#'pulp have you been thinking about chargestep orpheus/euridyce timeloop again' FIRST OF ALL. yes :(

[sidesteppostinghours]

its insane to me how baked in the concept of time is to the core of fhr. so much of it is about how the characters deal with it. step and ortega are at the heart of it, obviously, theyre both always comparing the past and the present, but even with other characters it bleeds through. just the inevitability of it all. i think time loop aus hit different in fhr because in a way, fhr already is a timeloop. no matter who you play, no matter how kind or cruel or safe or reckless you are, itll end the same way. youll always die. youll always fall.

its the same way when you go back to the rangers. as always, ortega finds you. theyll never let you go. will you come crawling back? bridge the gap, depend on others to keep you safe? or do you push them away, bite and scratch until theyre safely at arms length? it doesnt matter, of course. youve done both before. neither saved you. neither will save you, because youre a villain now; you cant escape it.

even with multiple endings and the many, Many different ways sidestep could end up (god theres so many ways sidestep could end up, there are so many steps in this fandom i have no idea how they all manage to stay unique and interesting but godspeed to yall), theres somehow always that underlying feeling of "it will always end this way". its a feeling thats incredibly close to fate. and that is fascinating for a choose-your-own-adventure game thats main draw is, for all intents and purposes, the amount of choice you do get. i like to think its a taste of what step feels like– the feeling that you cant run from whats coming for you, yk?