#sort of a chrono thing

[silent-partner-412]

it’s such a treat when you finally get to a classic game that you’ve been meaning to play since you were a kid and it’s every bit as good as everybody says it is and has aged like a fine wine… anyway chrono trigger is fucking awesome, i’ve enjoyed every minute of it so far and i’m like ten hours in

#chrono trigger #i just got past the crypt area thing and beat the magus fight #the whole thing has been such a delight #i was so scared to try it cuz i was worried it would fall into all sorts of retro rpg traps #but it really hasn’t!! the design of this game honestly feels almost ahead of its time #and it’s fucking beautiful to boot #i can’t wait to keep playing it

[ask-eden]

Alaxia begins laughing hysterically, but still trying to continue speaking Alaxia: That just HAhah.,.,. THAT JUST AHHAHAAa.a.. HAPPENss..S OMETIME AHAHAHAHAhAAA Oh my GOD Alaxia covers his mouth with both hands to try and avoid laughing further His earlier painful outburst, seems to have calmed down For now. It still...... lingers. Deep within the back of his head, feeling like claws raking the back of his skull The alcohol barely masks the thing inside, desperately trying to rip its way out. Yet, Alaxia remains calm. Happy even. He begins to purr and leans back into his arms. Alaxia: I'M fINe... Heeeheeee~ I'M FINE IM FINE... Alaxia begins to laugh to himself under his breath a bit, covering his mouth once more to try and hide that he's giggling. Much how like a child would hide their laughter. He is failing terribly -- -- -- [ Alaxia is now Intoxicated ] [ Anon ] [ Background by @/sinnohsiblings ] Mod note: This doesn't effect ongoing interactions or anything previously set up. If a interaction set up from before continues, he will not be drunk. This is for most things going forward.

#chrono #alaxia #sfw #pokemon ask #pokemon ask blog #alcohol #drunk #intoxication #mew #I WARNED YE #also DO let me know if I need to tag drunk related things with anything more! I did the basics #and again I want to reiterate in case: He is not a violent drunk or anything of that sort. I wont be diving into that I promise #because I know that can be triggering. he's just. gonna be fucking stupid #alt text to be added #add alt text

[volfoss]

Idk if this is an unpopular take but my god modern batman is SO bad and abysmal

#twist rambles #i choose to blame frank miller. due to the horrors of the dark knight. but also bc like. NOTHING thats modern batman seems promising #like irt last rb but also court of owls stuff bc. well. Batman authors try not to be racist or antisemitic challenge FAILED #like its wild to me bc im not even post new 52 in my batman Chrono bc it is ALL so bad rn that i have no motivation to continue. #millers writing is just like. that bad. that it makes me not even remotely want to read any batman stuff bc he literally just tossed the old #bat characterization out the window and was just like ok. make him edgy and a fascist. is it clear i hate miller yet. #which tbh I feel this sort of thing happens w popular characters a lot of like as more time goes on the worse the writing gets. which is why #i prefer smaller/lesser known characters a lot of the time. the harley chrono was a hell unlike anything else.

[xx-hail2theking-xx]

He is kind, and a good friend.

And hello, Lucifer! (^ω^ )

Honestly? I don't know anything about how demon's treat their wounds. You regenerate so quickly that many wounds probably don't need any special treatment. The need for disinfectant or stitching seems... unlikely.

But what about setting bones? Using splints? Wrapping bruised or broken ribs to keep them from shifting too much while they heal?

That's where I come in!

We usually use angel bones for splints, but... well, I tied together some asteroid chunks, and that seems to work well enough for now.

It's mostly a matter of making sure nothing heals the wrong way. And applying what little healing magic we have.

#I never paid attention to this sort of thing before. #It's... nauseating. But rewarding. #chrono #apple of your eye - lucifer

[rainydaydream-gal18]

(The Bad Batch) How He Is with His Newborn Baby

Hunter: He adores them and spends a lot of time holding them. Hunter is also really big on the whole skin-to-skin contact, so it becomes a common thing to see him walking around shirtless with the baby cradled snugly in one arm. He gets pretty good at performing tasks around the home with the baby. He's enraptured by the little one, but also very attentive to your needs. Hunter makes sure you take the time you need to eat, shower, and just have time to relax every now and then. Literally, any excuse to hold them some more, and he's giving it. He is good at rocking the baby in such a way that they fall asleep instantly in his arms.

Wrecker: The baby has him wrapped around their tiny finger already. He's already telling them how much he loves them and how proud he is. Wrecker also just spends time telling them all the fun things they're going to do together when they're old enough to walk, talk, etc. He is so unbelievably gentle and sweet with the little one in general, and also of course with you. He'll randomly stare at you and tell you how beautiful you are and what a good job you're doing.

Tech: This baby is not at the point where they can retain any information yet, but Tech spends plenty of time just talking to them. He talks about anything his mind can conjure up. The baby becomes so accustomed to the sound of his voice that it has quite the soothing effect. Additionally, Tech is very quick to pick up on the baby's cycle of needs. It gets to the point where they cry, and he can glance at his chrono and pinpoint exactly what they need according to the little schedule he's created. He also regularly checks the baby's weight, vitals, to make sure they're in good health. From time to time he voices yet again how fascinating the miracle of birth is and how proud he is of you, also checking your health.

Echo: Spends the first few weeks only holding the baby when sitting down. He can't get over how fragile they are, and he just sits there and stares at them as long as he can in amazement and adoration before they wake up from their nap or fuss about something they need. When the baby bursts into a fit of wails, he goes into a bit of a panic mode worrying about what's wrong. Eventually, he gets more comfortable and gets used to the idea that the baby is just communicating a need. It doesn't take long for him to become a professional dad. He gets pretty organized with the diaper bag and supplies so that he can just pull out whatever the baby needs at the drop of a hat.

Crosshair: He spends a good while just quietly holding the baby in his arms and watching them. Internally, he thinks they're absolutely precious and realizes he loves them so much. He already knew he'd love them, but he didn't realize it would feel like this. The baby is heart-wrenchingly cute, and he'd do anything to protect them. You come to find that he becomes more vocal, telling the baby in a sort of Crosshair-style sarcasm that they need to get their act together every time he has to handle a diaper change, feeding, etc. He's up with you at any hour day or night to help with the baby without a complaint, and regularly makes sure you're taking care of yourself also.

#the bad batch #bad batch imagine #bad batch headcanons #the bad batch hunter #the bad batch wrecker #the bad batch tech #the bad batch echo #the bad batch crosshair #crosshair x reader #hunter x reader #echo x reader #wrecker x reader #tech x reader #bad batch tech #bad batch echo #the bad batch x reader #bad batch crosshair #star wars the bad batch #bad batch hunter #bad batch wrecker #bad batch x reader #tbb #tbb x reader #tbb imagine #bad batch x you #thr bad batch x you #tbb x you

[owen-writes]

Goody-Two Shoes

11th Doctor x Gender Neutral Reader

The TARDIS hums softly as it materializes on an alien planet. You step out, the 11th Doctor at your side, his signature bowtie slightly askew.

"Alright, now listen carefully," the Doctor begins, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of excitement and concern. "We're here to retrieve the Chrono Crystal. It's in the catacombs beneath that ancient temple over there. Follow my lead, stay close, and, most importantly, don't touch anything."

You nod, eager to prove yourself as a valuable companion. Amy and Rory exchange glances, their expressions a mix of curiosity and skepticism. The Doctor takes the lead, and you follow his instructions to the letter.

As you traverse the dimly lit catacombs, Amy shoots you a sideways glance. "You're quite the goody two-shoes, aren't you? Always following the Doctor's orders."

You shrug off the comment, focusing on keeping pace with the Time Lord. The Doctor, however, seems pleased with your cooperation. "It's essential to follow instructions in these situations. Trust me, I've had my fair share of companions who thought they knew better."

As the mission progresses, Amy's jabs become more frequent. "Honestly, you're like the Doctor's little lapdog. Can't you think for yourself?"

The remarks sting, and you find yourself growing increasingly self-conscious. Determined to prove you're not as "lame" as Amy suggests, you decide to take matters into your own hands during a crucial moment. Ignoring the Doctor's warnings, you touch a peculiar-looking device, setting off a series of alarms.

The Doctor whirls around, his eyes widening. "What did I just say about touching things?!"

Your rebellious act results in chaos, drawing the attention of hostile creatures. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory engage in a frantic escape, and you realize your attempt to break free from the perceived mold has backfired spectacularly.

Later, in the safety of the TARDIS, the Doctor pulls you aside. "Alright, spill it. What's going on? That's not like you at all."

You sigh, feeling the weight of Amy's disapproval on your shoulders. "I just wanted to prove I could be more than the obedient one. Amy thinks I'm boring, and I don't want to drag the group down."

The Doctor looks at you with a mix of understanding and amusement. "Ah, Amy. She has a way with words, doesn't she? But you don't need to change who you are to impress anyone. I value you for being yourself."

Surprised by his sincerity, you open up about your insecurities. The Doctor listens intently, his expression softening. "You're not a lapdog or boring. You're reliable, and that's a rare quality. Trust me; I've traveled with all sorts. I chose you because I see something special in you."

Over the following adventures, the Doctor makes an effort to involve you more in decision-making, showcasing your unique strengths. Amy, while still a bit skeptical, begins to appreciate your contributions. As the TARDIS hurtles through time and space, you find solace in the fact that the Doctor values you not for your rebellious acts but for the person you are.

#doctor who x male reader #doctor who x reader #doctor x male reader #doctor x reader #the doctor x male reader #the doctor x reader #11th doctor x reader #11th doctor #eleventh doctor x reader #eleventh doctor #doctor who imagine #doctor who #the doctor x you

[pretty-prince-elliot]

when i heard the news of Akira Toriyama's death I was devastated. I wanted to make a tribute but I thought that anything I did would not even come close to representing what he meant to me, what he meant to everyone. what his work did to people, the sort of joy it brought into people lives. every time something bad happens and I feel horrible I'd always go online, watch an episode of dragon ball, play some chrono trigger, etc. and it would always calm me down instantly, no matter what happened, no matter how bad things got. so I decided to just do something, I owe him that much at least

and this is the result

may the other world be kind to you, you will be missed

#dbz #dragon ball z #dragon ball #fan art #akira toriyama #rip akira toriyama #rest in peace #goku #son goku #absolutely devastating #rest in peace akira toriyama #rip

[stillness138]

where are characters from the first Hades game now, and some other character-centric theories:

inspired by this post by @thebuttsmcgee

so from the technical test gameplay stream we learned that Chronos straight up took over the underworld and kidnapped not only Hades, but Zagreus and Persephone too. out of the underworlders from the first game, Charon is still doing his thing in secret, Skelly returns in a new coat, the Wretched Broker is back too, and Hypnos is the only other guy from the House who's hiding at Hecate's hub, but he's also fast asleep...

personally, i think Hypnos might be cursed or something like that. Chronos using Hypnos's schtick against him? lose time by sleeping through it all? or maybe he just wakes up a bit later. hell, maybe he's always asleep during the test but not the final game because he would've dropped a spoiler or something.

so what about the rest?

assuming they're not all imprisoned somehow,

-Nyx and Thanatos: they could've fled to Chaos. a narrator's note at the Crossroads says that it houses 'those still loyal to lord Hades', but doesn't necessarily say 'all of them'. Nyx visits Chaos in the first game once their relationship is mended, and like the post i linked said, Than would've probably tried to protect the family and the House for as long as he could. but in the face of no other option, i think Chaos would be a viable place to flee to for the two of them, out of Chronos's reach similarly to the Crossroads. Than also visits the surface though, so maybe he'll show up at the Crossroads at some point? maybe in a plot point, trying to help Mel free Zag and the fam? both of them are important enough to warrant an appearance.

-the Furies: my idea is that all three of them were forced to serve Chronos. they're a very important part of security and upkeep down there, i think he would've wanted the realm's employees on his side. i don't however think they're going to be the bossfight between Asphodel and Tartarus. they, or Meg alone, should have some presence however.

-Sisiphus: it would be kinda cute if the furies went behind Chronos's back and helped to tuck Sisiphus away somewhere safe, given that he is loyal to Zag/the family and maybe that'd mean they were ordered to torture him again. depends on what Chronos's rule over the underworld looks like for the different shades there, but Melinoë speaks to the few that hang around at Crossroads in an almost comforting manner, so i imagine Chronos is trying to rule by fear and get shades on his side that way. Bouldy's gonna be sad, but fine. i hope. but at least a mention would be nice.

-Achilles and Patroclus (and Theseus&Asterius): ...they're probably separated again, aren't they... brainstorming now, i like (pain and) the idea that they're both in Elysium, just not together. because i think Elysium would've risen up as an army of sorts trying to oppose Chronos, given it's all warriors and heroes. separated by war. Nemesis having Stygius with her makes me believe Achilles could be wielding Varatha. additionally, Theseus being forced to step up and put his vanity aside, delicious idea i think. also, Mel arriving to this supposed paradise only to find it in a desolate state. all of them, i think, should be at the very least mentioned too.

-Orpheus and Euridice: they could be both hiding or imprisoned or forced to serve, but. what if this time it's Euridice who's looking for Orpheus. he's at the house and at Chronos's whim, while she makes it to the Crossroads and asks Mel for help. it'd be a shame if they were never heard from again.

-Cerberus: probably locked up with the fam :( orrr he's running wild all around the realm and Chronos is literally incapable of taming him. that would've been fun. Cerberus bossfight tho... nah. no way he wouldn't see something familiar in Mel. but it could be fun too if done right. he definitely has to reappear.

-Dusa: wild theory time but she's hiding in the rafters, spying on Chronos. :D. if the situation is much more dire, she's either also forced to serve, or even banished into Asphodel to be with the other gorgon heads. either way i think she'll pop up again in some capacity.

-House Contractor, Head Chef, Resource Director: probably unwillingly continuing their jobs under Chronos's rule. although the chef might've lost his job, depends if Chronos like, eats normal food. well mostly onions and fish but still. alternatively, the chef will also show up at Crossroads like the Wretched Broker does.

-THE GOOD SHADE from Elysium: okay war hero good shade arc when? i'm sorry, but i love them.

some other ideas, theories and wishes:

-the obvious one is Hera, like many others i also hope she will appear as a major boon giver.

-i have a feeling, however, that Hermes might not. it seems a bit that Artemis and Selene are filling up his role as the little bit specific boon giver, but maybe i'm wrong. Artemis provides crit boons just like in the first game and Selene has a bit more of a Chaos vibe to her. let's see.

-i do think, or would like it if, Chaos shows up, but not as a boon giver. but i believe they would definitely have something to say about Chronos's actions.

-back to Hermes though... there's that sealed staircase that leads upwards from the Crossroads. people have already been theorizing this, but there might seriously be a section of the game taking place on Olympus, or at the very least somewhere under it. still, i don't think Hermes would be a boon giver either if he does appear. i would however like to see him interact with Charon.

-the Fates will, i think, remain obscure, even if Moros has more of a connection to them. maybe they'll be mentioned and explored a bit more, but i wouldn't count on them appearing by themselves.

-i would however like to see at least one more of Nyx's kids. originally, i also hoped Erebus himself ever shows up personified, but i like what they've done with it as a place.

Eris is i'd say the biggest contender, given that she's namedropped in the first game through a weapon aspect and a purchasable item. maybe she's even boss material (again, if Nemesis has the sword, Eris may wield the rail).

-same thinking can be applied to Ariadne (she lives with Dionysus on Olympus, does she not?), Talos (giant robot made by Hephaestus, how cool is that), and Lamia (snake lady with personal history with Zeus and Hera, would even make for a cool boss too i think, although i always viewed her as a more melancholic figure. but i'm just spitballing here). there are also Atlas, Prometheus and other names on Charon's many items, those are less likely to make an appearance imo.

-Talos also obviously has a weapon aspect in the first one, and then there's Chiron. in myth, he is the son of Chronos. the juiciness of that situation, given he has a relationship with Achilles and Patty as well... perhaps he'll be Elysium's miniboss in the spirit of Asterius? or straight up a main boss? or actually a friendly? i really hope they did something with him, the potential is so very there.

-i think Daedalus will remain present just in name and spirit.

-now that i'm on the weapons though, for all we know there might not be such a thing as weapon aspects (at least not tied to specific figures) in Hades 2, but if there are, including hidden aspects, i'd like to see nods to more of other world mythologies/histories/cultures, like Egyptian, Japanese, pre-columbian American or Slavic.

-this brings me to keepsakes and companion plushies, if they're in the game at all and if so, who gives them out.

keepsake-wise, beside the olympians, Hecate is obvious, as well as Odysseus, and Nemesis and Moros are too. Arachne and Skelly also. Charon seems likely, so does Dora. maybe Hypnos if/when he wakes up. Selene, probably.

i'd say, if companions are a thing, it's also up to Nemesis and Moros, Odysseus, maybe Hecate, likely Arachne, and if there's 6 of them like last time, the final one will be from either Dora or someone we haven't seen yet. or Hecate doesn't give one (she's pretty op for a summon) but Skelly does.

-this also ties into romance! it's been deduced a long time ago, right when the trailer came out, that Nemesis and Moros are very likely romanceable. i also see the appeal and potential of romancing Dora, and from the technical test, i like Melinoë's friendship with Artemis. Hypnos's presence at the Crossroads is interesting from this point too, but i wouldn't guess he'll be romanceable if/when he wakes up.

there are more details to speculate about, especially in gameplay and resources (boss room rewards! the equivalent of nectar/ambrosia to give characters!) but i wanted to keep this mainly about the npcs.

honestly curious what other people are saying!

#hades the game #hades 2 #shut up elis #this got longer than i anticipated

[patchwork-crow-writes]

Thoughts on Kris x Ralsei

This is so long I had to split it up into parts - this is Part 1, which looks into how the roles that Kris and Ralsei are given contributes to the idea of their romance. As more parts are written, they'll be linked below in this handy-dandy TOC!

Part 1: And They Lived Happily Ever After <- (You Are Here!) Part 1.5: I Believe Your Choices DO Matter Part 2: A Pair of Star-Cross'd Lovers Part 2.5: In Another World, We Could Have Been (Just) Friends

Okay, so.

Wanted to elaborate a bit on my viewpoint of this ship, because I don't think it's something I've ever really discussed before and I think it's actually a very interesting dynamic (or at least has the potential to be, depending on where the rest of Deltarune goes).

So, Kralsei is cute, isn't it? It's fun to hug the fluffy boy and watch him melt into incomprehensible stuttering and blushing. All the little signs he's really, really into Kris, all the cute little snippets of dialogue you can initiate with him, all the alone time they spend together, in both chapters... honestly, the game makes it hard not to root for this pairing.

And yeah, it's cute... in a very surface-level, don't-think-about-it-too-hard kind of way. But once you start thinking about it... hoo boy. There is. A LOT to unpack here. So much more is going on just under the surface, and once you see it, it's difficult to un-see it. And in my opinion, it makes the Kralsei dynamic so much more nuanced, more compelling, and potentially quite tragic.

Now, a disclaimer: it's fine to like this ship on a surface level. No real harm is being done, these are fictional characters and it doesn't matter what reason you enjoy it for - if it provides comfort to you and gets you through, then more power to you! This is more me sorting through my thoughts on the subject and is not a judgment on how others approach it. With that said, and in the spirit of full disclosure, this will go into slightly uncomfortable territory - picking apart the idea of destined love, the deconstruction of common romance tropes, how outside manipulation might play a part, and even the potentially incest-adjacent nature of the relationship. If you don't want to deal with any of that, you can stop reading right now, and that's okay. Please continue to enjoy Deltarune in the manner that is best for you, and thank you for your attention thus far :)

If you're still with me, then please click the read more and we'll get started.

Part 1: And They Lived Happily Ever After

The first thing you have to understand is that Deltarune is utterly determined to cram the notion of Kralsei down the player's throat. The game is not subtle about this in any way, shape or form. Everything from the narration, to the dialogue, to major game events, to item interactions, and even the roles that Kris and Ralsei play both in the story and the party, serves to reinforce the notion that these two are very likely to end up romantically involved with each other in some way.

Let's look at the characters first. Kris is portrayed as the noble knight - stoic, unwavering, courageous, a natural leader - clad in medieval-inspired plate armour and wielding a sword and shield. And Ralsei is the archetypal princess - demure, dainty, kindhearted, nurturing - who uses magic to heal his allies and pacify enemies.

I did not mistype there - Ralsei is a prince, but the characteristics associated with him are more commonly found amongst female healers in JRPGs. Think Fina from Skies of Arcadia, or Marle from Chrono Trigger (minus the temperment), and you might have an idea of what I'm on about.

Think of knights and princesses for a moment. Imagine St. George slaying the dragon to save a helpless damsel. Imagine Lancelot and Gwenevere. Robin Hood and Maid Marion. Link and Zelda. Squall and Rinoa. Every single fairy tale involving an imperilled princess and a knightly rescuer. For a more modern take, imagine The Bodyguard. Ness and Paula. I could go on, but then we'd be here all day.

Suffice it to say that there is a pretty entrenched tradition surrounding these archetypes - a male-coded, phsyically-adept, courageous, stoic, action-oriented figure, is paired with a female-coded, magically-adept (depending on the medium of course), less-physically-capable by comparison, emotional, and more passive foil. The (male-coded) knight protects and rescues, the (female-coded) princess nurtures and soothes.

It is a very, VERY emotionally-charged dynamic, by its very nature. Through their acts of service to their protectee, the Knight displays their devotion and care for the Princess, and is in turn emotionally-enriched and cared-for. There is a great deal of physical and emotional vulnerability between them, and it is therefore ideal for romance stories.

Look at Kris and Ralsei again, through this lens. Kris is immediately put into the role of Knight, and Ralsei quickly establishes himself as a classic Princess. Almost instantly, before you've even become aware of it, you've made the connection - they're going to fall in love, because that's what ALWAYS happens in these stories. Ralsei supports and encourages Kris, both in dialogue and in battle, and Kris...

...Kris, uh...

...they...

...hug Ralsei sometimes...?

...they... they give him a ribbon...?

...no, that can't be right.

But it is right, for two reasons. One, Kris doesn't have to do anything. The roles are already established, and Ralsei is playing his part like a pro. And two, Kris doesn't do any of those things in the first place - you do. It's the player who hugs Ralsei, who gives him the ribbon, who picks the dialogue options, who makes the connections. You're the Knight in this scenario, not Kris.

Because Kris doesn't get to make that choice. Kris has to do what you tell them to do. And many of us have already jumped to the conlusion that this romance is happening, becuase that's what always happens. The Knight and the Princess fall in love. They get married. They live happily ever after.

So we ship them, because hey, it's cute, and it's easy. I can't stress enough how easy the game makes this. I'm fairly convinced that Ralsei was designed by comittee, like the Funzo toy in that one episode of the Simpsons. Like he was created with the sole purpose of being the most disgustingly adorable, lovable, awkward little cinnamon bun that ever existed. Like he was created to generate the maximum emotional response in players. It's the cuteness response dialled up to 11, and we are almost hard-wired to want to protect this little bundle of fluff from any and all danger, because lookit how sweet and adorable he is! The glasses make his eyes look all big, his fluffiness is reminscent of that of baby animals, he stutters and fumbles his way through dialogue, and you just want to scoop him up and put him in your pocket or something.

And so, we're more than happy to fulfil the role of the Knight to Ralsei's Princess. Whether Kris actually wants to or not. Because it does become increasingly obvious that outside of our influence, Kris is still their own person, with their own goals and desires, but no real agency with which to pursue them. Would that we could know what they truly want, but we are never presented with an opportunity to find out.

The thing is, Kris is not particularly... knightly. They play pranks on their friends, they swipe sweet treats from their mother, they seem to enjoy getting a rise out of people, and particularly from Asriel, if the story about "dropping the lizard into the pit to jump higher" is any indication. They sleep through class, yet by Berdly's grudging admission they are the "third smartest in the class". The only reason they go to church is so they can drink the "sick fruit juice". They don't seem to have any issue with prank-calling their mom, while she's taking about them with their tutor, while they're standing just out of sight, while they're balancing a trash orb on their head.

Nothing about this behaviour screams "Knight." If anything, it would make more sense for Kris to have become a Rogue-type character upon entering the dark world. So the question remains - why is Kris forced into that role? And to what extent is the seemingly "fated" romance between Kris and Ralsei part of that role?

Folks, we have barely scratched the surface here. If I keep writing here this will become a novel, so I have to stop for everyone's sanity. But I will follow up soon, looking into the ideas of Purpose and Destiny and how they relate to Kralsei in-game. If you've stuck with me up to this point, let me just say thanks, because wow I wrote a lot here, and it's probably a bit rambly and says the same things two or three times, but I just. Had to get this onto the page in some way or another, so... here it is.

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next one :)

#essay #thoughts #rambling #deltarune #kris dreemurr #Ralsei #Kralsei #Krisei #shipping #romance #character archetypes #Knights and Princesses #long post #Part one of several #oh my god there's so much ground to go over here I didn't even know #and we're only TWO CHAPTERS in #no wonder I'm obsessed #theory

[protemporescitor]

"But she ded tho" (a.k.a. the dumbest argument against Clerith) - A rant

To expand on my previous post, in which I posited the crazy, far-fetched theory that in a fantasy setting mayhap death is not the relationship brick wall that it would be in a more grounded, realistic one*, I just want to bring up a few points to further buttress this off-the-wall notion.

"Cloud can't be with Aerith. She's dead!"

We've all heard it a thousand times. It is the argument most commonly levelled against Clerith. It is also the worst (and laziest) one.

It's often delivered in a declamatory and glib fashion, as though it were some sort of obvious conversation ender. Q.E.D. End of debate. The ultimate gotcha. "Checkmate, Clerith fans!" the haters think to themselves, chortling and patting themselves on their backs for this profound insight. (Insert tasteless and juvenile comments about Aerith being "shish kebab-ed" by Sephiroth as desired.)

And all I can think is "That's it? That's your best argument? That's some weak tea, man."

Despite its myriad flaws, this idea continues to radiate throughout the fandom a good quarter century after the original title's release, as though it had never once been challenged. It is a feeble and untenable position, a house built on sand, and one that deserves to be thoroughly demolished. With Rebirth on the horizon, and all the shipping wars nonsense rising from the grave once more as a result, it is high time, if you'll forgive the expression, that we laid this cliché to rest once and for all.

(*Note: Even in a more "realistic" setting lacking any kind of fictional afterlife, this would still be a gross oversimplification of the story's themes of loss, regret, and yearning, as well as entirely ignoring the idea of love transcending death, but we'll set those concerns aside for the time being.)

Lastly, before we begin: This is not an anti-Zerith / CloTi screed. Those pairings both have an undeniable canonical basis. My aim here is simply to demonstrate that the notion that Cloud and Aerith are forever separated by death is rendered invalid by virtue of the type of setting that their story takes place in. (Something that, frankly, one would reasonably assume to be perfectly obvious. Alas, such is not the case. And so I find myself yet again pointing out the glaringly obvious.)

Now, without further ado, let's begin:

Part 1. Before (the Compilation) Crisis

In the beginning, there was the year 1997, and Squaresoft had just released their latest title. And lo, it was good. We spent days and weeks following our favorite polygon people around their embattled little globe. We fought, laughed, cried, and struggled up until the Meteor Crisis reached its crescendo, and the credits rolled. Gosh, what an ending! But what did it all mean? How did things REALLY turn out? Did we get a happy ending at all?

According to some, Cloud lived happily ever after with his childhood sweetheart, Tifa. According to others, he continued to roam the earth in search of his Promised Land to be reunited with his tragic lost love, Aerith. Yuffie swiped everyone's materia (again). Cid finally went to the moon. Red XIII opened a haberdashery in Costa del Sol, or something. No-one really knows for sure.

And so, the fandom began to spread to every corner of the internet in search of answers. Thus began the age of dissension. Opinions clashed across fanzines, blogs, and fanfic country alike. Wild fan theories abounded pertaining to special codes, methods, and blood rituals capable of bringing back our erstwhile flower girl. The fan-made media bubble surrounding the game turned into a lawless land of misinformation and vicious disagreement. None were spared.

A brief digression on why said rumours persisted for as long as they did (CAUTION: Massive spoilers for Chrono Trigger).

One side proposed a simple solution. A way to cut the proverbial Gordian Knot of our fandom. It was quite obvious, really. Just staring everyone in the face. The flower girl was dead, and that was that. Thus, there was only one possible conclusion to our narrative. Cloud's feelings on the matter were, of course, irrelevant. With Aerith out of the picture, the only logical choice left to him was to settle down with Tifa, and that was that. Never mind the themes of doomed, tragic love and the possibility, strongly hinted at throughout the game and outright confirmed during its ending, of existence after death.

Overall, direct evidence for said afterlife was scant, but not entirely absent from the story. As an example, at one point during her childhood, Aerith speaks to Elmyra, trying to comfort her, saying that the spirit of her husband wanted to come visit her, confirming that an afterlife presence did indeed exist. But for some, this simply wasn't evidence enough. And so the war raged on. Which brings us to…

Part 2. Advent Children: The smoking gun

Remember back when a certain portion of the fan base insisted that Gaia erased all the humans at the end of the story, on the flimsy basis that we don't see any during the game's brief post-credit scene? Well, that little theory was neatly undone by subsequent releases in the Compilation, showing regular ol' humans still roaming around Gaia in all their everyday human-ness. Hence, it is rarely brought up these days. Would that the pernicious notion of "but she ded tho" could follow in its footsteps, given that the same film roundly contradicts it in every way possible.

For starters, the film inexplicably bring two characters, Rufus and Tseng, hitherto assumed to be dead, back to life, probably in an effort by Square to shoehorn as many recognizable members of the cast into their animated feature as they could. But that's not all. Next we have three characters that everyone agreed were deader than doornails ALSO making appearances, first in flashbacks, and then directly influencing the world of the living. Zack speaks to and encourages Cloud during his struggle. Aerith reaches out to him (quite literally) from beyond the grave and assists him in defeating Bahamut. And of course Sephiroth pops back into existence just in time for his contractually-obligated boss fight near the end of the film. All three demonstrate quite clearly and definitively that death is not the impenetrable barrier to continuing interactions between the living and the dead in the world of Final Fantasy VII, as a certain segment of the fan base would have everyone believe it is.

To be blunt, I don't know what level of dense you'd have to be to keep up this so-called "argument" in light of this information. Advent Children reiterates what most of us already knew, that our story takes place in a fantasy setting* with a confirmed afterlife existence.

(*You'd think that the name of the series would clue people in.)

The notion that death represents, within the context of said setting, the ultimate end was already softly contradicted by the original game's narrative, and then (because that was apparently too subtle for some people) flat-out annihilated by the existence and events of Advent Children. It should have long since ended this nonsense. But somehow, it didn't. These revelations, obvious though they are, remain ignored for some reason. And so, the cycle of willful ignorance continues.

But we're not done yet. We now move on to more tangential, but still relevant arguments against this line of "reasoning".

Part 3. Stop Hitting Yourself: Why "but she ded tho" is insulting to everyone

And I do mean everyone. Let's examine this, shall we?

It's insulting to Cloud.

To suggest that he loses interest in Aerith the moment she sinks beneath the waters, or that he is obligated to move on simply because she is no longer among the living, with no mourning period, no time to work through his guilt and grief, is to portray him as shallow and uncaring, something that goes against virtually all the characterization that he's been given throughout the story. The line of thinking apparently goes "Well, she's gone. That sucks. She was cute, too. Better move on to the next available piece of meat."

Sounds pretty gross when you write the quiet part out loud, doesn't it?

It's insulting to Aerith.

"Didn't even toss the b@#h a Phoenix Down, just dumped'er in the water LAWL"

I'm sure you've all come across comments like that at some point, usually originating from some errant redditor or blogger. Thinking themselves fine fellows and enlightened, above-it-all gadflies, they provide us at length with this and other prime specimens of 14 year-old internet edgelord "humour" that carries about as much edge as a perfect sphere. Remarks like these serve little purpose beyond confirming my suspicion that our fandom is indeed plagued with illiterates who can't tell the difference between the terms "revive" and "resurrect", and insist on conflating game mechanics with storytelling. And you wonder why some people are confounded by words like "flammable" and "inflammable".

(All right, I'll put the salt down. For now.)

"The party's designated white mage dies, oh no, that's so sad, boo-hoo, life goes on," I hear you say.

But boiling Aerith's role down to one of merely that of a temporary party member who kicks the bucket halfway through the story, never to be heard from again, both cheapens her purpose within the larger narrative and denies the clear effect that she continues to exert, directly and indirectly, on it and the other characters after her passing.

Though Aerith may have departed the world of the living, the story makes it abundantly clear that her influence on it has not ended. There are hints here and there that she still tries to assist her friends from the afterlife. As an example, when the party rediscovers Cloud in Mideel after assuming that he might be lost for good, a villager sums it up best with the following remark: "That boy must have one hell of a guardian angel."

It's only mentioned as a vague hint in the original story, but it is clear that some beneficent force is acting on Cloud and Tifa's behalf, aiding them in their survival and uniting them in the Lifestream in order to help Cloud recover his memories. Later supplemental material confirms that to have been Aerith's doing. If that's not enough to convince you, though, the original game's ending leaves little room for ambiguity as to Aerith's continuing influence. When Holy sputters and fails, she coaxes the Lifestream itself to intervene, burning away the calamitous meteorite, helping her friends put an end to the planetary crisis long after her own demise. I suppose the lesson here for silver-haired godhead wannabe villains is this: Strike her down, and she shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

So the idea that Aerith's participation in the story immediately comes grinding to a halt upon her death is both puerile and easily demonstrated to be false. But even if that were the case, downplaying her lingering influence on Cloud and the other characters in this manner would still be ignoring the creators' intent. Whether one interprets Cloud and Aerith's relationship as romantic or merely platonic, it is clear that her death, the loss of one of his closest allies, is something that wounds him deeply, and scars him forever. Two years on, he still pines for her company and desires her forgiveness for his perceived failures. She clearly occupies a special place in his heart, and her memory and legacy live on within him, spurring him on as he wanders the planet, searching for some way to meet her again, defying the impossible. (Which, as we all know, isn't going to happen. This is, after all, Final Gritty Reality we're talking about here.)

Ah, but all of this is a moot point, you say? Even if he did wish to be with her, preferring the company of the last Cetra over that of his childhood friend… well, too bad. That's no longer an option. We can spout all of this verbiage about "soul pain" this and "star-crossed lovers" that, but at the end of the day, Aerith is still dead, and that's that. At least, that's what ardent CloTi fans will insist, no matter what. So, what is Tifa to Cloud, then, by their own logic?

Which brings us to perhaps our most salient, and most overlooked point, at least as far as CloTi shippers are concerned. If all that wasn't enough for you, you may want to consider that it's deeply insulting to Tifa, as well. Grievously so, in fact. Quite possibly more so than any other character in this whole equation. And the reason why should be plain as day if you stop to think about it for a fraction of a second.

Here's the thing… if you can't articulate why you think Cloud would prefer to be with Tifa in spite of Aerith being alive, then you are essentially declaring her the "winner" by default on no other merits than the fact that she's still sucking down air. Stating "but she ded bro" means relegating Tifa to the role of a consolation prize. I don't think I could ever hurl such a staggering insult towards her as her biggest fans keep doing, without even realizing they're doing it.

Ask yourselves, is that really what you want for your supposed favourite character? To frame her as being doomed to eternally play second fiddle to her fallen friend? Cloud's "plan B"? The "side piece"? Someone who only stands a chance if her rival in love is literally six feet under? I'm sure she'd be thrilled by the high regard in which her own fans seem to hold her. (Hey, you said it, not me. It's not my fault if you don't take the time to actually consider the ramifications of what rolls off your keyboard. But by all means, keep insulting your own favorite character just to put down a ship you don't like.)

In closing, if we unearth the subtext and reframe it to highlight what people are, in essence, saying, it's this: "It's a good thing that she-who-shall-not-be-named bit the dust, because otherwise our beloved Best Girl Tifa (tm) wouldn't stand a chance."

It's a simple enough question: Why do you think that Cloud and Tifa belong together? What, in your mind, makes them a good fit for each other?

"Well, the competish is dead." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for your best girl, now is it?

Part 4. "Heads, I Win. Tails, You Lose": A brief word on hypocrisy

In fandom, it's often the loudest and most obnoxious voices who tend to drown out the more reasonable ones, those of fans who are just minding their own business and grooving on the thing that they like. Which, unfortunately, renders this next part a necessary component of the greater argument that I'm trying to make. Multishippers and sane, reasonable CloTi and Zerith fans may consider themselves exempted from the following harangue.

The rest of y'all, buckle up.

The too-oft repeated refrain of "but she ded tho" entails a twofold hypocrisy. The first part is:

Case of Tifa: Fan hypocrisy regarding death.

Strident anti-Clerith fans, with their usual level of maturity, will often bring up Aerith's demise in a gleeful, mocking tone that can best be summed up as "ding dong, the witch is dead!" And if the shoe were on the other foot? If their Best Girl Tifa (tm) were the one pushing up daisies instead of Miz Gainsborough? Would they be quite so cavalier in their attitudes?

Who wants to bet that these fans wouldn't be making this "argument" so loudly if it was their ship that was in question? Consider this scenario: Suppose that the remake trilogy does the unthinkable and has Tifa die in Aerith's place. What then? Would they accept that "but she ded tho" is, at best, a double-edged sword, one that applies equally to their own favourite ship were their fortunes to be reversed?

Something tells me that's not the case.

But if you think that's hypocritical, you ain't seen nothing yet. This first point pales in comparison to…

The Zerith Exemption: Fan hypocrisy regarding the afterlife.

You know what my favourite thing about this whole debacle is? When people inform me that because they are separated by death, Cloud and Aerith have no hope of ever being together again. They will then unironically pivot to shipping Zack and Aerith, two characters who are together in the MOTHERFUCKING AFTERLIFE.

It's wild. How do you even compress that much cognitive dissonance into one skull? We're talking about mind-melting, Olympic medal-worthy levels of mental gymnastics here.

Now, before someone accuses me of being morose, I'm not suggesting that Cloud hop off the nearest cliff just to be with his beloved (Aerith would not approve of him throwing his life away, for one), just that when he reaches the end of his natural life (which may not be too long, given the cells eating away at his body), he can finally be reunited with her in the afterlife.

Many ardent CloTi shippers see themselves as bound by law to uphold Zerith as a shield against the dreaded Clerith plague. But to proclaim, implicitly or explicitly, that the afterlife encompasses one but not the other is not an idea that can be taken seriously. It remains an utterly bizarre blind spot, one that beggars belief.

On a related note, there is the infamous misconception that is…

Part 5. The ZaCloud Fallacy

While this is not directly related to my main point, I nonetheless find myself compelled to address this issue. There is a long-standing confusion that bedevils our fandom, one that has its roots in the Shipping Wars (tm). I am, of course, referring to the ZaCloud Fallacy.

We owe this particular misapprehension to Crisis Core, a prequel/gaiden game that was released ten years after the original FFVII. Already, its existence can mess up the timeline, so to speak, as, strangely, people tend to treat it as a sequel rather than a prequel, and as though it were adding new and vital building blocks to the world of FFVII instead of merely distorting the original story while retreading it with a far less interesting cast of characters. It also retcons major elements of the original story that it shouldn't have (such as the events taking place in Nibelheim five years prior to the main narrative), lazily steals Clerith scenes only to rehash them with Zack and Aerith, and forces players to endure, at length, crimes against literature, courtesy of Genesis.

It's an odd prequel, to say the least, given how heavily it relies on the original story for context. Sequentially, it may take place before FFVII, but it can only be fully appreciated with the original in mind; it cannot be treated as a stand-alone story. The worst thing about Crisis Core existing is that playing it first can outright ruin people's perception of the original narrative by spoiling several major plot elements and even lessening them in the process. Crisis Core's writers are especially guilty of cheapening dramatic moments like Zack's last stand by transforming it from a quiet, tragic, harrowing scene about sacrifice to an utterly over-the-top and emotionally overwrought trainwreck. It all merely serves to add to the confusion, especially for gamers who started with this title instead of the original.

But if that were not enough, Crisis Core's reckless meddling with the story combined with the acrimonious and all-consuming nature of the shipping wars has resulted in one of the most nonsensical misconceptions in the entire fandom. During Crisis Core's ending, Zack implores Cloud to carry on his legacy, thus giving rise to the erroneous assumption that Cloud's behaviour in disc 1 is merely that of him "being Zack". Clerith-hating fans, in particular, pounced on this idea as a way to put a safe distance between him and Aerith, characterizing their interactions, whether platonic or romantic, as merely a case of Cloud utilizing Zack's memories and personality around her (Never mind that Zack and Cloud's personalities are as different as night and day).

It is a fundamental and willful misreading of the story, a gross oversimplification of a more complex and granular truth in service of a fan-originated meta-narrative, one that has been assembled in order to reach the conclusion that Cloud and Aerith's relationship is null and void, and that therefore the romance between him and Tifa remains unchallenged. (Never mind that the story is intended as more than just some playground tug-of-war romance). To maintain this lie is to do violence to the story by destroying Cloud's character arc and reducing him to a virtual non-entity until the very end of the game.

Having already been rebuked in regards to this pervasive delusion, certain fans have tried to hedge their bets by suggesting a second, more advanced version of this idea. ZaCloud Fallacy 2.0, if you will, which states that Cloud is only in Zack Mode (tm) when he's around Aerith. I don't even know what to say about that sort of nonsense. To paraphrase Charles Babbage, I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such an assertion.

I'd go into this in more detail, but YouTube creator LinkOnTheBrink has already covered this topic extensively in their superlative video essay "How Shipping Can Ruin a Narrative".

It may seem like I'm trashing Zack or Zerith here, but I'm really not. That was never my intent. So let me be clear about this: I like Zack. I just hate Crisis Core and what it's done to this fandom. If you prefer CloTi and Zerith to everything else, I don't much mind. Ultimately, this isn't about shipping wars nonsense, but protecting the narrative from such nonsense.

And that leads us to…

Part 6. I Against I: Where the fandom went wrong

We all know that the infamous FFVII Shipping Wars (tm) are as stupid as they are inescapable. Anyone who's spent any time at all within this fandom has inevitably run afoul of them and their detritus at some point, whether they've chosen to participate in them or abstain from the whole debacle. But there's a reason why this acrimonious dispute has raged on for as long as it has. Much like Blade Runner fans would argue until they were blue in the face about whether or not Deckard was a replicant, fans of this story have been squabbling about CloTi versus Clerith for ages for similar reasons. (Zerith got roped in as a "political wedge", I would argue, as much as a pairing in its own right.)

It's more than just a war over shipping, it's a war over canonization, over character motivation and psychology. Of how we ultimately interpret the story and its characters. Given the vagueness of the story's ending, one can't help but wonder and speculate as to how everyone ended up afterwards. (Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus may have offered some answers, but they still largely sidestep these questions in a noncommittal, to-be-continued manner.)

The problem is that, for many fans, it isn't possible to simply say "It's my preference" and be done with the matter. Unlike most rarepairs and bananas pairings like Cait x Jenova, CloTi and Clerith remain hotly contested because they go beyond mere shipping, or even aesthetic preference, or which characters one most identifies with; they lie at the core of how we perceive the story and its inhabitants. In that sense, I don't consider it to be an entirely frivolous debate, just an unsolvable one.

So, what's the answer?

There's this long-standing piece of received wisdom about JRPGs vs. WRPGs, where the latter involves more freedom at the expense of focused storytelling, and vice versa. This idea might hold true to some extent, but it is not some iron law that must be obeyed without question. For a game like FFVII, choices that radically affect the narrative structure would be considered an aberration and not the norm. And yet, it might represent the only way out of this quagmire that doesn't involve throwing half the fandom under the bus in the process.

For me, Mass Effect and similar titles (e.g., Quest for Glory) have already presented an obvious solution: Let the players choose. (There is already some precedent in the form of the Gold Saucer scene, although it ultimately doesn't change the outcome of the story all that much.) It may not be a perfect solution, but I'd argue that it's far better than leaving one side out in the cold. At least this way, everyone gets something.

"Ah, but this is not feasible," I hear you respond. "Not for an Eastern-style RPG, at least. Only one of these pairings can be correct, and one must, above all, respect the creator's vision."

Yeah, look where that got us.

Part 7. As You Like It: Ship whatever you please (just stop this nonsense)

I realize that this little essay of mine has been digressive, rudimentary, rambling, extemporaneous, and scattershot. So let me try to reach some kind of meaningful conclusion here.

Much of this anti-Clerith rhetoric we've seen over the years seems to stem from a place of insecurity, whether it's murmuring "but she ded tho", claiming that Cloud was only ever Zack in disc 1, inventing a fictional sex scene underneath the Highwind from whole cloth, and so on… The thing is, there is no need for it. Clerith and CloTi both exist canonically. Even the game manual says as much, describing Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith's relationship as a love triangle. In other words, the love triangle is what's canon, and the rest is by and large up for interpretation. (Zerith also canonically exists, and we've known this since the OG.)

The true reason why this whole disagreement has gone on for eternity, I suspect, has less to do with any debate over canonicity alone than it does the sheer enmity and pettiness that it has continued to spark for so long. It has metastasized over the years, going from being a mere squabble over which pair is canon to an exercise in holding the other side in contempt. That endless cycle of disrespect and reprisals is undoubtedly where it all went wrong in the first place. (If I had a nickel for every time someone commented "but she ded tho" or "wHy iS zAcK bLoNd iN tHiS pIc?" when someone posts a piece of Clerith fan art, I'd have a pretty nice collection of coins by now.)

Obviously, we should all try to just click off when we encounter content that we dislike, but it's not always easy, especially when something we harbour a strong aversion to is so deeply enmeshed within something that we do enjoy. And so, our fight-or-flight instinct kicks in. Before you ask, yes, I'm as guilty of that as anyone else.

Still, I firmly believe that the occasional olive branch can go a long way. So let me simply say that I have the utmost respect for Tifa and Zack. They are worthy characters in their own right. So create and share all the CloTi/Zerith fan works your little hearts desire. Hire a fleet of skywriters to declare Zerith your favourite couple. Throw a giant CloTi parade through the middle of Times Square. We don't mind. Honestly.

As stated above, whether it's CloTi, Clerith, or Zerith, you can stop fretting over which one is canon; they all are. The other three permutations (Zakkura, Zifa, AerTi) don't get much in the way of canon acknowledgement, but they probably should at this point.

In the end, this is about saving the narrative from the shipping wars, as much as anything else. To say that you prefer CloTi or something else to Clerith is fine. To assert that Clerith doesn't exist in any form, however, is where I begin to take exception.

Ultimately, I say ship what you like. All I ask is that you retire this sort of narrative-wasting nonsense. It's time we threw it into the garbage can of gaming history where it belongs. As for questions of motives, character interpretation, canonization, and so forth… if we cannot reach an accord, then let us at least try for a more amicable disagreement.

As for my fellow Clerith supporters, the next time you see the withered old canard that is "but she ded tho" being bandied about in the wild, feel free to laugh and treat it with the derision and contempt that it so richly deserves.

#final fantasy vii #ffvii #ffvii rebirth #final fantasy vii rebirth #final fantasy 7 remake #clerith #cloud x aerith #rant #final gritty reality #but she ded tho #spoilers

[cyb-by-lang]

The Once and Future Thing

Summary: So, remember how the first Justice League Unlimited season finale was a time travel adventure where Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Batman ended up chasing some goober named David (or Chronos) around as he mangled the timeline with his crappy decisions? All the way back to the Old West, and to a version of Batman Beyond's future Gotham.

Here, Kei got dragged along.

Notes: So having a multi-hour obsession take hold is an interesting time. Here, take the product of my brain deciding to momentarily jump tracks.

Kei had been prepared for a lot of potential ways the future could twist in circles when the timestream was being actively manipulated by some opportunistic creep with an inferiority complex. Like, there was a level of petty, thoughtless bullshit that was only really possible for the most banal sort of everyday evil. The kind of guy who went time traveling around and dropped dinosaurs in cowboy land because he got mugged in the past…well, he fit the bill. Heading through time portals to chase after a guy like that wasn’t just heroism—it was basic self-preservation.

Chronos couldn’t be trusted with ultimate cosmic power. She wouldn’t have given the man a goddamn hamster and expected to see it alive a week later. 

This was surreal enough that all semblance of thought just fell out of her head. 

When the Future Justice League (obviously minus…most of them) arrived, squaring off with the cybernetically enhanced Jokerz gang members, she’d sort of expected them. Future Batman? Sure, it’d been long enough that the all-black suit with the red icon and flight bits was in circulation. Old Man Static? Okay, Kei had never met the guy personally, but it was cool to meet another electrokinetic after the Ultimen fiasco. And War Hawk! Neat that it confirmed the Hawkgirl-and-Green-Lantern relationship worked out in some fashion.

But the deceptively normal person that strode out of the darkness and made fully half of the super-Jokerz team back the fuck up? A shadow wearing a white ANBU mask. 

The crown of spikes was familiar. It was a rendition of something Kei had mocked up once, depicting Isobu’s face in all its spooky glory. Glimmers around the material pointed to some kind of future-tech modification, which stretched down the jaw and neck and into the rest of the dark suit. Kei saw the vaguest suggestions of her favorite sword, the belt of materials and scrolls she often carried, and a hood that made the mask stand out that much more, like a bloody promise.

Every one of the gang enforcers who backed up, Kei noted, carried at least one obvious cybernetic enhancement. And the hyena hybrid just fucking cowered.

“And here I thought the lesson I taught you might finally stick,” said a voice with a playful lilt and a Japanese accent, even years and years on.

“Shit—”

“Oh fuck, it’s her—”

“What is she doing here?!”

“I don’t know—”

The figure cracked her knuckles. Isobu’s chakra flared hot and hateful in a way it hadn’t been for years, centered squarely on the new arrival and creeping outward in a clear threat display. “Class is back in session.” 

09090

“Surprised to see me?”

“A little. I’m more surprised that I lived so long.”

Batman’s meeting with his older self was overshadowed solely because Kei didn’t really…get that far. Instead, a pair of worn but familiarly-scarred hands landed on her shoulders and dragged her away from that potential minefield. She’d only meant to ask if anybody else had made it this long, after hearing half the League had been shot out of space along with the Watchtower. 

Not all heroes coordinated there, after all. It could be a mercy. Kei at least meant to ask about the other Bats, though she knew the answer would probably be “You don’t wanna know.”

Instead, Kei sat on a dilapidated future high school desk while her captor explained, “—Now watching someone retcon cybernetic enhancement into reality in real time was annoying, but we’ve worked through that!”

Kei stared, lost for words.

“Who is…?” she heard Wonder Woman begin, only to stop short as the older woman turned around, popped off her mask, and grinned. 

Kei…wouldn’t say she’d aged badly. Her face more lines, and time had turned her hair super streaky with gray and white, and she’d picked up some more strange scars, but her spine was unbent and she didn’t look anywhere near Old-Batman’s age. Which made sense, since he’d started this whole drama as already in middle age, where Kei had been a teenager, like Static.

Was still a teenager. 

God, time travel fucking sucked. 

“Diana-san,” said Kei’s future self. “Nice to see you’ve cheated death and aging. You look good.” 

“Genbu, it’s good to see you survived amid the chaos,” said Wonder Woman, and extended a hand. As Old-Kei clasped forearms with her, her tense shoulders relaxed a little. “And that you’ve made a reputation for yourself here after all.” 

“Oh, it wasn’t so hard once I put my mind to it,” said… Okay, maybe she could be Genbu. It wasn’t like Kei had ever thought that one through, and now the other Kei had finders-keepers privileges by a lot. “I found it takes a few demonstrations to really make a lesson stick.”

“Why doesn’t that hyena guy have arms?” Kei burst out. 

“Because Woof thought he didn’t need to check for tripwires,” Genbu said, shrugging as she let go of Wonder Woman’s arm. She smiled again, all innocence. “I’ll get him next time.” 

Your future self has taken a proactive approach to some problems.

And weirdly, Kei thought with an edge of panic, I don’t want to know how she got there.

Kei had always suspected that her particular skillset made an excellent fit for a guerilla campaign. And here was a version of herself who made good on that potential. The fact that she’d lasted this long was simultaneously depressing and encouraging. On one hand, everyone must have died if she was still here to get old and cause trouble in a warped timeline. On the other, she’d survived. Her and Isobu, by the feel of things. 

What a fate.

“—Because we’ve already won! Think about it. If old Bruce is here, that means he already lived through this as Batman.” Oh, Static was talking again. “Not to mention Genbu’s mini-me. And yes, I do recognize those scars.” 

“Flawless logic,” Old Bruce bit out. “Except that I have no memory of ever going to the future or of meeting my older self, or of anything else that’s happening today.” 

“Those historical buildings we saw on the street—” Realization struck Batman square in the middle of the sentence. “The timeline’s been polluted.” 

“So polluted that history itself is becoming fluid.” 

“I could have told you that,” Genbu said, rolling her eyes. She flicked a hand out idly, and a kunai flew out of her bracer and into her palm in the same manner as New Batman’s batarangs. “But it’s like people stop listening when you get old.” 

“‘Oh, it’s that Chronos dipshit again’ doesn't convey anything helpful until the disaster already hits,” said New Batman. Or Terry. Kei didn’t know if she was allowed to call him that. “You can barely pull off ‘creepy and kooky aunt.’ Quit while you’re ahead.” 

“And who are you calling old? You’re barely two years older than me,” said Static, more amused than offended. 

“And that’s two years you’ll never get back.” Genbu snorted. “Terry-kun, if Woof wanted to keep his arms, he should have kept them to himself. The same goes for Ghoul,” Genbu replied, unashamed. She started cleaning under her nails with the point of the kunai. “Teaching the new generation is what I do best, you see.” 

Kei winced, though no one here seemed offended by Genbu’s flat refusal to dial down the violence. There weren’t any rules in this kind of war. And, unfortunately, it looked like the timeline turning into a pretzel guaranteed that there were no soft choices. Chronos had already stolen them all, and for what?

For nothing. What a selfish little bastard. The end awaiting him was almost too kind.

“So, about the Dee Dees…?” Kei asked, while the others argued for a little while. She’d noticed a pair of Raggedy Ann twins earlier among the gang members, but it had seemed a little gauche to go “wait, I retconned you out of existence by accident already” in the middle of a fight.

“Chronos’s fuckups ruined the timeline for everyone. Something, something, we’re all dead in a few hours if we don’t fix it.” Genbu had turned away from Wonder Woman and the others while they tried laying out missing bits of timeline, keeping her attention on Kei. Like some kindly old auntie who happened to carry her own weight in bombs instead of cookies. “But to answer your specific question: I think he pulled them out of some other branch and gave them duplication powers. Mostly, I’m too busy killing their copies to ask. Though I do hold out hope that, one day, they’ll realize multiplying by zero still makes zero.”

She looked entirely too proud of that.

It’s not like Kakashi’s here to make those bad jokes land. Which was a depressing thought, too. “And the Joker…?”

Genbu rubbed the back of her neck, where her high collar met her hairline, and tapped a fingertip where a microchip might have gone on Tim Drake at some point. “Irrelevant. Like most things.” 

Because either the timeline held strong with Kei’s interventions and that plot hadn’t gone through, or it had and it didn’t fucking matter because Chronos’s bullshit killed all involved parties but two. Since Bruce and Terry were around. Unmaking the space-time continuum beat out a washed up comedian/serial killer any day. No amount of orbital death lasers really compared. 

“Though I will say it has been interesting, hunting them down like rats.” Genbu’s expression was too placid to be trusted. Her eyes flashed red-gold, mirroring Isobu’s for just a moment. “I think they had…nine thousand members? Organized into two hundred cells or so at their peak and desperately in need of culling.” 

“I…guess that’s one way choose a hobby?” Kei mumbled, trying to edge away from her older self without making it obvious. She could have just used Body Flicker, but any shinobi who lived to fifty-something in fighting shape could and would pounce like a leopard on speed. 

“It keeps me active,” Genbu agreed cheerily, and let her go.

That was…one way to put it.

09090

“So, Tiny Turtle.” New Batman somehow drifted into her orbit, while both other Batmen worked on programming a solution for Chronos’s shit decisions. “Does being a seer count as a preexisting condition? Asking for a friend.” 

“For…the ban on talking about your own future?” Kei made a face at the nickname, but said, “I think you’re good.” 

“If Bruce doesn’t know what’s going to happen, I’ve been assuming you—or your older half—already do. So, is it true?” 

“I think that if Chronos wins, this whole thing is pointless anyway.” Kei shifted from foot to foot, trying not to think about the absolutely overclocked fūinjutsu options her future self handed off like they meant nothing. She could probably vaporize one of those cyberpunk Gotham monoliths by using four of them well enough. “So, the mission is to get the thingy to his time-belt. And if we’re lucky, history snaps back into place.”

New Batman took a moment to consider that option. “And if it doesn’t, we would never know.”

“On account of all being incredibly, retroactively dead, yeah.” Kei let out a long, quiet sigh. “If I’m anything like Genbu—and I hope I am—then I know we’re both up for trying to save the world. No matter the cost.” 

“Seems steep. There’s nothing for us without winning.” He rolled one shoulder. Maybe the cyber-suit wasn’t holding up as well against the time-cheated weaponry as he needed. “Chronos has been trying to kill us for forty years, one way or another. Guess it’s not really news at this point.” 

“Yeah. Still sorry this is ending up on you.” Kei flexed her hand. The sense-memory of almost getting her hands on that whiny little fucker still bothered her. Sure, making sure one of the Wild West heroes didn’t get eaten by a dinosaur was important, but… “I should have killed him when I had the chance.” 

There was a slight pause. “I thought—I guessed you threw out the hero rulebook when we lost the League. But the person I call Genbu and the person you are have always been like this, haven’t they? Haven’t you, I mean.” New Batman shook his head. “Time travel’s a pain.” 

“Ha. You said it.” 

#keisuke gekko #exorcising and exercising demons #isobu #bruce wayne #diana of themyscira #justice league #crossover #catch your breath fanfic #john stewart #virgil hawkins #terry mcginnis #rex stewart #snippet #snippets

[iambarelysushi]

You remember those Chrono Trigger illustrations that showed the characters doing all sorts of things ranging from fighting a boss to napping in Lucca's house? I wanted to do one like that for Duck Team from Not Another DnD Podcast.

Callie, Calder, Sol and Kenna taking a rest and doing Duck Team things.

#naddpod #duck team #not another dnd podcast #dnd

[independent-variables]

17 Knocked Up.

* . *

Gimme the body horror. Gimmeeeeee....

*grabby hands*

LOL. you are so real and valid!!! ok this fic is sort of about body horror but it's much more about the horror of growing up enslaved and facing the prospect of any children you have also being enslaved. but here is this little section <3

He was back on Ratatak, chained to the cell wall, and Ventress was cutting him open.   Cold hands held the cold knife steady as it sliced deep into his abdomen, slow, parting skin and fat and muscle centimeter by agonizing centimeter. He'd forgotten his rank and number a long time ago. His throat was raw from cursing her. She ignored him, kept her head down, eyes riveted to the knife, to the wound, to the red spilling over to stain her white hands. Pressure built inside him.   The baby fell out of the gaping wound and onto the stone floor in a gush of blood. But it wasn’t a baby, it was a cadet. A little one. C-class, maybe a half a year old, already dressed in a blue uniform. It lay on the floor in a pool of red and wailed, and Ventress laughed and laughed and laughed.  ‘17 woke up.   He lay still on his back in his bunk and breathed. A glance at the chrono confirmed it was the middle of third shift. The bunk was too cold. Too big, even with his heels hanging off the end.    He hadn’t dreamed about Ventress since— since he started bunking with Kenobi. He hadn’t dreamed at all since he started bunking with Kenobi. He'd thought it was the safety of having someone beside him, but maybe this was another thing Kenobi had altered about him.  Hm.    ‘17 rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in his pillow and went back to sleep.  

#cordelia answers asks #cordelia's writing #pregnancy #body horrow cw #'17 has a kid specifically because he is canonically chill with infanticide and i want him to have to confront why that is

[xx-hail2theking-xx]

...

hurt...

injured? or-

I know he felt betrayed, but- he tries not to let us know when he's injured.

he is.

emotionally. or, at least, that's as much as he'll admit to me.

#he's never... really been good at admitting that sort of thing. #chrono #the firstborn - paimak

[starflungwaddledee]

Is there a way to read all the comics in order? I have read a few out of order and love the characters but feel like I’m missing out

hellooo!! thank you so much for liking the characters and my stories!!! at the moment there's no set 'order' for any of my comics, whether they are for my various AUs or for starstruck's story

i've been meaning for months now to make a master post for my AUs, and as i've been working so much on starstruck's story lately (sorryyyyyyyyyyyyyy) i should probably also make one for her too. but as of right now, it's all just loose bits floating about my blog

that said, i think that the best "order" of the comics would likely always be in the order i released them. there is a clear chronological series of events in all my stories, but i definitely tend to release comics outside of that order

however, when i release a new piece- whether it's a comic, art piece, or even just text answer- i am keenly aware of exactly what i have revealed before, and what i'm revealing in each update. so while updates may not be in 'chronological order' of the story, they are in the order i hope will be satisfying for you as the reader, and an order that is satisfying for me to draw 😂

someone once pointed out that they felt most everything in my work (art, captions, tags) is incredibly intentional, and i was chuffed to see that, because i actually work quite hard to make sure it is 😂 i feel like this is a community that appreciates that sort of thing, so i've been endeavouring to make it an immersive experience for the folks who really wanna Go In on it? but if it ever gets pretentious or people genuinely hate it i'll obviously quit it omg;;

if you feel like something is not yet obvious or clear, there is quite a good chance it's not you missing out on something, but that it's intentionally being left vague to preserve some suspense! however if you ever want to check something like this and make sure i haven't revealed/answered something clearly somewhere, feel free to shoot me an ask and i can link you to any answers (if they exist)

until then, the current best way to find stuff 'in order' on my blog is by going through tags in chronological order. for starstruck in particular this is a little bit messy as there's also a lot of fanart or silly doodles that aren't Lore Related in her tag... maybe i should address that. it was all a bit sudden 😂

for now, the best i can really offer is a few of my tags with the chronological sorting feature added. let me know if this helps you find what you're looking for. otherwise like i said, always feel free to ask!

awtdy au chrono || starstruck dee chrono || my comics chrono

#your icon always brings me joy to see! and thank you for your ask the other day... i am working on something for it! #i swear there used to be a way to combine tags into a search. like starstruck + comics. does that exist anymore? does anyone know? #that would certainly be helpful and wouldn't require me to redo my entire tagging system! #also if i just cranked out the master posts!! that would be cool and helpful of me wouldn't it!! haha!! #*instead she responds to sixteen more asks with increasingly cryptic answers. dentists hate her!!* #asks #edit: checked on phone and it looks like chronological order doesn't work on mobile anymore??? auugghhh maybe i did something wrong? #troubleshoot tomorrow sorry 😖💦

[xenosaurus]

I have a page for my worldbuilding projects that’s a huge WIP, but in the mean time, here’s a list of the ones I can remember off the top of my head!  I’ve done my best to split these by genre, although some obviously fit in multiple categories. You can also browse through my "original stuff" tag for things that haven't made it as far as a concrete project, if you can tolerate the mess.

UPDATE: Tumblr changed their tag system, so I had to fix the links.  They SHOULD be working, but chronological links don’t cooperate with mobile, so I’ve made them general links.  Please add /chrono to the url if you can, a few of these are very weird out of order (looking at you, Boar’s Blood).

Urban Fantasy

Witchmouth General; comedy about a hospital in a city that is mostly monsters and aliens

Freedom Over Gold; a comedy-drama about a trio of homunculi killing their masters

Immortality and Tax Fraud; a comedy about gods who possess people and the hosts that are still resisting them (slightly NSFW)

Mundane Motherhood; a slice of life/recovery story about a woman who adopts a kid who was being raised to fight demons

The Empty City; a drama about a limbo world entered in dreams by people who compete for “days”, which give them another day of life in the real world

The Mortal Forge; an adventure story about a group of cursed people putting together an expedition to find a legendary cure

Tethered; a slice of life story in a setting where everyone has a familiar, starring two teenagers who are “tethering” their familiars, allowing them to become more physical and sentient

Fallen Angels in YOUR Area!; a comedy about a group of angels who are banished to earth for gaining too much individuality

Arlan Kingslayer; a comedy about classic high fantasy book characters being brought to the real world and not wanting to leave

High Fantasy

Boar’s Blood; an adventure story about a magical society built on the grave of an undead dragon that is rapidly falling apart (NSFW)

The Phoenix Bride; an adventure story/romance about a woman exploring an ever-expanding magical tower to confess her feelings to the woman who created it

God Hunters; technically closer to magical steampunk, an all-women drama about monster hunters (NSFW)

Scales and Bonedust; in a setting where some humans live in dwellings draped over the backs of dragons, a man and a dragonling try to find their way home after their whole community is killed

Rabbitheart; a fairy tale of sorts about a young jester (and would-be sorceress) trying to reclaim her familiar to earn a princess' hand in marriage, with a large section of backstory about the setting's version of Arthurian lore

The Mayfly; a dark fantasy about a mortal half-elf prince learning the truth of elven immortality

Whalefall; merfolk dark fantasy about a "bloodsalt knight" (a soldier who bites themselves to draw attacking predators to the blood and away from their school) who is separated from her people

Mark the End; trope manipulation on 'everyone grows up and has babies' endings where the children are the reborn god-monsters their guardians fought as teenagers. heavy on monster lore and character drama

Vampire Prince Walter; a romantic comedy about childhood sweethearts (who have since become a vampire and a werewolf) being arranged to marry each other... as long as their fathers don't find out they like each other too much to spy on the other.

Science Fiction

New Apocalyptia; a comedy about a world where all movie apocalypses happened at once (slightly NSFW)

Salt Water; an adventure story about a group trying to reach the bottom of their world’s incredibly deadly oceans, also mermaids and surfing as a death sport

Peppermint Circuits; a gay love story set in a world where everyone has a chip in their brain to influence their behavior (slightly NSFW)

Spycaller; a murder mystery about humans who interact with the intergalactic community from within mech suits

Superheroes

Superfish; a traditional coming of age superhero story about an LGBT group for college-aged sidekicks

Isaac is Okay; a very gentle story about a timetraveling superhero that traps himself in the past to raise his younger self away from their abusive father

Villain Risk; a superhero drama about an illegal hero team being arrested, told after the fact by a social worker, a kid in juvenile detention, and a shapeshifter who killed a cop and stole his life

Fate and Switch; a soulmate au fakeout about psychically linked superheroes who have been brainwashed, and their partners’ attempts to find them

Tooth and Nail; a superhero/kaiju mashup about bioengineered superheroes fighting monsters, and the protagonist’s attempts to protect his new apprentice from the horrors of their work

You Can Keep the Mask On; a superhero story intended to be told through sexual encounters between characters, obviously (very NSFW)

Overpowered; a comedy about a city's extremely, well, overpowered supervillains

Abelsons; a superhero story focusing on the "support" members, such as the people who make costumes and the medics

Bonus Individual Posts

that one about the destiny orphanage that one about the silkworm aliens

#original stuff #finally an updated pinned post!