Made an actual Silent Hill 2 edit of the Softer World strip I named my recent James/Mary fic after, because A Softer World and Silent Hill 2 are both totally timely and I know what year it is. I can't believe this strange, dark pairing still has so much power over my heart, all these years later.


The Final Fantasy VII Remake demo is now available on PS4! Just as a heads-up, it's about an hour long and you cannot save. Thoughts:

- Cloud is so pretty. Everyone is so pretty.

- You can't jump, alas! I keep accidentally opening the menu because I want to leap around pointlessly like you can in Final Fantasy XV.

- Cloud and Jessie have more chemistry than I'd expected. Huh. I loved them exchanging glances and shrugs while Barret lectured them in the elevator.

- I'll be very entertained if this remake not only reignites the ferocious Cloud/Tifa versus Cloud/Aerith shipwars but adds a Cloud/Jessie faction.

- I enjoyed Barret going 'okay, now prove you're one of us' and Cloud going 'uh, I'm... not?'

- Guard Scorpion struck me as an unreasonably tough, lengthy first boss fight. Nearly wiped out my supply of twenty-something potions. Maybe I just need to get a better grasp of the battle system? I think it's possible to switch difficulty levels mid-playthrough, so at least I'll be able to shift down if I continue to struggle in the full game.

- I really wanted them to have an 'attack while its tail is up' joke during that fight, but alas no.

- I don't remember any other voiced Final Fantasy in which the characters swear, and I am not yet used to it. At one point Cloud said 'no shit' and my reaction was very much 'gasp, he said a naughty word'.

- If you run into the security lasers five times, Jessie will stop expressing concern and start laughing at you. If you run into the lasers ten times, Jessie will ask, 'Um, do you have a fetish or something?'

- So far, it's looking promising!