Sadly, I have no optimism for change lol which is why where I’m at right now, I say if Cloud and Tifa being together is what the story calls for, then the devs should just go full throttle with it. Don’t leave any room for doubt.
And by that, I don’t mean shove as much shipping bait into the story as possible. Fanfiction writers can handle that one. Hell, all Jairus needed to do was just stick to his fanfiction and not be so creepy online. That goes for all shippers, too. If they don’t like what’s in the story, fine. But just chill.
I specifically remember Jairus using other shippers’ toxicity as a means of deflecting critics of his own behavior. And on that specific point, I couldn’t entirely disagree because it’s true that many other shippers were guilty of toxicity too. Obviously doesn’t excuse his behavior, but does that really need to be clarified at this point? Just like how does it really need to be clarified that not all shippers are bad?
Ask a Clerith or a Cloti who they think is the worst of the two, and you can pretty much guess what they’re gonna say. It’s really the deflections and whataboutisms that frustrate me the most about the LTD. Jairus does it, Cleriths do it, Clotis do it. Par for the course, really.
I don’t know the whole story behind the Clerith shipper known as Cali or any other shippers of note for that matter, I just know that the toxic shipping environment that already existed was perfect breeding ground for somebody like Jairus. So I don’t get bothered when people talk about toxic shipping in general. Not because I think all shippers are bad, but because I know most shippers are alright and that it only takes a few people to ruin everybody else’s fun.
I can’t tell anybody not to be upset at people who complain about shippers, because even I would say there comes a point where it’s like “okay, we get it.” But there’d be a lot less shipping to complain about if the weirdest of the bunch weren’t so…weird. So I’d rather direct my displeasure at the root of the issue, really.
