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Thankfully, the pointless, immature war between Tifa and Aerith lovers, a shame to the fan community, has finally come to an end, or at least eased down. Surely, there will always be those who insist on claiming that a friendship between the two girls just isn't possible in the game, due to their common love interest. A few shall remain, too, that keep turning this belief into a reason to hate and insult each other for the mere fact of feeling differently towards each girl. Well, I'm here to point out how stupid that kind of actions can be, in hope that we, characters and fans, are all more mature than that.

Aerith and Tifa do have Cloud as their common love interest: whether you think Tifa is just plain obsessed or Aerith doesn't have more than an immature crush on the hero doesn't matter here, for my point is that, either way, they're both interested in the same person. And as if this weren't enough reason to dislike each other, they also have completely opposite personalities, where Aerith definitely comes out as the bubbly, outspoken one. Now, if I was Aerith and you were Tifa or vice-versa, we would most likely despise each other: at best. But the fact is, in FFVII the circumstances were quite different, and they didn't. When they first meet, Tifa is obviously uneasy about the situation, and the only reason Aerith isn't as well is that, well... that's just not like her. Maybe both of them do experience jealousy at some points, especially in Tifa's case (as a very human character, we can't expect her to have perfect control over her emotions at all times, quite the opposite), but that's only natural and doesn't equal hate.

Now, it would be stupid of me to defend the two girls had the closest, best friendship going on, but they did trust and care for each other, and that's not debatable: maybe things wouldn't have been the same way if they weren't fully conscious that they would need each other's help and support in the long run whether they wanted it or not, but my point is they did develop some sort of friendship where they worried about each other's safety and did their best to get over their "love rivalry" and be on good terms. This is why Tifa trusted Aerith with Marlene's life when ShinRa destroyed the support pillar, or was the main motivator to make Cloud go after her when she left on her own for the Forgotten City. The fact that Aerith wanted to rescue Tifa from the Don's mansion in the first place, without even knowing her, was, in my opinion, more than just a way to hit Cloud as good and pure or whatever it is that some people (most likely with no life whatsoever) claim it was: I see it as a logical outcome of her naturally caring personality.

The two girls could often be found talking at several towns, laughing together and sometimes even joking about Cloud. Tifa was strongly affected by Aerith's death, and though it is indeed true that any sensitive person would have been, an enemy wouldn't have kept the memory of her in their heart, or find hope in her short existence: which Tifa clearly did. You'll also have to agree that I'm not making things up when I say the two girls never attempted to hurt each other in any way, quite the opposite: so why label them as rivals and/or enemies just due to a common love interest that both of them seemed to be able to control quite well? Maybe under different circumstances they would have had the time and will to hate each other over such a futile reason, but both characters had been through a lot in their lives, giving them a minimum of maturity that prevented them from feeling that way. Besides, they knew it was a hard journey they were facing, and that for things to work out the best way they needed each other's support and friendly presence: and maybe they do start off in good terms exclusively due to necessity or even diplomacy, but from then on they go through a lot together and  actually develop a true friendship, despite their shared interest in Cloud.

With that said, it'd be irrational and immature of us, fans, not to be able to deal with a situation that not even the characters themselves seemed to have a problem with. Whether you think Cloud belongs with Aerith or Tifa shouldn't have an effect on your feelings towards the two girls as individual characters, so, if you're going to hate one of them (or even both) and her fans, find a better reason than a common love interest.

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