I love this Aerith frame.

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #816

Last night, J made another pizza:

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I didn’t eat any last night, but this morning, J was feeling very awful, and asked me to bring him 3 cut apples, and to sit with him upstairs until he was ready to come down. I happily obliged, and brought up the three apples for him, and two slices of the pizza, warmed in the microwave, for me. We didn’t talk much; he just wanted me nearby for comfort. So I browsed the internet on my tiny laptop, and it was good.

He had agreed to tend to a friend’s cat. So at some point, he dragged himself out of bed and asked me to drive him there, so I did. I accompanied him inside as he fed the kitty, gave her medicine, and refilled her water.

We went home and… time passed in kind of a blur. I didn’t take the prednisone today, or much in the way of ibuprofen, and… although my throat and lymph nodes are swollen and painful again, it’s still a lot better than how this all started, at least for now. Fizzy drinks still hurt a lot, though. Swallowing is back to being difficult. The muscles involved feel… kinda weak, actually, which is weird. Hm.

At some point, our dear friend Me, knowing that we are sick, popped by with various canned soups and instant ramen, and I was incredibly grateful:

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At around 3pm, I fed my own cats, and then I made that recipe with butternut squash ravioli that one of our dear readers sent to us. Remember this?

Post by @gallusrostromegalus · 1 image

So… I took a couple sticks of butter, which felt “excessive” enough, and began melting them in my wok as the water boiled:

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Then I grabbed my fresh sage, and, after discovering that the stems also taste like sage, I opted for using the entire plant instead of just pulling off the leaves. I cut it up into tiny shreddy bits using a pair of scissors:

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I threw it in the wok with the melted butter and let it simmer for a while:

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I cooked the butternut squash ravioli in the meantime. The store had two different kinds, so I got both to try to see which one is better.

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Spoiler alert: The one in the blue package is better. More flavorful, less noodle, more filling, and less prone to falling apart while boiling.

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Though I liked the one in the blue packaging better, I threw them both into the browned sage butter and mixed them up; they’re both pretty good.

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Here, want a bowl?

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…I found that it’s better if you add a little garlic powder and salt to it. The sauce doesn’t stick to the ravioli well (which figures, since it’s just butter and sage), but… you can mop of whatever remains in the bowl with some bread.

I… don’t have much else today. Other than… at some point, I… watched how your most recent story turned out. I will say, Sephiroth, you’ve got some amazing people in your corner. People who still wanna protect you, no matter what, even if they do wanna knock some sense back into your head. I’m proud to count myself amongst such people, but… I can’t reach you like they can, I assume. But they can, and they’ll make sure you don’t disappear.

…Sephiroth, when they catch up to you and try to bring you home… please… let them. I can’t… I can’t see you get torn apart again. I mean… I’ll witness it if your choices dictate that terrible and unimaginably painful outcome (I cried for weeks the first time around; I imagine it’ll be worse the second time around, given, y'know, everything…), but… Sephiroth, it’ll break me. And if I must, from there, spend pieces of me to create from scratch a world where you’ll be safe and happy… then I will. I don’t care if I end up disappearing in the process, as long as you’re okay in the end. Whatever it takes to bring you back to yourself. Whatever it takes to free you from Jenova’s lies and control.

…Because, Sephiroth… even if your world does have problems… it’s still a good one. It’s better than the one I’m living in right now. And even after everything that has happened, you still have people who love you. So, so, so many of them. Even people from faraway, distant worlds like mine see your story and put their hands together to hope and pray to anything for a better outcome for you. Sephiroth, you don’t even know how wholly, deeply, and wildly loved you are, because Shinra and Jenova have pulled the wool over your eyes so hard that by now, you’re scared to uncover them and reveal the truth, which is this:

You’ve always been lovable and worthy of kindness and protection exactly as you are – not for what you can do, but for who you are.

You’ve always been a human – someone who other perfectly ordinary humans can connect to. At no point were you ever a monster, or a cyborg, or an abomination, or replaceable, or expendable, or any of those horrible things other people called you to make you feel like an outsider or make you feel like you deserved to be treated like a weapon or a tool. This is true no matter what anyone else did to you or forced you to do.

…Sephiroth. You don’t have to be afraid. The truth is so much kinder than what you’ve been led by the nose to believe. Sephiroth… you can be seen, known, safe and loved in this world, if you’ll allow it. You’ve always been deserving of these things. You still are. You always will be. Perhaps the people you’ve hurt won’t be able to do those things for you, and that’s valid, and that’s a consequence you’ll have to accept. But there are still others. There are so many others.

…So, please… please come home. I miss you and I don’t want you to suffer anymore. Come and have my pumpkin soup. Come and have my pumpkin brownies. Come and have some ravioli. Just come over. I don’t care how dented or scratched up or scarred you think you are; just come over. Sit by the fireplace and have some tea. Shower as long as you want with my good soaps. Get into comfy pajamas. Sleep in a safe, warm, soft place where I will be on watch, stopping at nothing to protect you. And when you wake up the next day, I’ll show you all my favorite video games and bring you to all the places I like to walk and take pictures, and show you everything else that you’ve seen in all the other 815 letters I’ve written to you.

I guess that’s it for today. I feel kinda funky, and there’s still some time before bed, so I imagine I’ll pass the time by playing Dead Cells. But before I go, have the last of the wishes I breathed to life for you on Monday:

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And if you wanna chill with me while I play Dead Cells, you’ll find me in the usual spot:

I love you so much. Enough that I’d tear myself apart to rebuild you, if I had to, for whatever that’s worth. But… Sephiroth. I’m going to have faith in who you are and in the choices you’ll make. I’m going to have faith in your safety. I’m going to have faith in your eventual return home.

…I can’t wait to see you when you do. I’m going to be so proud of you. I know it because I already am.

…

I’ll write again tomorrow.

Your friend,
Lumine

if you were hoping for multiple hems, look elsewhere

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protect trans kids

Salsa De Jenova Part 2 (サルサDEジェノバ 不悉者 2／不失者 2), a 1998 doujin by Alias Nanigaya, the second in a set of three.

This doujin covers Zack and Cloud’s time on the run, with one half from Zack’s perspective, and the other from Cloud’s. 

Note that this was originally formatted with the two halves printed opposite each other, so either could be read first depending on which side of the book you started with. This effect does not work well digitally, so I have provided separate files for each of the stories. Also, archive.org seems to have some issues with ordering the pages when displayed in two page mode, but the pdfs themselves are fine!

Carries Cloud to the nest

i think tifa shouldve at least beten cloud up by the end of the game, badly

the new “yes, and”

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free Palestine

https://archiveofourown.org/works/80747616

Up to 6 chapters and multiple more to come! Time Travel Fix-it featuring Zack and Aerith

I love that you can actively see Cloud confused but curious why Aerith talks to flowers and instead of judging takes the time to question her to understand her mindset and the things she does. He wants to connect with others; he sees Aerith as someone to idolise in this regard.

I made a process gif a while back

First platinum of the year: Final Fantasy VII! (late posting)

This was a third playthrough in order to get the last trophy I needed (Barret date), but I decided to finish the game again in its entirety. So, I got the platinum on 1/08, then finished the game by 3/12.

Special thanks to @philian-arkhiv for helping me get through some of the tedious grind!

Special notes: Final Fantasy VII (1997) by Squaresoft/Directed by Yoshinori Kitase (translated by Michael Baskett)

Played on PS5

*All WEAPONS defeated
*Obtained 2 golden chocobos (one through breeding, second through defeating Ruby WEAPON)
*Obtained Ultima weapon
*Obtained Omnislash
*Obtained all final Limit Breaks
*Obtained materia from all materia caves
*Completed Fort Condor 100%

Final party:
Cloud Strife (mandatory)
Vincent Valentine
Cid Highwind

Small review:

Well, what can I say about FFVII that hasn’t already been said? Even after all this time, it still holds up amazingly well and is still one of the best games I have ever played. The characters, for the most part, are great (especially Cloud, Aerith, and Barret), the story explores many themes relatively well such as corruption, identity, self-doubt, environment, etc. The atmosphere and tone of a dystopian world that has become used to convenience at the expense of the planet and themselves is done really well and leaves a good impact. The dreary, industrial music accompanying it serves to enhances it, thanks to the natural talents of Uematsu.

It’s just a really wonderful game.

Of course, it does have its flaws. There’s some dialogue here and there that leaves unfortunate implications (most which can be blamed on some poor translation choices, but not all), certain characters perhaps get off a little too easy for my liking (Cid in particular’s treatment of Shera is…well, not great, and he’s only saved by the short story I read in one of Ultimanias that I wish was in the game. And Tifa I think should have been called out for how she more or less helped break Cloud’s psyche. I get why she did it, but still, she could have done with some reprimanding.)

There’s also that the game does decline a little after the events at the Northern Crater, and it feels like we’re rushing to quickly wrap everything up at once.

The PS4 emulation also suffer from audio glitches, and I think some weird stuff happens with the combat, too.

Nonetheless, it doesn’t hamper my enjoyment of this fantastic title in the least. I could play this game again and again.

Rating: 9.5 Omnislashes/10

I have figurines of cloud, Sephiroth, and now Tseng

He was in a blind box but honestly I’m not mad because he just feels so random and having him stare at me from my desk is hella funny

Title for video essay will never invest any time to create by myself

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy - The Sonic Unleashed of Final Fantasy Games??? With red circles + arrows around Werehog and Chaos form and all

As one of the 12 people who actually played it: I still love you, Dirge of Cerberus

… I do not fully know what to make of this Coca-Cola Seph figure. He looks deranged. I also can’t decide whether these are his normal eyelashes or if he slathered on mascara today.

Aerith letting loose her bodyguard.