking of charms: Them having a little shooting contest/date at the Merchant's shooting range (because the Merchant totally survived RE4; or at least, his business practices did). Which might be how they got the gun charms. Anyway, it was cute 💖 Sometimes it's just nice to relax and shoot at targets, y'know? Especially when you don't have to worry about ammo.

-They both have nightmares, and they both know how to calm one another down from them. They'll just lay in bed, afterwards, just talking with one another, if they can't sleep. It helps.

-🍮

The 1st one I definitely agree that nothing would surprise them much anymore considering what they have faced together and separately, but they would still have their guards up for sure. I definitely could see them having their own codes of communicating with each other on the job b/c you never know who could be listening in as their trust of the BSAA is wary enough as is. I mean they have been stabbed in the back before by their captain in STARS. I could even see them using codes in non-mission things. They could read each other's stares like Chris glancing at Jill and gesturing his head at the exit doors with "Hey wanna get the hell out of here, since the next set of speakers here are full of shit and they have enough asskissers praising them tonight, what's 2 less people?" and Jill nodding and smirking subtlety with "Yeah there are better ways to spend the evening". 😏 🤭

The 2nd one now you know they're always prepared for anything so I could definitely see them carrying multi-functional gadgets or tools. Both definitely wouldn't leave the house without a swiss army knife at the very least. Omg at the 3rd, I bet Jill had a heck of a time training Chris on picking locks. Especially with how much bigger Chris' hands, he would get frustrated pretty easily there, 😂. So yeah he would have the "Fuck it" moment and blast the lock open! 🤣

The charms thing is cute, little mementos with who they have worked with. On the shooting range one, oh they definitely love those. It can be therapeutic and keep their aim sharp. The Merchant would make things more fun there! Ah the nightmares never end, I think they've even accepted that but are comforted that they have each other to get through them on those rough nights. The talks do help. I think they may try watching TV but they'd avoid the news and horror flicks, but I think the laying together and talking is much preferred until they fall asleep. Thank you for sharing Nonnie, feel free to send more whenever you'd like! 💚🩵

[sapphire-weapon]

I said a few days ago I wanted to talk about this, and I still do.

With all of the rumors and speculation about RE9, there's a sentiment throughout the fandom of "x character needs to come back" or "it better not be Leon or Chris" -- and I've got some bad news, guys.

Until the legacy cast gets retired, it will always be either Leon or Chris. One of them will be there in some capacity. Chris has been designated as RE's primary protagonist, and Leon is its secondary protagonist (deuteragonist). It's that simple.

Part of it is brand recognition. Chris and Leon were the faces of the two most successful RE titles ever released (RE5 and RE4).

But what it really comes down to is that video games are a uniquely terrible medium for ensemble casts -- and that's only become more and more true as time has gone on.

When RE first started, games had an approximate development cycle of a year to a year and a half. RE1 was 1996, RE2 was 1998, RE3 was 1999, and CVX was 2000. Four mainline titles in four years. And other spinoff titles were getting released in between them, too. There was a stretch of time when we'd get 2-3 RE releases a year.

RE9 will come out in 2025 -- 5 years after RE8. It was 3 years between 7 and 8. And another 5 between 6 and 7.

And RE8 and RE9 were in development concurrently.

There's no yearly turnaround for game development anymore. Game development these days is 4-6 years. It requires teams in the hundreds. We only get one RE title a year if we're lucky, and it's going to be a mainline OR a remake OR a spinoff. Only one. There's no more simultaneous releases, because game dev can't support that anymore.

So in order to keep any semblance of a story straight at all, the focus has to be kept on either one or two characters, and that's it. Consider that it's already been 12 years between Leon's last game appearance and his next one. If Capcom was to give the spotlight equally to all of its characters, there might be 20-25 years between their titles -- and that's not an exaggeration.

So the complaint would still be the same. It would still be "where's x character???" But now with a completely disjointed story that jumps all over the place and has no central focus point for the audience to orient themselves on. RE would basically become Final Fantasy -- the games would be connected by name only but really have nothing to do with one another. And I don't think that's what RE fans want, either.

But it's not even just dev times between games, either. It's also the demand of the development process itself. You can't just put more of the characters into each game. RE is survival horror; it has to have a small cast by default. But even if that wasn't the case, it's actually really fucking hard to include more characters into a game's story due to the progression of gameplay.

An ensemble cast in films or books is intricately woven into the story in a way where everyone is relevant and their contributions matter for a big payoff at the end. Even in the 90s, that was pretty much unheard of; any RPG you play will have at least one or two "useless" party members -- characters that exist strictly for gameplay purposes because there wasn't enough room in the story for them to play a meaningful role.

It's impossible to keep everyone relevant in RE in a way that gives a satisfying payoff. It's just not possible. The cast has to be reduced for the story and the gameplay to stay tight.

Keeping the focus on Leon and Chris keeps things connected and keeps the audience engaged. Capcom is following the principle of "If you try to please everybody, you'll end up pleasing nobody." At least this way, the core audience of fans from the most successful games stay catered to.

This is part of the reason why I don't want Ada to be in RE9. There's so little room left for a large cast. Jill and Claire need to become the guys' main supports, because they're objectively more important. Cuts need to keep happening. The cast still needs to be pruned.

Because there's just not enough room for everyone. Dev takes too long. And for RE to keep its identity, the focus has to be kept on just a few core characters, or else literally everyone is going to get left in the dust.

[leon-stupid-kennedy]

Adding a link to a DSC masterlist post to the DSC posts I've made as well as everything in the queue. Currently the link will seem like it doesn't work because the masterlist post is set to private.

Basically, it's a placeholder currently. Unfortunately I've just been sick in a way that really limits how much I can use my phone for the past few days and I still haven't fully recovered. (Just typing this post out is rough- going to have to take a TV watching break after this.) The queue has been a lifesaver, all posts on this blog have been posts I made and added to the queue before I got sick.

Once I am better, I'll work on the masterlist post and get it to a state where I can switch it from private to public. And I also have plans to make more masterlists for other RE games eventually, I'm just focused on DSC currently.

🫶

Also if there's any specific DSC characters/enemies you'd like to see screencaps of feel free to send me an ask with them! On top of the gif sets featuring multiple characters, I'll be making posts with multiple still screenshots of characters in the model viewer, like different angles, zoomed in on different details, etc. Eventually I would like to do it for every character, but it's kind of a daunting task so I'd welcome some specific requests to put at the top of my to-do list when I get better, just nice to have a starting point.

And honestly I'd also welcome requests for which costume gif sets to prioritize! I 100% will do gifs of every costume eventually, but again, nice to have a starting point. I've already done Detective Leon, Biker Leon, and Biker Claire. (Those are on my main blog and I'd like to link to them, but as I said, I'm not well right now and just the amount of scrolling and tapping I'd have to do to get them is intimidating 😅) so feel free to request gifs of any of the other costumes and I'll prioritize them.

Leon's other costume I haven't gifed is Agent (his RE4 jacket look). Claire's other costume is Western. Chris's costumes are Caucasus and Sheriff. Steve's costume is Western. Krauser's costumes are Mercenary and Detective. LMK if you're interested in seeing more of any of those costumes! 💕

[seleswrites]

serena ira | Leon S. Kennedy/Reader | find on AO3

And on the seventh day, god brought your soulmate into a dying city, crawling with the monstrous undead. Damn your luck.

Fandom: Resident Evil 2 (remake)

Relationship: Leon/Reader

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 2,568

Tags: soulmate AU, canon divergence/not canon compliant, no Y/N, Leon A and Claire B (in my head they meet up before the final train scene), canon typical violence, lots of cursing, reader can be anyone but I tend to write queer afab reader-oc's.

Event: @lunarbuck's Soulmate AU writing challenge

Soulmate Prompt: "You and your soulmate have matching tattoos that become clear once you meet." (Added a bit of flavor so hope it's a good read still!)

Photo credits: Nicolas Ladino Silva (woman in shadow) and Trevor (city landscape) on Unsplash

A/N: Nothing like a new fandom to control the braincell. Please be kind, I just got into RE like two weeks ago lmao! I only know half of RE2:make, the RE4:make, and Lady D from Village.

An entire city overturned into a place of nightmares not even within a week. 

Familiar streets turned into dangerous traps filled with, what you could only describe as, the undead. You had no idea how you were going to survive. Hell, you had no idea you've survived this week. Damned Luck pitying you perhaps, for Her sick game. 

The Raccoon City PD was no longer a safe haven like the radio repeated, a turned labyrinth of monsters, and the group of people you escaped with (stupidly taking your chances outside, running out as quickly as you had run inside) and traveled with dwindled in number as many small hordes of once living and breathing people descended upon you all, multiple times. Until more people broke off on their own. Until more people became part of the living dead numbers. Until it was just you. Just you. Alone. 

Didn't anyone learn about the buddy system? 

And, somewhere in the middle of this all on the sixth or seventh day, your outer forearm inked with your soulmate mark -- a large raven feather that broke into smaller silhouettes of the same bird, flying off your skin if it could -- burned with the damned telling sign that you were close to that First Meeting. That they, whoever they are, were close. And very much alive. 

Great. In the middle of a zombie apocalypse and your soulmate had to arrive somewhere within this large ass city. That would be the cards dealt by Lady Luck. And your luck would pin either of you as dead before arrival. 

You couldn't curse your bad luck enough. On the verge of leaving, meager and stolen supplies packed up in a motorbike you've hidden in a secure space and a route planned out of the city, you hesitated. A settling sinking feeling sat in your stomach like a heavy stone. You can't leave your soulmate here to die. With a growl, you shoved your assorted pockets and bags with as much ammo, medical supplies, food and water as possible, finality lining every movement. 

Damn it! Damn them!

Following the burning pulse radiating in strength as you, hopefully, close the distance, you leave your own safety bubble to seek your soulmate out. Out in the rainy night in this dreary city. Bundled in the remains of a warm outfit. Whatever fucking idiot was roaming around here better be worth it. 

Hours of slow going, getting soaked to the bones, avoiding the hoards as they swarmed the PD station again as a loud siren and explosions echoed in the night air, your heart sank. 

You gotta be kidding me. 

That would be the most likely place in the city, wouldn't it? 

Damn your luck. 

(On any other day, you wouldn't curse your lack of luck to incur more of Lady Luck's wrath; even now, you're still alive thanks to the whimsies of Luck and the Fates. And firearm and survival lessons of your paranoid and militaristic step-fa-- your dad. For another countless time this week, you wished he was still alive so you could thank him for his hindsight for all his 'ridiculous' teachings. Still: fucking damn your luck--) 

Stop. 

Control your breathing, even as panic laced every inhale, every exhale. Focus on keeping quiet, on this warmer-colder game of tag with someone you don't even know, on keeping alive because what's the point if you die in process? 

Focus on the undead blocking your path to get back into the metal graveyard of the museum-turned-police-station before you. 

Aim at the back of its head.

Line up the shot. 

Inhale.

Steady.

Gotta thank the old man when you die a natural death of old age and see him in the afterlife. Or something like that, you thought, firing the shot. 

The creature shrieked a horrifying hiss as the bullet hit, like someone released air out of a balloon, a squeaky sound that you still internally wince, unused to it even after this week. It twisted and turned, head lulled back, and you ready-aimed-fired a quick second bullet before you could see its face. You didn't want another ghost of their human self to add into the mix of your dreams -- whenever you did find a safe space to sleep next. 

The body dropped to the wet ground in an awful slump. 

Exhale. 

White puff of cold air left your lips as you stared at the body for a second to see it unmoved. Quickly, you checked your surroundings for any other zombies; four more shots fired, three downed dead, three more bullets in your P220's mag. Another prayer casted towards the capricious Lady Luck: please, don't summon a licker.

An empty street was all that greeted you. Nothing attracted by the sound of bullets firing, nothing but an unnerving feeling that you were being watched, shivering beyond the coldness of the rainy night. A loud scraping sound kept you low to the ground, half bent over and nearly squatting, as you casted your eyes around, looking for signs of threats. 

No threats. Street still empty. Empty, except two survivors in the distance, exiting from the Station’s parking lot. 

From where the noise came from. 

On the other side of the sinkhole and its halted repair started before this week of hell. 

You managed to get yourself to the edge of it, avoiding two zombies eating flesh along the way, them happily and thankfully ignoring you as horrifying chewing and slurping sounds loudly scraped against your own gut. Managed just quick enough as the two strangers had their back to you, one working their way to get inside the gun store, its neon sign lighting highlighting the woman's silhouette with a fade glow of red. 

"Hey!" you wanted to scream, but the word stuck in your throat. It wouldn't do anyone good to scream here and attract monsters. Selfishly, you wanted someone to turn around, to see you in the distance, to wait for you-- As if you could be heard, the other silhouette turned, ever so slightly, enough for you to read the miniscule and faded letters of R.P.C. across his chest. 

The mark hiccuped in its heat, only fluttering coolness the brief moment you both saw each other. Your breath hitched in your throat. 

Him. It's him.

The door to the gun shop opened and, even from your spot across the way, you heard the woman call out to the cop, distance obscuring what she actually said however. She entered the shop without a backward glance. He hesitated, giving you a look you were too far away to read, before following in after his partner. 

You couldn't help but rub your fingers along the cooling shape of a feather on your arm, a silent prayer on your lips to the Fates or fucking Luck or whatever listening to give whatever goodwill you had and send it to him. Let him survive. 

And then you were alone again.

Let him be safe. Please. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A curse hissed out of your mouth, unwanted as a zombie bit at your not dominant arm, the one burning with the feather soulmate mark. The wound's deep enough where blood blossomed under your sleeves, but you yelped as you wrenched your arm free. Its teeth pulled away with your skin and shirt fabric in between its maw. It growled. You shoved the barrel of your pistol against its temple, firing. 

Blood and brains splattered onto your long sleeves, already soiled with sewage and dried gore. A loud groan left your lips, frustrated at your sloppiness over the fact you were bleeding. Contagion was the least of your worries; you'd been a zombie three times over during this week. But regular infection of an untreated wound? That could kill you. 

Your thoughts stilled as a chilling scream sucked in your breath. 

You should have expected the NEST to be filled with zombies, everywhere else in the city was. It's why you shared your ammo with Claire as she explored her portion of the NEST to unlock the antiviral needed to save Sherry; if anything, she had a better sense of survival than you, especially after the way she fought that terrifying eyeball monster of a once-human. 

What you didn't expect was the fucking licker crawling around on the ceiling. 

You should have.

A high pitched whine sent a chill down your spine, before its long claws scraped across the walls. 

Tensing, you covered your mouth and held your handgun in its direction, hoping that it didn't hear you. You didn't have enough rounds in the mag, hell in general if you had to fight it. Two shots left before reloading. Your pistol’s full eight wouldn't even be enough. 

Circle around it slowly as it seemed to sniff the air (and deluded yourself that it could not smell your disgusting stench of sewer and sweat clinging to you). 

Slowly, foot by foot.  

Freeze as it hissed again.

The door opened, creaking. Both the licker and you tilted towards it. One booted foot in, someone you know by the returning of the intense burning of your forearm in the shape of a raven's feather. 

Him. 

The licker posed to jump in his direction, like a cat ready to pounce on a mouse. 

Fuck you Lady Luck and her shitty timing.  

"Careful, licker!" you shouted. 

It whipped around towards you, its loud growling wheeze echoing in the room. Fucking shit-- 

The bastard howled as it lunged forward. 

Into your space. 

Duck -- too late. It jumped on your body, throwing you to the ground as its large claws hit your shoulders. You yelped from the impact. Happlessly, you fired your two shots into its large, brain-like head. The bullets hit, but not the weak spot. 

Another shot rang out in the room. Enough for the licker to hesitate sinking its teeth in your flesh. It erupted in flames as He came closer, holding a fucking flamethrower in his hand. It screamed. Its weight disappeared and you scrambled back on your hands and arms, pain shooting through them in the movement as blood, old and new, smeared along your palms. The smell of burning flesh, nothing like the sweet scent cooking but more ashen and decay, filled your nose, alongside the metallic under layer of blood, your blood. 

The screams died as the licker did, flames simmering down into nothingness alongside its charred and blackened skin. You forced yourself to sit up, groaning in pain. Everything hurt. Your back, your shoulders, your arms especially -- but you couldn't tell if that's because of how heavy you hit the ground or that damned fucking mark that threatened to burn your own arm off. 

He cursed, repeated fucks and shit expelling under breath as he made it to your side. "Here, you're okay, you're okay, I got you."

He pulled out some medical supplies from within his packs. A bottle of hydrogen peroxide. A roll of bandages. Without thinking, he reached for your bleeding arm. 

And the burning stopped, his touch instantly dropped your arm into a freezing chill as his eyes took in the teeth marks ripped in your skin, the bloodied feather and its tiny ravens, ink gradually running clear. You shivered and he did a double-take on you, hand shaking as if he too was dropped below zero. 

A moment paused into an eternity as you caught your breath. In the darkened room with broken flickering lights overhead, dark shadows chiseled his face in sharp angles, despite his youthful look. Stands of light golden blonde hair clung to his forehead, dirtied with grime and sweat. Blue eyes swept over your features, just as you did to him. 

Even in this mess, he was handsome, pretty even. Heat licked your cheeks as your mind wandered on how pretty would he be cleaned up…

"You’re the goddamn idiot,” you muttered under breath, face heating from embarrassment. Talk about a dramatic First Meeting. 

"What?" the stranger asked, strangely breathless. "Hey. Are you okay?"

His eyes widened, blues roaming between your arm and your face again. You didn't answer him, but you said a bit louder, "It’s you."

"It's…me." Words he repeated, but laced with a question. Like he didn’t realize who he was to you. Not until the remaining half an outline of the feather, barely just visible, disappeared entirely as he laid another glance on it.

Nothing. Like you were never marked at all. 

“Oh…”

He knew now.

"Yes, you! The kind of idiot that strolls into an infested city of the undead!" you said, words streaming from your lips in a hiss, holding back your scream as he no longer knelt frozen before you and worked to disinfect your wound. Unwanted tears pricked at the edge of your eyes; you lied that it was because of the sting of the disinfectant, not frustration nor relief to see him. "You were safe up until today!" 

And you could have been okay dying with that knowledge!

He tied the bandage tight, too tight, and you winced from the pain. “Sorry,” he apologized softly, even as his lips pressed into a thin line. “But I had my duty. I couldn’t leave the city without helping.”  

You slapped his hold on you away -- he let you go easily -- and forced yourself to your feet. He followed you quickly, arms reaching out to steady you as you swayed and stumbled onto your feet, sliding on gore and fluids, legs trembling in pain and useless adrenaline. His grip on your arms were tight, hands warm and comforting. 

"Right… Duty.” The word tasted like blood in your mouth. You’ve seen enough people die for the sake of duty; you’ve seen others die for less honorable reasons. Something hot burned down your grime-streaked cheeks. “And I was leaving. I was leaving," you confessed. “I couldn’t, not with you here. Guess we’re both the idiots here.”  

A faint chuckle, akin to puffs of air more than anything, left his lips. Slowly, as if you were a spooked cat, his hands found your cheeks, thumbs running comforting wipes along the trails left by your tears. You tried not to lean into his touch, craving that comfort from him selfishly.

"Thank you." It's soft, embarrassed even as his eyes gaze just a little out of your reach, and his cheeks tinted with pink. 

"Don't thank me yet,” you scoffed, “Now we can die together." 

Another laugh. "Fair enough. It's not safe out here." 

"Duh, Mr. Obvious.” 

But he smiled like nothing happened, a cheeky little grin that warms you even further. Oh shit, he's cute. "It's Kennedy, actually. Leon Kennedy," he said, introducing himself. 

You gave yours, rolling your eyes as he repeated it reverently. 

"We're going to get out of here alive. I swear it," Leon promised with such conviction you believed him. “Okay?” 

He waited until you nodded to release your cheeks, but not before his eyes lingered on your lips. As if you didn’t share the same thoughts. Later, later. 

Instead, Leon grabbed your gun from off the floor. Relief settled your limbs as your hands found the familiar metal of your handgun. Silently, you reloaded, as he did the same, hands reaching for his shotgun. 

Not dead yet, still a chance.

Taking a deep breath, you grinned at him as fake confidence steered your lips, "Alright then, pretty boy, lead the way. I got your back." 

"Pretty boy?"

[pink-strawberry-kissess]

Leon x ships (and why I don’t support anything other than aeon)

THIS IS MY OPINION, you are free to ignore this. But these are my particular reasonings as to why I do not enjoy the other ships for Leon and why I find them incredibly problematic. 

❤️ Aeon (Leon x Ada) 

I started this blog because I fell in love with the ship. It has the right amount of hurt/comfort that I was desiring at the time, and when I really broke down all the intricacies of the ship, I couldn’t get over it. 

To get things as crystal clear as possible. MOST AEON shippers do not think that aeon is a healthy relationship. It’s very much a push and pull of two people that realistically shouldn’t be together but find each other in each other’s lives. 20 years were spent to work through this “relationship.” (think batman and catwoman)

re2 we have the meeting. The way they gravitate towards each other, but the way that Leon changes Ada. Only when she realizes that he’s simply a good person wanting to do the good thing, she struggled to finish what she needed to do. Which was HER JOB. It’s not too far to say that she WOULD’VE maybe been killed if she didn’t complete her job. She’s not in a safe position. People don’t realize that. When Ada “dies,” a part of Leon dies with him. 

re4 we have another meeting. Leon’s hurt. He’s confused and all of sudden Ada is alive again. He had years of mental anguish and survivors guilt. He holds a lot of resentment towards her. And yet Ada still finds the desire and need to want to protect him. She protects him during her entire campaign. (Play Separate ways before speaking to me..) and at the end, he lets her go with the virus. He doesn’t want this to happen but he can’t stop her. They leave each other in less that desirable circumstances. But he still doesn’t stop her.

off screen re5 we have simply, “the night,” they spend together. Romantic, maybe in a hotel. How we go from re4 to this is never expanded on and since it’s off screen, we’re only here to speculate on what could’ve happened. (They had sex) which is implied in-

re damnation “the sexy one.” a film in which they simply flirt with each other the entire time. The “so when are we going to um, carry on from where we left off that night?”

“So you missed me huh?” Even in this film, we have Ada saving Leon AGAIN. “You owe me one,” before she’s off again.

we have to remember that between re4 and damnation there’s SEVERAL YEARS for them to have potential other meetings that are simply not explored on screen.

more time passes and we have re6 “the aeon fanservice one.” I won’t go into too much detail for this one, but re6 aeon is still superior to me. we have established a sexual relationship at this point, we don’t know if they’ve explored more, and yet Leon’s willing to jump off a burning building the second he see’s Ada needing help? This is the Leon we know. Also they just have each other’s contacts at this point?? They leave again and this is the final time we see them together in the franchise. 

“See you down the road, Leon.”

❌ cleon (Leon x Claire)

Now to be completely honest. I DON’T HATE THE SHIP. I think it’s a delusional one, but the main reason I dislike the ship a lot, is actually because of the shippers. It’s a constant, “claire better,” fight. (I don’t have to say that Claire is a shitty character for me to not ship them etc. which seems to be the core of what cl*on shippers do, which is *drumroll* shit on Ada.)

And I find that most of these shippers are younger, white, and conservative and or naive. And also tend to lack in their abilities to read characterizations and understanding the complexities of morality. 

The shippers have lowkey ruined the character of Claire for me. And I always thought she was a cute character. Not my favourite, but she’s fine. I just never thought of her characterization or storyline to be particularly interesting. But what I do find interesting to me that most Leon x Reader fics simply have a character similar to Claire written in as reader instead.

The idea of two morally good characters together is simply not as interesting to me. It’s always been like this. They are not pulled to each other in a sexual or romantic way which is why I mostly think the ship is delusional. There are SEVERAL instances of this.

Claire does flirt with Leon briefly in re2r. However it’s very clear on Leon’s side that he does not read it as flirting. He barely spends any time with her, and at the end of it, Claire suggests that it “would’ve been one hell of a date,” not knowing that Leon spent more time with Ada for the entire duration of re2r. 

I don’t count degeneration since there’s a weird moment with Angela which I also don’t really count since she’s never heard of again. 

The only other time is infinite darkness. In which Leon refers to her as “a kid.” And that he doesn’t see her “as a woman.” OR to put it more clearly, he does not see her as a love interest. Not to mention the one scene cleon stans cream themselves over, in which Claire falls on top of Leon, where she’s like visibly disgusted. 

And to put the cherry on top, at the end of infinite darkness, they are no longer on speaking terms, and or no longer friends from what we can see. I’ll give cleon shippers one thing. They had a potential moment. “A dinner,” that could’ve happened and yet Claire and Leon both do not see eye to eye. They disagree morally (which is actually interesting) and so they separate. And as for the timeline now, they are no longer friends.

One final note, is that I find cleon shippers INCREDIBLY racist and misogynistic. OBVIOUSLY NOT ALL OF THEM. But all men, until it’s not all men. A large portion of cleon shippers use Ada is a scapegoat for their ship. Painting Ada as a sexual, manipulative, con woman that “steals,” Leon away from Claire. It’s so laughable when Leon was never Claire’s. 

When you have to resort to pinning women against other women, then I just simply do not care to interact with that. 

I also find the whole “caring mother figure,” to be incredibly gross. It’s the same kind of incel talk that guys use to declare what is desirable in a woman. That if you’re not good at being a mother, caring, nurturing etc. Then you’re just NOT DESIRABLE. That being a “pure, wholesome, good girl” is the only reason why you deserve a man, is something YOU need to work out on your own. Maybe do some soul searching on why you think that’s the only reason why you deserve love. 

❌  Leon x Ashley

Similarly, Leon speaks of Ashley as “a young girl,” or a “kid.” “Is this what they’re teaching kids these days?” He does not see her as a love interest. Sure, Ashley does flirt with him a lot. Who wouldn’t?

But at the end of the day, Ashley is a 21 year old girl in university. Still figuring out her life and what she wants. While Leon is a 27 year old trained special agent, whose boss is Ashley’s FATHER. Sure you can get into that fantasy all you want. I totally get that and I’ve been into that ship before. And as you age, oh boy does that ship dynamic not age well. 

There are huge age gap and dynamics that will not work. And I totally get people wanting that type of ship. But it’s REALLY GROSS FOR ME. 

But again, Leon turns her down multiple times, and rejects her as well. Ashley is also no longer seen in the canon.

❌  Leon x Helena

NOW BEFORE PEOPLE SAY ANYTHING. I ACTUALLY DON’T HATE THE SHIP. It’s when it comes down to the fact they have a 12 year age gap that makes me a bit barfy. But furthermore that Helena is younger than SHERRY.

Now if I were to exclude the age gap, I think that they’re VERY HOT. I really enjoy Helena’s character model and them in re6 is SO FUCKING FINE. BUT yup, I can’t get over that age gap. But one of the main issues is that Helena is also canonically an aeon shipper. Which I kind of find adorable? It definitely adds to the aeon storyline in re6.

Helena being 24, while at this point Leon is 36-37. And during re6, Sherry is 26-27. And KEEP IN MIND. When Leon met Sherry, he was 21 and SHE WAS 12.

So when Leon was 21, Helena would’ve been 9 YEARS OLD.

And I won’t even justify Leon x Sherry because

When Leon met Sherry, he was 21 and SHE WAS 12.

And all other ships I honestly do not care for or think are fine.

I’m also supportive of Chreon, metaltango, serrenndy. I read them occasionally but I’m just not that personally emotionally invested in them. I find them cute, and I support people who want to write lgbtq ships. Also chreon shippers are typically also Aeon shippers and I find they mingle well together in the same spaces sometimes.

[colesabi]

i feel like i have to ask - Chris for the character thing? :3

Teehee… I got him twice lol.

How I feel about this character:

He is the gentlest, sweetest, most caring teddy bear that has ever existed and I absolutely adore him. Chris cares so much it hurts lol. I remember liking him when I was playing the games so long ago and then when I got back into the franchise (with the RE4 remake, I sort forgot he existed and was like full-force into Serennedy then so when I started to reacquaint myself with the rest of the media, I kind of slowly latched back onto him as a fav character and well, we all know how I feel about him now. I’m literally making a custom 1/6 scale figure. I’ve fallen deep lol.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Leon, obviously OTP but I’m down with Piers and even Wesker (although that is purely to feed my need for toxic yaoi lol). I’m also heavily involved in the Metaltangofield agenda and I will not apologize.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Jill of course!!! They are the best platonic combo. I also love his relationship with Claire and how there is just mutual respect and trust. Honestly, Chris would make the best best friend and he’s a fantastic big bro.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

Ugh… honestly, I loved him in 6. I personally hated how he was perceived in that game and how the fandom just shit on him as a character. It pissed me off because he was clearly dealing with so much. He had a fucking TBI, of course he would be angry. He had memory loss, was only being told limited information and was basically thrown into a war zone completely unprepared. He was completely in the right to be angry and honestly, I wanted more lol.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

Everyday I pray for two things: an Operation Javier remake and a re-haul of RE6 when it eventually get remade. They did so much with Luis’ character and gave him more nuance and depth in 4R, so when they get to 6, I want them to deal with Chris’ TBI and amnesia way better than they did in the OG. I mean it perfectly sets up angst potential, just lean into it but also handle it with care and realism please.

thanks for the ask!!

[scorpionyx9621]

Maybe it's me being an old, decrepit Resident Evil fan but after playing the RE4 Remake I'm so so happy they brought Nick Apostolidies as Leon Kennedy. I was genuinely shocked at first because Nick took such a different angle for Leon that I genuinely did not recognize him at first. It sounded a bit like he was trying to do his own spin on Paul Mercier's Leon from the original RE4 but taken to a more ham-fisted level. Which in my opinion made this version of Leon 10x better for me and had me grinning ear-to-ear during Leon's one-liners.

The reason why I'm so happy is that Resident Evil is, as I've described in the past, a campy Japanese zombie soap-opera and none of that would have been possible without the voice actors/actresses. The way that people basically rebelled when they found out Allison Court, who had voiced Claire Redfield in basically every piece of media she was in up until Revelations 2 is a good example. Albert Wesker absolutely would have not been the iconic villain that he is without D.C. Douglas gives him Nicholas Cage-levels of ham and camp in RE5. Literally all of the original Resident Evil is a gold mine of horribly, HORRIBLY translated one-liners and they are all absolutely magnificent.

With Resident Evil and the fandom itself it genuinely feels like a family we have with not only the devs but the voice actors and the content creators. Nick Apostolidies was genuinely one of us in the fandom who was around on forums and when hearing that he landed the role in the RE2 Remake it felt like that scene in Inside Out where Bing-Bong cheers on Riley from the bottom of the pit of darkness. When Suzie aka The Sphere Hunter aka The Queen of Survival Horror interviewed Nick on a charity stream during the pandemic Nick had mentioned when he had gotten the role of Leon, he had reached out to the late Paul Haddad, who had originally voiced Leon in the original RE2 and had received not only Paul's encouragement but his blessings in playing the role of Leon. When Paul Haddad passed back in 2020 it sent shockwaves through the fandom. It genuinely felt like we had lost a part of our family.

The reason why the fandom was so vocal about their distaste in Revelations 2 wasn't because Claire's voice actress did a bad job, on the contrary, she did a fantastic job. It was because it wasn't Allison Court, who at that point had voiced Claire Redfield in every title and piece of media that Claire was voiced in up until that point. Resident Evil 2, Code Veronica, Darkside Chronicles, and multiple movies too. We hang on so frustratingly tight to these characters and the people who breath life into that that we get irrationally upset when things change or things go bad.

Which leads into my next point in this post. As much as I am praising the work of actors like Nick. I do want to shed light and recognition towards Lilly Gao. Who unfortunately as of late has deleted her Instagram because of fan backlash to a "mediocre" performance in the RE4 Remake. The hatred and backlash that Lilly has received is disgusting and uncalled for. I will admit they have toned down Ada's role in the remake but people outright saying she ruined the game? Absolutely uncalled for. This isn't Lilly's first go around at Ada either. It definitely is motivated by the fact that 1. Lilly is a woman but 2. Lilly is an AAPI woman and that makes her the target of unnecessary and unneeded criticism and attacks. Much moreso than her white counterparts would experience. I almost want to say that this behavior is new and is unheard of for the fandom but unfortunately that just isn't the case. While I am hoping we do see more from Ada and Lilly I don't know. What I do know is that we should all be rallying around the entire cast but especially Lilly. This remake is absolutely fantastic and even though her role may have been smaller, you physically cannot have Resident Evil 4 without Ada Wong.

*Update* I just found out through a user that DC Douglas actually groomed people. So we are absolutely aren't going to be singing his praises anymore. My apologies for bringing it up but I was messaged on this post and I genuinely did not know that this had occurred.

[via01lactea]

hai! speaking of RE’s storywriting, I’d like to hear your thoughts on what you personally think is the best, and worst story in the franchise? (Remake games included) :o

🚨First of all, thank you so much for this ask 🫶

Okay so, I'll list the games I've played first:

RE1 remake (Jill scenario)

RE2make

RE3make

RE4 og

RE4 remake (+ DLC)

Revelations 1 and 2

RE 5

RE0 (not finished)

RE6

RE7 (+ Chris and Zoe'sDLC)

RE8 (+ Rose DLC)

As you can see, I can't speak for much for the original trilogy + Code Veronica (1-3) because I haven't played them, I know very specific things and the story in general, but I haven't played them.

The worst is definitely RE6, by all means. The only campaign I genuinely liked was Chris' and that’s because I like his dynamic with Piers, but everything else? RE6 doesn't work because it tries to do everything and doesn't end up nailing anything down. Having so many playable characters may sound like a great thing, but everyone's time is so limited that none of them feel complete.

On better storytelling,

I would like to give more credit to Ethan's saga because I love that character (cof cof I have daddy issues cof cof cof) but other than that we control someone outside of the main cast it offers...nothing substantially interesting story-wise.

And I would LOVE to give the spot to RE2make because my critical sense goes with that game, but I won't. Because there was wasted potential there. Still, I think the characters and how Leon and Claire's campaigns are developed respectively are fine and respect the essence of these characters giving them even more charisma than they had in the originals in my opinion.

And finally answering the question I must say RE4make.

And it's no surprise to anyone, I think it's a popular opinion. When I touch RE4 og again I'm surprised because now my mind instantly thinks about the remake first and I've only finished it about...2 times?

But think about it, you have your protagonists: Leon and Ashley, their personal conflicts are simple but completely understandable and even relatable. The dynamic between them is so organic that sometimes I get the impression that they had more interactions than were written.

RE4's story has always felt like fanfic to me (lol) but Leon and Ashley hold that simple story to give us something memorable and it closes on all sides.

Even Ada and Luis who are secondary characters have their moment to shine (DLC for Ada). The writers saw these characters and said "Let's make each character to have something to say" and everything they said was consistent and fair.

[coolcattime]

.🧩🍦🐇.

🧩 What will make you click away from a fanfic immediately?

Not having paragraphs or not having grammar - especially when the description did.

Also, villainizing characters for no good reason, but this one is harder for me to define. Like it seems to depend on my mood so I think it's more of my “She would not fucking sat that” thing that disliking villainizing. I've like got better things to do than read fics making my favourites into pricks and not tagging them as either villains or the fic as salt fics (you tag it, go nuts because then I know what to expect).

🍦 Name three name things about a character you hate

Typically I'll try to make these questions about Mianite, but I don't actually hate any Mianite characters - if I hate a character I'm not going to write fanfiction with them in it. So here's three nice things about Chris from Until Dawn - a character that went through a similar journey in my years of interacting with the character as Jordan (I ship this straight ship -> this man is a dick to his “girlfriend” and she gets to be gay now as a treat), but didn't have the redeeming qualities for me to not want to explode him with my mind.

It is genuinely very nice how much Chris cares for Josh, even post the reveal of the prank. He can die trying to bring him to safety and if that isn't being a good best friend I don't know what is

Regardless of my feelings about them as a couple “Every second I spent with you was the only thing I ever wanted to do with my time” is a genuinely really sweet line

I really like his interactions with the Flamethrower Man. Just the whole little walk to the shed with him. I stood around to hear more dialogue from the two. And the fact that he will always defend him in the police interviews if he survives is nice.

🐇 Do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or both?

Original characters, without a shadow of a doubt.

I have a very unfortunate problem that whether I see my name in a piece of media, I am then unable to take it seriously. In fact, my name was originally used in a good number of fics for Capsize, back when giving her a normal name was popular, and god did I spend so much time giggling because “tehehe that's me”. No, I can't read reader inserts with (y/n) stuff because of that - so I definitely couldn't write one.

Originally characters though, I have so many and I write and them all the time. I understand this question is likely about them being put into universe with canon characters which I don't tend to do but a) I do have an idea for a crossover with my OC verse and Mianite I'm just too lazy to write something that would require a ton of character description and world explanation right now and b) one of my OCs has a canonical crush on Leon Kennedy (and Claire Redfield and probably Ada Wong) and I'm above making them kiss (did this crush start off as a joke that she'd find RE4 relatable because she is a rich girl body guarded by a powerful person named Leon(tine) YES but I'd like her meet and kiss Leon to make her happy).

[marashi96art]

Since I laughed at you for not having the anon asks on, I'll ask you a question. :P

Aside from Titanic, what other movies inspire you when drawing Cleon?

I love Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock so much that I want them to be my celebrity parents. But they are just best friends and always have been this way since they worked on the film Speed (1994), and The Lake House (2006) 12 years later.

When I first got into Cleon, they were the only "couple" in my mind and I have been preaching this ever since. I think they are my core of Cleon, and I rewatch Speed every month lmao.

I've also mentioned a few movies on my AO3 log, and here are MORE honorable mentions:

Action Movies:

Point Break (1991) Someone recommended me to watch Fast & Furious series for RE AU(and I have), but this movie is the OG of F&F series.

The Gray Man (2022) Kickass power couple saving a little girl, together. I use it for RE4 era ref, and I kinda have a reverse AU of Claire being trained to be an FBI agent to follow her brother's steps and Leon is just a random college boy.

Mission Impossible series I was talking with my friend about how Hollywood cliche Capcom can be.

RED (2010) & RED 2 (2013) If RE9 is about the OG team reunion like DI, they will be exactly like these movies, grandpas & grandmas still kicking ass.

Fantasy & Rom-com:

One Day (2011) Friends to lovers…The drama. In fact, my newest art has used this for ref, and you will see it in 2 days.

Now and Then (1995) Teenage Cleon. Childhood neighbors, enemies to friends to crushes lmao.

What Maisie Knew (2012) Spoiler alert I'm planning to draw a series of this. I'm not into Cleon having children but if they are, I'll do it my way ;)

Life as We Know It (2010) Enemies to friends to lovers again. And raising a baby together.

No Strings Attached (2011), Friends with Benefits (2011) Not really into FWB Cleon but you writers kinda like to write this? So I rewatch them recently, well, it could work.

The Mummy (1999) You cannot tell me Rick O'Connell didn't reference Leon's design. Again, gonna draw this soon.

The Huntsman: Winter's War(2016) Pretty average, I only use ref for outfit design but Jessica Chastain is so beautiful in this. (But my ideal live-action Claire is Rebecca Ferguson, just FYI)

Far and Away (1992) LMAO I've always thought of this movie as the prequel of Titanic.

Angst:

Drive (2011) My favorite movie of all time. And I saw someone already draw it, I reblog it to my main account a few days ago. I will draw another one soon, my fav scene is not the elevator scene so, no worries.

Marriage Story (2019) Literally just rewatched it last night. I love the arguing/fighting scene so much, and it kinda suits my idea of how Claire will leave Leon for his drinking problem.

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) I don't know why this movie got so much hate, but I think the part when Steve came back and later Diana has to let him go…Inspired me to draw Cleon.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) Directed by David Fincher. It's more for Claire honestly. But the Scandinavian scenery is something I long for.

Sci-fi:

Oblivion(2013), Edge of Tomorrow(2014) Both staring Tom Cruise. And I regret that I didn't go to the theater for both of them, at the time I thought the posters were boring, but they turned out to be really good, at least for my taste.

Not gonna put Romeo and Juliet (1996) on the list bc I don't use Leonardo DiCaprio for my Leon when drawing, I use Brad Pitt more, for he has a better fashion sense haha. Claire Danes is already perfect.

Some TV shows as well:

Full House (1987-1995) Uncle Jesse & Aunt Becky, just search them on Pinterest.

My So-Called Life (1994-1995) Angela Chase & Jordan Catalano. I Only use Jared Leto's appearance for ref; characteristically speaking, Leon is more like Brian in this show.

Peaky Blinders (2013-2022) For Noir outfit or Mob AU cuz why not?

Rougue One (2016 movie), Andor (2022) I love Star Wars and fuck…Cassian and Jyn are so Cleon-coded! I'm mostly into SW fashion, they have some dope jackets in Andor. Seriously go watch, Andor is as good as The Last of Us.

Ride with Norman Reedus (2016-) They got some cool bikes in the first season and Cleon bike date on PCH…My beach Cleon is inspired by this show actually.

I didn't even try hard to think about these and can still go on for days…Still, I think it's good enough for one ask for now hehe.