the edge of creation

Kelpie, they/them. KelpietheThundergod on AO3. main is @cuddlemonsterdean, my TGCF blog is @one-flower-one-sword

[nightmateria]

Points Of Unconnected Light // a post-advent children sefikura/kurasefi story for @bladesmercy 🩵

“You know, it's damn rude to enter someone else's place while they're not even there,” Cloud grouses. It's maybe a little ridiculous given that they've been meeting like this for over a year now, but. That unnamed burning anger underneath his skin has to go somewhere.

After tossing his keys on the counter, he walks up to Sephiroth’s side, opens the cupboard above the sink and takes out a glass.

Fills it.

Drains it.

Sephiroth still hasn't said anything, which makes those burning sparks rise again. Except, the moment Cloud whirls around to face him, suddenly arms like steel catch him under the armpits and unceremoniously lift him onto the counter between the fridge and the sink.

“What are y—”

“Cloud.” Because he's ridiculously tall, Sephiroth is still looming over him even in this position. His gaze is as unyielding as his voice as he cups Cloud’s face with one hand and tilts it back, forcing eye contact. “What has happened?” 

Read on AO3

This series now has a Part 2, read it HERE!

[neeows]

when that fuckass mountain decides you’re his personal comfort plushie

[userfenris]

FINAL FANTASY VII: REBIRTH

[jadenvargen]

wanted to mke this into a print but not so sure anymore :’/ wahh potato potato!

[ruchi-writes]

enemies-to-lovers is about power, actually

I think a lot of people misunderstand why enemies to lovers is so popular. It’s quickly become one of the most pervasive tropes in many novels. Is it the banter, the tension? That’s definitely part of it. But if that were true, then friends-to-lovers and literally any romance with good dialogue and characterization would scratch the same itch. For some, it does, but for many…enemies-to-lovers just hits different. 

My theory is that it isn’t actually about love, not really. I think it fulfils a fantasy that no other trope can provide: the fantasy of being seen as an equal. 

Think about what specifically makes someone an enemy in fiction. It’s not just someone the MC dislikes, it’s someone who can affect them in tangible ways, maybe even have the power to ruin them, challenge their worldview, expose their weaknesses, etc. The relationship begins with conflict because the characters are fundamentally opposed in some way. It doesn’t matter why, but they’re fighting. There is a struggle for dominance. 

I would argue that the most impactful enemies-to-lovers moments are never the romantic moments, they’re the scenes where power shifts. They BOTH lose: they’re forced into a position that would have horrified them at the beginning of the story. They end up needing (or wanting) each other. 

That’s why I think people are often disappointed when a supposed enemies-to-lovers story turns out to be a milquetoast attempt where they’re just kinda mean to each other for a few pages, and then immediately start making out. Where’s the risk, the actual threat? If the characters aren’t capable of genuinely affecting one another, then the relationship isn’t actually transforming in a satisfying way. The appeal is in the fact that they have power over each other, because the eventual trust they build requires real surrender.

Because here’s the thing about enemies; they pay attention, and usually more attention than anyone else. They notice weaknesses because they’re actively looking for them, they notice strengths because they need to account for them. They notice habits, blind spots, ambitions, fears. 

They study the MC with a level of scrutiny that borders (and later crosses) intimate, but unlike friends (or supporting characters in the MC’s corner) they’re not willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, they don’t overlook flaws out of affection. Which is exactly what makes the eventual romance so satisfying. It feels earned. 

It’s easy to imagine being loved by someone who sees the best version of you, but it’s an entirely different thing to be loved by someone who has seen you at your worst. That’s why this dynamic often feels more convincing than romances where the characters are immediately into each other.

I imagine there are many who go through life feeling misunderstood, or worse, that the people who love them only love the polished, perfect version they present to the world, almost like impostor syndrome. But what if there was someone who couldn’t be fooled by this carefully constructed image? 

When someone more powerful chooses someone, maybe the fantasy is protection. When it’s someone less powerful, the fantasy might be admiration. But if there’s someone intelligent and observant enough to see the MC as an equal, the fantasy there is the most intense and honest validation. 

Which means enemies to lovers was never about turning hate/annoyance into love, it was about turning power into vulnerability – which is a terrifying loss of power, which THEN leads to intimacy. 

[shlurmp]

[altocat]

*raises hand*

Hi yes hello uh um pardon, Mr. Hamaguchi-san but

EXCUSE ME?????!?

[altocat]

Sefikura bros...OUR TIME HAS COME 💖

[iifares]

[blackheart-biohazards]

😈 You are not bound by the Hays code.

😈 You are allowed to have evil characters who are not punished by the narrative by the end of the story.

😈 You are allowed to have evil characters who win.

😈 You are allowed to have evil characters who make evil look fun and cool.

😈 You are allowed to make your fun, cool evil character the protagonist.

😈 You are allowed to glorify, romanticize and eroticize evil characters and villainous acts.

😈 You are not obligated to teach your audience a moral lesson.

[dovesndecay]

[ragepups]

silly sephi^_^.........

[ragepups]

REVELATION

[onewingedangels]

FINAL FANTASY VII REVELATION (2027) dev Square Enix

[playwrongs]

The Five Love Languages (and how to show affection in each one!)

Each of us has one or two love languages, the special ways we prefer to be showered with affection. But keeping a partner's love language in mind can be tricky. So here are a list of the five love languages, and some tips on how to put them into practice with your main squeeze!

Disembowelment

If your partner's love language is disembowelment, you probably already know it from the sweet way they run their fingers along your intestinal tract, or hold your heart in their hands—literally! For a disemboweler, a fine, keen knife of obsidian makes a gift they'll treasure. They'll also love little vials of your blood, or even just handwritten notes that say things like "you're the only one who gets to fondle my luscious entrails <3" You may also want to purchase more practical gifts, like bandages, disinfectant, and (just in case) formaldehyde.

Deadly Vendettas

Do you often find yourself in merciless rapier duels with your partner over matters of honor? Do they smile with malicious tenderness at you as they offer you a goblet full of inky liquid that might be wine (or might be something else)? Are they always tearing at their hair and weeping into their lacy cuffs while swearing that they will hunt you down and slay you if it's the last thing they do? Then your partner's love language is deadly vendettas! Deadly vendetta partners are very passionate and cunning, so they'll adore samples of exotic poisons, a picture of you to gaze at in ecstatic hatred, or even a fine, keen knife of obsidian to sweep slowly through the air as if practicing to slash your throat.

Obsession

Partners often say that they feel like two halves of one whole. But maybe your partner feels like a lone half a being, raw and chill in the howling wind, and wants nothing more than to rejoin with their lost half in a searing love-clash that may destroy both of them. In that case, you've got an obsessive partner. Whether you two are linked by inexplicable forces or under the effects of a love-philtre, the obsessed lover is a fan of anything that smacks of chivalrous passion and suppressed yearning. Give them a lock of your hair, a handkerchief, perhaps even a glance that lingers a fraction of a second too long. Or, in the dead of night, after making tormented love, press into their hand a fine, keen knife of obsidian and whisper "if we are discovered, you know what you must do."

Acts of Service

Blood and death and dangling, dripping guts are all well and good, but a partner can also be very receptive to simple, small acts that show you care about their well-being. These are acts of service, and they can be very powerful to the right partner. Try helping with chores around the house, or otherwise easing the burdens of everyday life for them. They may also appreciate you helping to locate something—like if they can't find their fine, keen knife of obsidian anywhere.

Night Pursuit Over the Moors

You already know this one! Practically everyone loves to pursue their beloved on foot over the deserted, moonlit moors. You can make this common practice even more exciting by donning a fine linen shift that gleams silver in the moon's eerie radiance, carrying a lantern, letting down your long raven-black tresses, and carrying with you the fine, keen knife of obsidian that is your secret weapon against your pursuer, and the instrument of their horrific death.

[jackkdaniels]

extremely good trope: injured character sees their own blood on someone else who's otherwise unscathed and gives a concerned "are you hurt?" double points if they're so injured they're barely lucid

[rottenpumpkin13]

Hi I’m back to being insufferable because I love the irony in the symbolism here:

The pyramid of bodies is the exact visual language used in classical Renaissance art:

The triangle the eye unconsciously identifies is a structural shorthand used to represent a struggle toward a singular point. Géricault explicitly used it in The Raft of the Medusa to show a pyramid of dying people culminating in the one guy waving a flag for salvation:

Another good example is the Vigeland Monolith in Oslo:

A mass of bodies reaching upward is heavily present in Ascension art like the Assumption of the Virgin above. The physical rule of these pieces is usually: the lower figures are crowded together and dynamic to show struggle— while the top figure is alone, calm, still, and surrounded by negative space ((showing detachment)). This is the case with Sephiroth at the top there to mirror how divine figures are framed to contrast earthly chaos with divinity.

The mass of bodies reaching upward represents human desperation, the collective cry of people suffocating under mortality and the chaos of existence, desperately clawing their way to the highest peak of spiritual escape to try to liberate themselves from that suffering.

But .... Then you have the irony. You place Sephiroth at the top of that exact structure like a god looking down on a mountain of black robes, the world, humanity.

And the reality is he’s not detached from the desperation at all. He’s completely trapped by it, and if anything that's why he’s at the top. His “ascension” is fueled by the exact same desperate, obsessive need to escape his past, his trauma, and everything that binds him to the humanity he despises.

Just as everyone else is below him. What makes this even more brilliant (imo) is that it visually mimics the physics of the Reunion itself. Sephiroth thinks he’s pulling the strings from above, but that mountain of bodies is rushing toward him because every single cell of Jenova is magnetically snapping back into place. But even Jenova herself is trying to break free of her own isolation. Meaning the creature Sephiroth worships (I use this word lightly) is just as trapped by hunger and desperation as the humans she infects.

He’s just as stuck in the mud of pain and existence as the rest, but he’s represented as a god, the savior, the judge at the top of the mountain. When he’s just the guy screaming the loudest at the top of the raft.

[nightmateria]

is the edge of creation nebula shown as being above the red glow of meteor in the sky? 🤔 interesting