#deemoyza

Absolutely!

14: Assign a fashion aesthetic for her:

Hm, my first thought would be something like geisha core or flowercore, but I'm not sure those are actually aesthetics. A Google search tells me geisha core is more traditional, and while Yuna's canon outfit definitely takes inspiration from a kimono, I think it's too experimental for that.

And looking at a breakdown for flowercore/bloomcore on the Aesthetics Wiki (a thing!) that doesn't sound right at all. I think I'm also making a mistake if I only focus on her original canon outfit and neglect all the different dresspheres from FFX-2.

So one of the first things that strikes me when I look at it that way is that Yuna's outfits really exemplify the free-spirited, ethereal, 70's-inspired look of the early 2000s. It's a video game, so things are exaggerated, but when I look at her Gunner outfit, I see the soft peasanty blouses, the fringed leather belts, and the ruffles of 2002 or so. And let's not forget the low-rise jeans and tall boots. I'm not sure this is what most people think of when they say Y2K core (it's not a velour track suit), but to me, this is extremely Y2K.

Her Songstress outfit gives me a similar millennial vibe -- a ruffled 70s-ish blouse, the waterfall effect, the pleated miniskirt.

Her outfits also feel very flowing and organic, so I'm going to go with something like... Oceanic Y2Kcore.

18: A canon relationship with the character you admire:

One of the strongest elements of FF10 is the close bond the party shares, and that all centers on Yuna. And it's hard to pick a favorite there. I like how Rikku probably doesn't even know her cousin well, and she realizes she's always going to be in the minority when it comes to arguments about religion and philosophy, but she still leaves her home to try to save Yuna. I love Kimahri as the big stern, but loving, bodyguard. And I think Auron and Yuna have an intriguing dynamic; Yuna must have spent so many years imagining her father's journey with Auron, and she meets him with so much respect. But I wonder how it might have shaken her to see what he was like in reality. He's not antagonistic, he takes very good care of her, but I doubt he was what she expected.

But the first relationship that popped into my head was Yuna and Lulu. Lulu's just as stern and forbidding as Kimahri and Auron, but I like that the game takes time to show her being soft, sort of like a sister, but also very much like a mentor. I can imagine Yuna growing up looking up to Lulu so much, and while she doesn't try to imitate Lulu, I have to think Lulu had a huge role in forming her personality. The idea of Lulu loving Yuna so much, and then choosing to guide her to her death -- while Lulu herself has already failed at this on another pilgrimage -- is heartbreaking. They both must be so strong to undertake that, and to carry it out with a smile -- or, in Lulu's case, a slightly more neutral frown. Quiet strength like that (even if their choice is questionable) is something I really admire, as I'm much more likely to do something difficult kicking and complaining all the way.

25: What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

I can actually faintly remember the first time I saw a FF10 article in... PS2 Magazine, I think? And they had Yuna's classic character render pictured. I remember not liking her outfit, but I thought it was cool she had two-colored eyes. At that time, I'd only been playing JRPGs a few years, so I was pretty familiar with FF, but didn't have a huge pool of other heroines to judge her against -- Rosa, Terra, Aerith, Rinoa, Garnet. I think I was intrigued by her, but not very enthusiastic.

I came to really, really like Yuna after playing the first game, but being very disappointed by her evolution in FFX-2. I felt like they'd traded that quiet strength that had spoken so loudly to me for a shallower, more conventional action-based heroine. It soured my feelings on the character for a while.

But more recently, I'm over that. I understand what they were trying to do with FFX-2 -- show this character who had been utterly shaped by cultural expectations finally breaking free. It's not how I would have written her development, but I'm more at peace with it. And I still really like her from the original game. As for the post-FFX-2 canon, it honestly baffles me, the direction they've taken things in. I tend to just mentally stop things right at the best end of FFX-2 and just leave it there.

Also, now I love her original game outfit.

Thank you for the ask, this was fun!

But of course! Thanks for the ask 💕

Quistis/Rinoa:

Ship It

What made you ship it? Honestly? Just this year with the recent FF Kiss Battle requests lol I never thought of them together like that and yet... it works?? Bless the fanfic writers for coming up with this brilliance, because I hated their canon interactions, but wow yeah there could be something interesting with them for sure.

What are your favorite things about the ship? It’s two ladies I like and want the best for. Mash ‘em together and it’s all good 😎 but legit, I like their dynamic together, both with their contrasting personalities and also their similarities. Both Rinoa and Quistis are equally inexperienced in different areas and trying to make the most of life despite that. They’re both quite stubborn in their own ways, which is evident in fandom when they butt heads, and what a joy it would be to see them actually open up and learn to trust each other (and then oh no, they fall in love~).

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? Not 100% to do with the ship, but I absolutely do not like Quistis’ arc/character “development” in the game. She’s brought in so strong at the beginning of disc 1 and kind of crumpled up and tossed aside once disc 2 kicks off. Yeah, there’s the bit with her when they learn about the orphanage, but it just... always felt so out in left field. AND THEN THAT’S IT NO MORE FOR YOU OR ANY OTHER SECONDARY CHARACTER BECAUSE NOW IT’S ALL ABOUT SQUALL AND RINOA. Like I love this game, but the structural integrity of the narrative is made of freaking balsa wood. Anyway, because of that, it’s why I never thought of ships outside of Squall/Rinoa for so freaking long, because the focus in the game shifts so hard so fast that I forgot about everyone else. The ship itself is fantastic, but wow, they have so little to work with from canon. But also fuck canon and that’s why fics are amazing 💕

And now for Beatrix/Steiner:

Ship It

What made you ship it? Ok, first off, I have to scream into a pillow because I was overjoyed that you sent my IX OTP my way I just AHHHHHHHH. Ok, anyhow, I immediately shipped them after the whole love letter fiasco scene in IX. I already loved both of them so much (honestly, Steiner is just an eternal mood and I appreciate him more and more as I get older and REALLY HATE IT when people just reduce him to a joke character. The guy’s got integrity and heart. He deserves so much), so to have them be all doki-doki for each other is just.... yeah, I love it. I’m all for that royalty/loyal knight trope dynamics, but two loyal knights together????? Be still, my heart.

What are your favorite things about the ship? They’re both mature individuals who are devoted to their line of work and efficient at what they do. I love those rivalry vibes turned to admiration, like no matter how annoyed they were with each other hiccups over the years, they still respected one another. And the two of them being so proficient as military officers and fighters, yet are like OH NO PRETTY LADY/GUY, WHAT DO is an amazing level of awkwardness I’ll eat up. And you know they’d stay as professional as possible post-canon with sticking to their duties, but try to make their relationship work. I wrote a fic once with them trying to do just that, writing love letters to each other at night as a means of staying connected despite their busy days. They’re just... so sweet for each other. Like you KNOW they’d pour their hearts into each other, even if they are unable to act upon whatever desires they have.

All hail!! XD Happy Halloween babyyyyyy 🎃

How I feel about this character:

Thanks for picking Celes because I utterly love her, and have for a long time. Final Fantasy 6 was the third JRPG I ever played, and while I enjoyed a lot of the cast, I swiftly connected with Celes. She's very competent and heroic, but also cold, and I saw her emotional arc as being about learning to trust and befriend people after a life that was warped by being raised in the imperial military. I also love her Amano design, the sleek trousers and jacket, the different shades of brown -- I think she looks just lovely. Also, she gets the opera scene, what a great moment.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Relatively few, though there aren't a lot of ships for her that I'd really object to. I'm a longtime LockeCeles shipper. I do acknowledge the ship has issues with Locke's chronic hero-itis, but I see that more as feature than bug, given all the things a fanwriter could dig into there. I like the contrast of his open, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants personality with Celes being more cool and collected, and I always enjoyed the tension of him simultaneously still being very involved with Rachel. Which is the more important relationship, the one that's quite literally frozen in the past (but which was, before interference, so good), or the one dynamically evolving in the present (but which is a lot less certain and more complicated)? Let alone Celes' feelings on the matter, does she even want to be with Locke, is her being with Locke unfair to this woman she doesn't even know and who might never wake up? I've always liked a heaping helping of angst in my ships.

But I've also come round to SetzerCeles. I think there's a lot of potential chemistry, Setzer being sexy and suave and passionate and even more risk-taking than Locke. I've danced a bit around the pairing in writing before, and I do think that's how they'd approach things early on -- indirectly, neither coming out and saying it, despite both knowing something's there, with Celes still stern and reluctant.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

So very very long ago, I had this headcanon that Celes was Sabin's and Edgar's illegitimate half sister (based on one throwaway npc line about Celes being similar to Sabin). While I don't subscribe to that anymore, I still like the idea of Celes being close to them. The contrasts in personality would lend themselves to a lot of humor, but I think they'd be very supportive for her (Sabin can hold up a house, after all), and she could help give them some focus.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

I don't know what the unpopular Celes opinions would be? Maybe most people are unhappy that she replaces Terra as the protagonist in the second half of the game? While I don't like Terra being pushed to one side, I love Celes and have never minded having her as the party's leader.

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

Similar to what I said with Guy, we don't really have any hints about what Celes wants to do with herself, free of the empire. Given her focus on Locke (but even that's downplayed in the World of Ruin), I don't like the implication that her fate is to just settle down with him. If she wants to settle down, fine, but what else is she doing? In fairness, most of the characters have that lack of resolution, so maybe even by getting anything, Celes is actually doing better than some of the others.

My OTP:

I mean, if I'm picking one here, it's going to be LockeCeles. It's very nostalgic for me.

My crossover ship:

I've long thought SephirothCeles would be pretty cool. She might not be as powerful as him, but I think she could keep up with him, both on the battlefield and emotionally. She's also more grounded which, you know, maybe he needs.

A headcanon fact:

I didn't originate either of these, but I like the idea of Celes having a connection to Shiva, perhaps formed during her training. Also Celes being taller than Locke is excellent.

Thank you! Let's take a crack at these.

5: What are my writing superstitions? Not any superstitions, but maybe hang-up is a better word? Whether it's original writing or fanfic, I'm very, very reluctant to assume I'll finish a project. I'll start writing and tell myself, "Okay, this is just a casual thing, no pressure, if you finish it, great, but you're not committing to anything here." Never mind that I'm secretly hoping I will finish it, of course, and I know that. There've been times in the past when I've launched into a project with high expectations, only to watch it peter out and die. Usually if I'm fifty percent through or more, I have a reasonable expectation of seeing it through, but even there, I've still quit before it was done.

For related reasons, I tend to make myself write linearly, not jump right to the scenes I'm really looking forward to writing and filling in the "boring" stuff later. Those scenes are the carrots on the stick -- I have to get through the less exciting stuff first, and that helps ensure everything gets written out. I ended up breaking this rule for my more recent Abyss fics, where I ended up jumping around a lot. But I don't think that would work for me in most cases.

Also for related reasons, this is why I don't post long fanfics until they're finished. I don't want to leave readers hanging with something incomplete.

12: If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Asking for loads of money so I could just spend all my time researching and writing and self-promoting my writing would be nice, but is probably too indirect for the writing genie. Would need a money genie for that.

I am ridiculous when it comes to typos, so being typo-proof would be great.

For my current writing project, I have been taking an unholy amount of notes, which I still need to fact-check and organize. Being able to see all of my notes at once, comprehensively, right there in my brain, sounds amazing.

Never again having that feeling of knowing there's an exact word I want to use but I can't remember what it actually is.

32: What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic that I return to again and again? This is an odd one, not because it's obscure, but it's just strange that this is something I do think back to a fair bit. The last line of Peter Pan novel:

When Margaret grows up she will have a daughter, who is to be Peter’s mother in turn; and thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.

Thank you!

Jodariel the stern but gentle demon and Amarant the independent mercenary. Two characters I've never thought about jointly – this offered a lot of food for thought.

Why I like them:

I think my starting point is probably her design. The bright shock of wavy red hair contrasting with those electric blue eyes. She's very delicate and beautiful, but her torn dress and big black jacket have such a punk edge. I love the use of in-universe songs in the game, and of course the songs themselves, how sharp and brooding they can be, how they're open to interpretation. Because she's silent and the game's world-building is sparse, you have a lot of freedom to imagine what her history was like, what she does on a day off, what she was thinking at different point in the game. It's a level of freedom you often don't get in modern games. At the same time, there are enough clues that you can see the shape of Red – passion, resilience, melancholy, humor, protectiveness – even if not every detail is filled out.

Why I don't:

I admit, on my first playthrough, when I learned she'd gone to the fancy school and gone with really unique Selections and was the most famous singer in Cloudbank, I rolled my eyes because it all felt so special. Those sorts of things can take the place of interesting traits in underwritten characters, but I ultimately felt the game didn't fall into that trap. Yes, Red is unique and extremely famous, but judging by songs like “The Spine” (and the Camerata's plans) it has consequences, and bad ones.

Favorite scene:

Hard to pick one. I'm mentally walking through the game to see what stands out... It's also hard to isolate a scene that's more about Red than the Boxer. Love the “You turned left” moment, love the chilly isolation of the scene where she first finds Boxer, love the flatbread break, love all the stuff leading up to the Spine, love her flying across the city on the Process... Maybe for a scene that's very much about Red, it could be her creating the bridge to Fairview. I just feel like we're seeing right into her heart there, maybe even her subconscious. The intimacy of the nude reaching statues, the mosaic of the clasped hands, the tree-shaded visuals. The way that (as I recall) that's where she lands after the final battle.

Oh, no, wait, I just remembered – her putting him in the Cradle. That's the best moment.

Favorite line:

The first one I think of is “I'm going to find the thing that's doing this and rip its heart out.” (Or words to that effect.) I also really like the cadence of I see the spine of the world/ Sparkle and shine, light the inside.

Favorite outfit:

I like both the torn and intact versions of her dress. I also really like some of the unused concept dresses. But I'm really intrigued by the off-the-shoulder outfit she wears in the coffee image at the end. Is it pjs? Is it a dress? I've interpreted it as a purple blouse in some pics. I just like this insight to who she is when not on stage, alone with her sweetie.

OTP:

Speaking of! The Boxer! It's one of the most romantic games I've ever played and I love it for that.

BROTP:

I've never actually headcanoned her being close to any of the other characters. I imagine she and Darzi probably knew each other socially, and that might have led her to meeting Lillian. I can also see Wave interviewing her for his show. I think the Sybil thing was one-sided, even on a merely friendship level. But if we branch out to other Supergiant titles, I think she and Pamitha would get along.

Head Canon:

Oh, lots. Off the top of my head, I think she came from very humble beginnings, even more so than Boxer. Part of her success was hard work, part was talent, but a lot of it was when she got lucky and received a Traverson scholarship. Given how quickly she takes to combat, I see her as scrappy and, as Boxer says, always having a plan, and I think coming up out of nowhere works well with that.

Unpopular Opinion:

Hmm, I'm not sure the fandom is divisive enough. (Thank goodness.) I've seen some fics that cast Red as extremely elegant and very polished, and like I said above, I see her as pretty hardscrabble and even emotionally cold at times. In my head, Boxer is the warmer, softer partner.

A wish:

I would love a comic adaptation of the game, especially if it leaned into the game's art style. Or a wish for Red herself? I mean, emotionally I want to think she and Boxer could find some way out of the Transistor. At the same time, it runs the risk of weakening the ending.

Please-don't-ever-happen:

Like the last question, I look at this in more of a meta way. Like, what could Supergiant do to Red that would really upset me? Expand on her story – no, that'd be exciting. A piece of media where she talked? That'd be great. A full album of Red songs? Yes, please! I guess I'd be upset if they continued the story and had Red and Boxer become disillusioned with each other – and they broke up permanently. I'm sorry, I just love them so much together.

5 words:

intense, elegant, relentless, loving, introspective

My nickname for them: