#cuz you're always building on what already exists so you don't get to a point of being like 'well fuck I completely missed a major element'

[essektheylyss]

the only thing I keep notes on when writing is stuff that's already been signaled and needs to come back somehow, and I try to keep those notes as condensed as possible because if they're too lengthy or I have too many items I'll start missing things, but that gets very funny when I jot down something like

#in all seriousness I do highly recommend keeping a doc of just this. tho it does require you having to recognize what's being implied #but it also means I can decide if I've got too much to deliver on and need to cut some of the Foreshadowing #and if you do this while you're drafting you tend to need a lot less restructuring later in my experience #cuz you're always building on what already exists so you don't get to a point of being like 'well fuck I completely missed a major element' #doesn't help if you need to go back in and add something that wasn't even signaled but! it can help a lot in keeping track of stuff #and not overburdening yourself with too many Implications lmao #(not that that helps me with fic where I can go for whatever fuckin word count I need without even thinking about it) #anyway for the record wraith is a technical term in universe but it's so funny without context #and this is additionally something of a literal ghost story so it's got a double meaning #megs is writing

[spiftynifty]

do u think the netflix twitter acc using the k/ance hashtag could be queerbaiting?

Despite the copium made up of "I heard a rumour"s that I imagine still exists in KL circle(jerk)s, Klance was never, ever, meant to be canon. The idea literally didn't occur to the showrunners until the ship blew up and by that point iirc they were already working on the final seasons. Allurance was hinted at from ep 1 and honestly, Keith/Acxa always felt very clearly like something they kept floating around every season with enough hints that if they wanted to pull the trigger on it in the final act it'd have been easy (if awkward).

But ships made the show popular and klance was absolutely, by a wide margin, the most popular so of COURSE they're gonna use ship hashtags on twitter, on youtube, on whatever platform they're promoting the show so that when ppl search up their uwus they're gonna get whatever the official accounts are promoting. That's not queerbaiting, that's marketing. Now if an official trailer for the show featured only KL moments and had a line where Lance is speaking fondly to Allura but framed as though he's saying it to KEITH, *that* is queerbaiting. There are other things the show did that could def be argued as queerbaiting (none involving lance or his ships in any capacity whatsoever) but I'm not gonna wax poetic about those cuz tbh... I just don't care.

Like, even if this hashtag tweet WAS queerbaiting, so what? Are we really gonna get into it and write callouts for a show that ended, notoriously badly, almost 5 years ago? Why? What cause would that help?

In the kindest way possible, it's time to not think about such things anymore. If you're still in vld fandom having a great time celebrating your fave ship or character, that's fantastic, keep it up. But if you're lingering because you're longing for closure or answers or feeding yourself on the angry emotions this stuff builds up in you, it's time to let go and find something new to be happy about instead of moping about. I hear that Trigun anime is pretty neat.

#ask spif #vld #listen i'm always gonna have a salty section in my heart about how dirty we got done but like #it's not an active part because that's so much energy #i still love my vld ship and will forever #but i'm finding media that brings me joy instead of agony and it's rad

[medium-kat07]

Pretend

(HI I WROTE ANOTHER SOFT TNTDUO ONESHOT I'M SORRY THIS IS REPETITIVE BUT THIS IS ALL YOU'RE GETTING FOR LIKE A MONTH PROBABLY. THIS TOOK ME SO LONG IF YOU DO LIKE IT PLEASE REBLOG I'M BEGGING CUZ I DIED WRITING THIS SHIT I LOVE YOU GUYS)

Pairing: Tntduo (v v romantic)

Au: Workshop AU (you don't know what that is but you'll find out just shhh)

Tw: Repetitive words, whole lot of cursing, heavy mention of death, miniature mention of alarms, tooth rotting amounts of affection (i'm serious you will have to look away from the screen to collect yourself at least once), use of the word "zombie" as a nickname. !NO SMUT!

(Let me know if I missed any <3)

---

To preface this, and hopefully to not sound like an angsty self insert, Quackity did not have many friends.

That was what he knew. He had five people in his country, if you didn't count Tubbo, the restaurant manager. Purpled was still skeptical of the whole place. Sam wasn't talking to him. Foolish, while friendly, spent all his time building. Charlie didn't know any better. Fundy was just scared of him. Too many people were just scared of him.

He supposed he could count Foolish, and maybe Charlie, as his friends. But it wasn't enough. He still spent the majority of his time alone.

The place he had built, the new place, was nothing special. It was a small workshop on the edge of Las Nevadas where he came to put his mind to something. The world didn't exist here.

Perhaps "on the edge of Las Nevadas" is an overstatement. It technically wasn't in Las Nevadas, just a bit outside the borders. Which meant that here in this workshop, he wasn't the leader of a country. He was just Quackity.

The only issue was that people banned from Las Nevadas were allowed to be near and in the workshop, since it was on Greater SMP territory. That allowed people he definitely didn't want to see, like George, Karl, Sapnap… or the other person on the citizen blacklist.

So, of course, that person just had to show up.

"Why are you here?"

Wilbur smiled. "I was on my way to Puffy's home in Snowchester. I usually cut through here to get there, but I see you've built a little shack."

"It's a workshop," Quackity grumbled, turning around to keep working on the contraption he was building.

"What do you make in this so-called workshop?"

"Stuff. Guns, jewelry, clocks and watches… anything made of metal." Quackity took a screwdriver off the wall and started screwing in the back of an iron pocket watch. "You can be on your way now."

"I can help, though."

"How so?"

"Moral support."

Quackity scoffed. "Your fake positivity won't save you now."

Wilbur walked further into the room and leaned on the table. "Hey, I'm allowed to be in here. This isn't Las Nevadas territory."

"No, but it's my territory."

"It's Greater SMP territory. If anything, it's just a build you happened to make, anyone can be in here."

Quackity stayed silent. Maybe if I stop answering him, he'll shut up.

"You could just make it bigger. More tables, more stuff. More room for people to work. It is a workshop, after all."

"I don't want other people in here. This is supposed to be my safe space, to be alone."

"Oh come on, you're always alone."

And then there was silence.

Quackity knew that. He already addressed that he had almost no one to talk to, it didn't matter and it didn't bother him.

Wilbur also knew.

"Sorry."

Quackity didn't show any emotion. "For what? You didn't offend me."

"I said you were always alone, that's crossing a line. Just accept the apology."

What line, what goddamn line, we're enemies, we're fucking enemies. You can say whatever you fucking want.

Quackity took a deep breath.

"Fine. I don't care."

Wilbur just blinked. "Right."

The entire conversation was thrown into a mental trashcan Quackity kept in his head for all the moments he never wanted to think about again. It was getting quite full.

"Can you hand me that-"

"Yeah, got it." Wilbur already saw the dremel Quackity was pointing at. He took it from the dusty shelf and gave it to Quackity, and if either of their fingers lingered on the touch, neither of them said anything.

A dremel is a rotary tool that can be used on metal, stone, or glass to make engravings. Wilbur remembered using them in old L'manburg to engrave words onto the glass bottles of speed and strength. Quackity was leaned far over the workbench, practically falling off his stool, carefully engraving tiny swirls on the back of the pocket watch.

Wilbur watches his hands move precisely across the steel and smiles slightly.

"Willbur," Quackity said slowly, focused on the dremel, "Why haven't you left yet?"

"Pardon?"

"This is the part where you leave," Quackity mumbled. He picked the dremel up to inspect the gadget. "You barge in uninvited, insist you're allowed, argue with me incessantly, cross a line, and then leave. That's how it works. You should have left."

"Do you want me to leave?"

"And another thing," Quackity said, ignoring the question (which seemed to be common with him.) "Why is your hand on my shoulder?"

"Because you haven't pushed it away yet," Wilbur replied. His left arm was around Quackity's back and resting on his left shoulder. He was warm.

Oh so he's going to do THIS today, Quackity thought, using the dremel on the back of the pocketwatch now. "You're a dumbass."

"So do you want me here? You never answered my question."

"I don't," Quackity muttered under his breath, because half of him was bitching and yelling for Wilbur to go away and the other half was saying something against that, but Quackity couldn't hear what it was.

"No no, say the whole thing. Say 'I don't want you here.'"

"I don't want-" and then he stopped. Wilbur was rubbing circles in his shoulder. When was the last time someone gave me this much attention? Quackity's entire head felt fuzzy and warm, the words refused to leave his throat.

"Fine, you can stay, just- don't be a dick about it."

Quackity did not have to look to his left to know Wilbur was grinning.

This was the second silence of the day, and it was entirely welcomed considering that every time Wilbur opened his mouth, something stupid came from it. Wilbur's hand was still on Quackity's shoulder, and if it calmed him down at all, he didn't say it.

Quackity picked up the dremel again to look at the small incisions, and in doing so, he leaned backwards, forgetting the attention-seeking bitch behind him. And before any divine force could stop the catastrophe, Wilbur simply snaked his arms around Quackity's waist and held him there.

Quackity was moments away from fucking hissing at him, a long and colorful string of curswords running through his head, a million thoughts trying to make themselves heard. 99.9% of him was screaming with pure rage, and one tiny tiny piece of him was completely silent, as though his mind had its own thoughts and could think to itself wow this is fucking stupid.

"Wilbur," he said as slowly and as carefully as possible, "Do you know how many times I just cursed internally?"

Wilbur pressed his forehead against Quackity's shoulder and his chest shook with suppressed giggles. "Mhm."

"Oh you do? You do, do you?" Quackity said incredulously, setting the pocketwatch down. "How many then?"

"A lot," Wilbur answered, and Quackity could tell his brain was too foggy with laughter to think properly.

There was a third silence while Quackity contemplated how exactly he could kill Wilbur. He attempted, multiple times, to tell Wilbur to let go, but the words wouldn't come off his tongue. While trying to figure out why, he was affronted with statements like Maybe you want him to stay. Maybe you like people close to you, maybe especially him.

Quackity beat the traitorous thoughts into a puddle of mental dread. I'm not dealing with that shit right now.

The silence stretched on, and Quackity continued working on the pocket watch. He twisted a button in the side that should wind the miniature clock to the correct time, but it didn't move the hands. With a hateful grumble, he unscrewed the back of the watch to figure out what mistake he made this time. Wilbur was still quiet and Quackity hated that he wanted to know what the pensive man was thinking. Say something, say anything, I've never hated silence more, holy shit.

Quackity broke the silence with "What was limbo like?"

Wilbur's head shifted a little. "Hm?"

"I heard a little bit from tommy. But I still don't really know."

Wilbur was silent for a few more moments before saying "It was a train platform."

"A train platform?"

"Yeah, like a fucking- a jubilee line."

A jubilee line. "Like your song."

"Yeah." Quackity felt Wilbur take a deep breath. "I was alone."

"You were? I thought at least Schlatt would be there?"

"He was, so was MD. But Schlatt spent months at a time sleeping, and when he was awake, we couldn't find him."

Quackity knew. "And MD?"

"Spent the entire time in the living world. He couldn't leave his girlfriend or some shit."

Quackity took a wrench off the wall and twisted a large wire into place in the contraption he was working on. "Is that why you're so touchy? Because you went that long without literally any human contact?"

Wilbur just tightened his arms around Quackity's waist.

"Oh. I see." Quackity leaned back into him. "And nobody else wants to touch you?"

Wilbur nodded, his face still shoved in Quackity's shoulder. "Tommy and tubbo don't want to talk to me, Fundy refuses to see me, Niki wants nothing to do with me. Even my own father can't look at what I've become, nobody can."

That sounded familiar. "So you came to your worst enemy.”

"Are we enemies?"

"You want in Las Nevadas, I keep you out. Our goals don't align. We aren't friends."

"Well I know, but 'enemies' seems a little harsh."

"Maybe so."

"And, my enemy would have pulled away by now."

Quackity did not answer that. Instead he said, "God, your hands are cold."

"Sorry. Side effect of being dead."

Quackity traced the lines in Wilbur's palms. He briefly recalled a time where he tried to learn palm reading as a hobby. For the life of him, he couldn't remember what an unusual amount of notches meant. "It's fine. It's a little too warm in here."

"It's snowing outside."

"Shut up," Quackity muttered. Don't give me a reason to force you out again. I don't want to, god, I really don't want to.

Quackity felt Wilbur smile against his shoulder.

The fourth silence dragged on. Quackity wanted to ask him more about limbo, he wanted to hear him talk. He wanted to know what Tommy's ghost form was like, he wanted to hear why Wilbur worshipped Dream, he just wanted to talk and talk like nothing was wrong.

Had Wilbur always been like this? Back during the elections, he was formal and he was brash but he never crossed a line, and behind closed doors he was the same. He was soft and understanding and he took Quackity's heart with quiet remorse, he apologized, something no one else could do.

Quackity thought about why he had run for president of L'manburg in the first place. He remembered first hearing about Wilbur's plan and realizing how wrong it was. In his mind, he was saving L'manburg by running for president. He was doing the right thing. But thinking about it now, maybe there was something hidden in him that hadn't surfaced yet. That feeling of wanting power, wanting to be heard, wanting to simply be a leader. Because nobody followed you if you weren't a leader. Maybe that was selfish of him, but at least he THOUGHT he was running for a good cause- maybe everything would have worked out if he hadn't made that stupid deal with Schlatt.

He and Wilbur had almost never been friends. They knew each other and got along before L'manburg, there was that. And also whatever happened after he left Manburg, which Quackity refused to think about, because in Pogtopia while the others were out of the ravine, it was just the two of them, and it was like this.

Maybe not exactly like this. Then, they had nothing to lose. Quackity had been convinced they'd win the war. He let himself fall, and then-

And then Wilbur died.

That was the saddest part of that day, he remembered. L'manburg was destroyed, Technoblade had betrayed them, Schlatt got to die from a heart attack instead of karma, but watching the life drain from Wilbur's eyes, that was something entirely, entirely different.

He felt guilty that nothing had mattered more to him back then. He supposed Schlatt's abuse made his opinion of L'manburg decrease, and he never really liked Technoblade (which he was right about,) and he was glad Schlatt was dead even if Quackity couldn't be the one to kill him. It was justified for Wilbur's death to make him tremble. It was normal.

"Why are you so far away?"

Quackity was snapped back to reality by Wilbur's voice next to his head.

"Wilbur, I'm right here. You literally have your arms around my waist." He immediately regretted that, because saying it out loud made the whole situation a lot more real.

"No, I mean…" Wilbur sounded strained. "You're with me here, but not… here." Wilbur tapped a finger on the side of Quackity's head and Quackity knew what he meant. He grabbed Wilbur’s hand and held it away from his head, annoyed by the tapping, and ended up just holding Wilbur's right hand while his left arm was still around Quackity's waist.

"I'm thinking," he replied, feeling calmer from the contact despite himself.

"You're always thinking. Everyone's thinking, hell, I'm thinking right now. The problem is that you get lost in your thoughts."

Quackity sighed. "Well, it's much easier to get lost in my thoughts than it is to get lost in…" In you, in us, in the feeling that comes with your hand in mine.

Wilbur did not pester him to finish. He already knew. "It's not good for you though."

"Nothing's good for me," Quackity retorted. Especially not you.

"Affection is good for you."

"I don't ever get affection."

"Q, i'm gonna tell you what you told me just a minute ago. I literally have my arms wrapped around your waist."

Against his better judgement, Quackity felt a smile pull at his lips. He covered his face with his left hand. "I hate you."

"Then make me leave."

Except I don't want you to leave. I want you to stay with me here, I want you to talk to me, I want you to hold me tighter. And so the traitorous thoughts live.

Quackity said nothing.

God, I'm pathetic.

"If you don't make me leave, I'll stay here and just annoy you to death. A whole life gone because of one affectionate zombie."

Quackity smirked. "I think I can endure."

And that's when Quackity felt Wilbur plant a kiss on his cheek.

"WILBUR."

The guilty man grinned into the crook of Quackity's neck, shaking with giggles.

Quackity wanted his voice to come off as angry, or even just a little warning, but he couldn't stop the laughter creeping into his throat. "What the fuck, Wilbur??" He turned to yell at him, but when Wilbur realized his arms had slipped from Quackity's waist, he just hugged him closer, this time with Quackity facing him. He was still giggling a little.

"Oh, you're adorable…" Wilbur muttered. Quackity's face heated up. This is unfair.

"Why are you like this?"

"Like what?"

Quackity looked at him. Looked him in the eyes for the first time since he walked in. "Like that," he replied. "You're getting that look in your eyes you always get when you look at me for too long."

"What does it look like?" Wilbur asked quietly.

"I don't know. You look at me like… like I'm someone that deserves to be looked at."

Wilbur blinked. "You are, though."

"And then you do that," Quackity continued, "where your voice gets all soft and careful, like you’re scared that too much sound will make me shatter.”

“Look me in the eyes and say it doesn’t.”

Quackity briefly recalled the way he recoiled into himself when the prison alarm went off. Sam was panicked, and Quackity just couldn’t stop mocking him. It was his instinct. As well as Tubbo’s execution, which he didn’t know was happening. Doomsday was awful, both of them.

He really didn’t like loud sounds.

“I like your voice better like this,” Quackity muttered, “Than out there. When you yell, it changes, and it gets so goddamn… abrasive.”

“I’m sorry,” Wilbur replied. “I’ve heard my voice be called many things before, and ‘abrasive’ is definitely something I don't ever want to be.”

Quackity sighed against Wilbur’s chest. “Why? Why not? Why do you insist on being so gentle to me?”

“I don’t want us to be enemies,” Wilbur confessed, and the sound of honesty was clear in voice. It was something Quackity hadn't heard from anyone else. You can always hear his honesty. “I want it to be like it was in Pogtopia. At least, I want to be friends.” At least, at least, at least, at least- what does that mean.

“You’re not going to give up getting into Las Nevadas, though.”

“No, I'm not. And you’re not going to give up keeping me out.”

“So we can’t. Wilbur, we’re not friends-" Or anything more, His mind chanted. "-we have too much to fight over. I know there are moments like this where it seems possible, where you-” Quackity paused. “-Where we both wish it was. But the world is different now. It’s passed you by, Wilbur.”

“I know, goddamnit, I know, Q,” Wilbur hissed, “But can we just- Please, for the love of god- can we forget that for a minute? Forget Las Nevadas, forget L’manburg, forget my death, forget everything, can we just- Can we pretend like it’s okay? Can we both just be here, pretending, for just a moment?”

“How long is a moment?” Quackity asked, looking away from Wilbur’s eyes and just staring off into the distance. If I look at his eyes, god knows i’ll fucking kiss him. God knows he’s gone too far this time. Holy shit.

“As long as you want it to be. We can just pretend that now is back then, when things were simple, when you and I talked and laughed.”

“Back then?” Quackity tried to remember back then. Before L'manburg, before the drug van. When the Dream SMP was simply the Dream SMP.

"What would you have done back then?" Wilbur asked quietly. One arm around his waist, one arm holding his hand.

"I would have danced with you," Quackity whispered. He was looking Wilbur in the eyes now.

Wilbur beamed, and Quackity saw the playful glint in his eye, and he couldn't keep the anticipating smile off his face. "What? What is it?"

"You'll never guess what I just happened to bring with me today," the tall man said excitedly, pulling an item from inside his coat. It was a disc.

"You did not," Quackity gasped.

"I did! Puffy wanted me to bring her this- but i'm sure she wouldn't mind if it was a bit used first," Wilbur ranted, walking over to the jukebox in the corner to put the disc in. Chirp began playing softly around the workshop.

Quackity grinned. He could do that, couldn't he? After all, he was pretending.

Just when Quackity thought it couldn't get worse, Wilbur leaned forward and held his hand out. His eyes twinkled with bittersweet affection. "May I have this dance?"

"You are so stupid," Quackity reprimanded. He shouldn't do this, he really, really shouldn't. He still took Wilbur's hand. "Fine."

Wilbur put his left hand around Quackity's waist, just like it was before, and held Quackity's right hand out to the side.

And so, within their little bubble of pretending, they danced.

---

Reblogs > likes 💕💕💕

(!!! I'd like to add that the Workshop this takes place in is not canon to dsmp and doesn't actually exist in the dsmp universe! It's my own au. I might write more oneshots of people visiting Quackity in the workshop soon!!!)

#c!wilbur #c!wilbur soot #dream smp #dsmp #c!quackity #dsmp wilbur #mcyt #tntduo #quackbur #tntblr #revivedbur #c!tntduo #c!quackbur #tntduo fanfic #tw mention of death #tw trauma #tw swearing

[iaintyourbro]

The Unknown Journey Continues

Part 1

I know it's been a while... but I've been going down a rabbit hole with @starlight-samurai regarding time loops, Jenova, Minerva, and more fun. So I figured I'd try to put it into one post to get the insanity out of my head. Everything in here is based on things we've found by either going through more obscure Ultimanias, learning more about Dirge of Cerberus and trying to decipher what the hell Jenova is by putting together various sources - including other Square Enix games - and how they handled freakishly similar scenarios.

Did you know there is a companion mobile game for it that was out on the good old flip phones? Did you know there was an online mode in Dirge of Cerberus only available in Japan, but had story elements that were not in the main game?

The sad part is, there's still so much to go through...

(I've also had various discussions with @ourfinalheaven, Manu, who doesn't have Tumblr, so here is her Twitter. and Somebody's Nightmare (here is her Twitter). So I wanted to tag them here, as it's much more fun to discuss these ideas as a group, since it'll only help you build on and strengthen your own ideas.)

Please be aware, there will be Spoilers for FFVII - Almost all Compilation titles, Xenogears, and NieR Automata throughout this.

So let's go on a journey where we explore what actually already exists in the compilation - including the idea of the whispers and timeloops - how Minerva may play into everything, and what exactly Jenova is capable of doing.

I asked Sesi if he'd ever played any of the NieR games, because he'd said something that made me wonder if they were going to take a similar approach. As a very, very quick high level summary: NieR Automata deals with a time loop type of idea. The androids will be rebooted and repeat the same things over and over again. This is broken when 2B is killed by A2 because she becomes infected with a virus. That being said, you have the option after Ending E to either erase all of your data and end the cycle OR you can try again. The Pods have a discussion, and one asks, "But won't they just do the same thing again?" and the other replies with "Maybe. But it could also be different this time."

Here's Sesi's message back to me when I asked him about this (cleaned up a bit since we were having a casual conversation over Discord):

Maybe I could just guess based comparatively on the Dirge storyline, because that was sort of SE's first flirtation with “robots and androids” since they’re all programmed and locked behind like task managers and shit that can shut them down. The story of the online mode for DoC that came out in Japan, we never got to see it, you’re basically an Android OC and you have to get to “the end of the level” and then essentially die, and a new one takes its place. This keeps happening until Weiss is essentially freed from being able to be task managed by the guys who are suppose to be able to control them and I know from tons of years with Square games that they’re verrrrry bad at differentiating their narratives they tend to just keep “ripping themselves off” so is it anything close to that?

Cuz if so I think I kinda know what you’re saying and yeah, I agree, I think with CC bringing in its poetic symbolism and LOVELESS, and DoC bringing back the cyclic nature of the lore, whispers, premonitions and future visions, proto-Materia and the perversion of this next cycle since the planet can no longer cleanse and protect itself and its will is weakening lesser and lesser to the point where it’s fate is “in a true sense of jeopardy This time essentially it’s all tied in together and sort of played as though it's a fated track; a cycle of events and something has hitched it, thus the whispers manifesting and Sephiroth's higher implied control over his destiny. Of course, even all that is just their new red herring game, but it’s definitely a part of the lore they want to play with, in order to go back and reMAKE the OG with the comp inserted from inception. Also gut punch a lot.

Time Loops

I was somewhat surprised to find out that this concept is NOT new to FFVII's universe. It's discussed in Dirge of Cerberus... probably one of the least played and least understood of the compilation. (Trying to sell a third person shooter with terrible controls to a market of mostly people used to turn-based combat wasn't going to go well.)

On top of it, we didn't even get all of it, since online mode was never released outside of Japan, and the Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode was on Amp'd Mobile and Verizon flip phones back in 2006. Were you around for the cell phones in 2006? I had the ones on the list, and how somebody could play a game on those blows my mind.

Square has a tendency to reuse themes from their other titles. Probably one of the most blatant is the similarities between Xenogears and Final Fantasy VII. They were both being developed at the same time and a lot of ideas that didn't make it into FFVII ended up in Xenogears.

NieR

So how does this work? In NieR (both Replicant and Automata), you play the same path multiple times. Each time, it's slightly different depending on what side quests you did your first and second playthrough, but there's also other subtle differences throughout the story. In Automata, you get to play as 2B your first playthrough and 9S for your second. They follow the same path, but you get it from his perspective the second time and it reveals a bit more of what is going on. However, even with some slight differences, the main plot points stay the same and the ending result it also the same.

Then on your third playthrough, you wake up in the Bunker, and you're getting ready to go on a new mission. This time, though, 2B is killed and shit hits the fan. Things get crazy, you play as a new character: A2. In the end, pretty much everyone "dies", but you can choose to "reboot" and try again. You also can say you are done and let them all rest and delete your save data (the game gives you the option for both Automata and Replicant, and with Replicant, it actually leads to a new ending).

The striking thing for me is... There are certain events that will always happen, no matter what.

Fixed Points in Time

It's been years since I've watched Doctor Who, but there was something that stuck with me, and that was the fixed points in time. You can read about all of them here, but here's the basics:

Now, of course Doctor Who goes into this with much more detail and it's a recurring theme. However, as you read through that page, you'll probably find many aspects that have been used in various JRPGs that you've played. And Doctor Who most likely pulled some of the idea from classic Science Fiction novels. Each story puts its own spin on it.

How does this relate to FFVII Remake? Well, when they say that the major plot points will stay the same, it reminds me of this. No matter what, Cloud must fall into the Sector 5 Church, the Sector 7 Plate must be dropped, Aerith and Zack both must die, and Meteor has to be summoned, to name a few. So, with a time loop, those things would still have to take place in order to prevent a complete collapse of reality (at least in how Doctor Who uses it).

Therefore, the Whispers are ensuring that the Will of the Planet is followed.

One of the major themes in FFVII is that of loss. People die and they do not come back. Yes, other FF games do allow this to happen (FFX, FFXIII, FFXV), but VII is not those games. It was written with that idea in mind, that once a person dies, they, just like in real life, are dead and cannot be brought back.

I've previously written that I think they'll make us believe we are able to change fate, but we will eventually be slammed with the reality that we can't. That is because the planet has determined that certain events are fixed points.

Xenogears

Xenogears takes a bit of a different approach to the loop idea. Instead of repeating the same time period over and over, it has the characters reincarnated, and the same outcome happens each time: Elly dies. However, each time it's different. After all, they're in various time periods, in some cases thousands of years apart.

In all of the lives of Fei (who will have a different name in each time period) and Elly (who is always Elly/Elhaym), Elly will end up dying trying to protect Fei and the others. In one life, she is a religious figure at a totally not Catholic church, in another she's the wife of a scientist who was working to create children from nanomachines due to mass infertility issues. But she is ALWAYS with Fei, even if his name changes.

In her Mother Elhaym time, this is when Lacan (Fei) finally snaps. Though he's not fully aware of his past lives, he becomes aware, the anger consumes him, and he becomes Grahf. Fei is then reborn into the time period you play the game in.

There's a lot to unpack with this, so I won't go into it. Grahf wants to destroy God (Deus) because he thinks if he does, then it'll stop the suffering (his suffering).

If you do want to read more about Grahf, you can do so here, but it probably won't make much sense unless you've played Xenogears up to that point... Since it's much later in the game that this is all explained.

Lacan's desire was to stop the cycle of Elly always sacrificing herself for his sake. Though Grahf is not a perfect existence - he's not fully "The Contact", he sacrifices himself in order to let Fei move forward, and hopefully stop the cycle, by destroying the Deus system. (Elly also tries to sacrifice herself here, but Fei goes after her and stops her.)

Now, some people may think I'm saying that Cloud or somebody is going to do this in order to save Aerith or Zack (or his village or mom), but in FFVII if they do the loop method, I don't think Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and the others are aware of it. Most likely, it's only 'Sephiroth' and Aerith who are aware of it.

How this Could Be used for Final Fantasy VII

I'm stressing could because there's so many different possibilities on how they use this (if they are using this), so please, don't take this as fact. This is based on speculation based on what we know.

A time loop is a great way to explain away the differences in the story that we've seen: Biggs being alive, Wedge living for longer than he should have, etc. Since these are not major plot changes, they can simply say that this time it'll be slightly different... but your fixed points (major plot points) will remain the same.

It's a way to pull in some of the more obscure themes from Dirge of Cerberus and also play with the LOVELESS lore.

It could all simply be a big red herring and it's really just a remake of OG, but with the compilation tied together nicely... since it works much better when it's combined and not in 50 different games, books, movies, etc.

I don't think it's a "sequel" per say, not in the way I generally perceive a sequel. It's more of a loop of the same thing. The question is, when is the loop started and what will cause it to end? When will the planet (if it even is the planet) determine that it's good enough to begin moving forward?

JENOVA, Sephiroth, Genesis, and Minerva - Oh My!

Let's be real... Genesis isn't exactly the most popular character in the FFVII Compilation... but what if they make him one of the most important to the story? //Ducks as various fruits and vegetable are thrown in my direction//

I think what Genesis is probably most known for is his love of LOVELESS. He has the entire thing memorized and randomly says lines from it throughout Crisis Core. LOVELESS lore is still something I'm trying to grasp, so I am not going to comment much on it. Once I understand it more, I'll update this.

...And then this happens. The secret ending for Dirge of Cerberus, where Genesis picks up Weiss. Weiss, who has now been introduced along with Nero in FFVII INTERmission and is an optional ridiculously hard boss in the Shinra battle simulator in chapter 17 of the main story. There is some lore associated with the battle sim - so if you don't plan on beating it or you just can't, you can look up the pre-battle and post-battle cut scenes on YouTube. They're very short, but interesting. (I beat this asshole last night - it's a hell of a fight.)

....To Be Continued because apparently Tumblr won't allow more than 10 images per post now.... Next will be more on JENOVA and Sephiroth along with Minerva.

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