#how are you gonna introduce a split timeline and several new characters in the final season and still justify jukebox musical numbers

[projectcatzo]

Hmmmm, some of the storylines in the final season of Dear White People ended up pretty underdeveloped, it's almost like there were several minutes of each episode that served no meaningful purpose besides inflicting me with secondhand embarrassment.........

[randomidiocyncrazies]

going into more detail about the P2/P4/P5 Persona Q idea, I’m thinking of breaking the cast into the following chunks:

P2 IS: Tatsuya, Lisa, Eikichi and Jun (separated from Maya in Xibalba)

P2 EP: Maya, Ulala, Baofu and Katsuya (before Tatsuya officially joins the party but after the P1 party member leaves?)

P4: entire IT (cultural festival like in PQ, or after fighting the culprit)

P5: all PTs (before Casino heist like PQ2)

Having the P2 cast all come from the EP timeline with Lisa, Eikichi and Jun getting accidentally involved & regaining their IS memories works too, but the storyline would have to revolve around that + Tatsuya’s reaction to justify introducing that plot element imo, cause it’s A LOT to deal with. Also if the overarching plot is centered on P2 (particularly the IS party members), then why are the P4 and P5 casts involved? Also while I think it’d be interesting to re-introduce Philemon and Nyarlathotep to the Persona setting and have them play a bigger part—especially since Nyarly isn’t banished until the end of EP—their involvement might skew the plot too heavily towards P2? (although I admit the “nobody remembers this adventure” ending of PQ games would work especially well for Lisa, Jun and Eikichi here) 

tbh PQ had quite a lot of nods to P2 IS (the clock tower, school mysteries + moving statue urban legend on P4-side, and the true form of the main antagonist). I kinda like the idea of the setting being a fake school like PQ, with details of the school influenced by the persona users when they arrive, but the story might have to be tweaked a bit (different final boss probably, and maybe bring in more themes in P2/4/5). 

potential themes

I liked that PQ and PQ2 had plots that were ultimately about the new characters, since it justifies their inclusion (and i think it’s a bit unfair if the game focuses too much on the cast of a particular game). I have mixed feelings about some of the execution of PQ and PQ2, but I do appreciate the intent behind it. I do think reinforcement of the games’ themes could help make the overarching story more cohesive, so here are some potential themes with P2, P4 and P5 in mind:

rumors, gossip and the role of mass media are important in all 3 (4) persona games here: P2 antagonists manipulate various media to generate rumors, and in turn manipulate rumors to bring about the end of the world; the Midnight Channel in P4 reacts to local gossip and it’s about the casual dehumanization of individuals through media (mostly TV); in P5 people’s perception of the PT is literally a plot point, and the game reminds you of the PT approval rating almost constantly

(distorted) memories is primarily a P2 thing (”worse than death\ forgotten”, Nyarlathotep’s manipulation of Jun and Philemon’s deal to the IS kids, Tatsuya’s ‘sin’) but it could work with the mystery aspect of PQ games. Distorted memories arguably lead to distorted self-perception (P5), and uncovering the truth is P4′s jam

as mentioned in the previous post, the tension between P5′s teenage rebellion and P2 EP’s adult guidance could be really fun to explore and incorporate into the plot. Persona games are about coming of age, but with EP there’s also a secondary theme of guiding the younger generation and fully grappling with adulthood—the heroines of PQ and PQ2 are quite young, but I can potentially see the new character(s) being a little older here (maybe 17-18?)

stroll ideas

Of course the reason why this idea exists in the first place is all the potential interactions between everyone! There’s just so much potential with all the different dynamics and topics they can discuss :3 Here are a few ideas:

Stomping Grounds: P2/4/5 discuss where and how they bust Shadows. P2 “we had to sleep in dungeons sometimes!!!” is incredibly envious that demons aren’t running around the real world for the others. P2 and P4 are jealous of P5 for not having to repair/replace ruined clothes (”you just think about cool clothes and they appear on you?!” “man we should try that in Xibalba...” “it’s really not that simple! Morgana can explain it better, but basically it’s our mental image of rebellion” etc etc).

Lisa’s Brutal Makeover Corner: Teddie gets jealous when Lisa demonstrates her makeup skills on Jun and wants to get dolled up too—he won the Yasogami cross-dressing pageant after all! He has to be the prettiest!!! 

Butterfly Effect: several P4 and P2 characters try to use P5 cast’s knowledge to their advantage, but is stopped by the detective trio to prevent potential time paradoxes

Say It With Flowers: Jun and Haru (and Yukiko?) discuss flower language, share gardening tips, and swap demon/shadow intimidation tactics. Everyone around them is slightly afraid of their enthusiasm on the topic...

Fashion Gurus: Eikichi and Yusuke have a discussion about ~aesthetics~ and comment on their companions’ styles. Kanji is roped into the argument

Fashion Gurus Strike Again: Ulala, Ann and Rise discuss latest fashion trends and comment on the others’ fashion choices

The Audiophiles’ Alliance: Futaba and Yosuke chat about headphones and the greatest bops (with Futaba lamenting she can’t make him eat his words because the song she’s thinking of doesn’t exist yet in his time). Eikichi—aka the great Michel-sama—senses a prime opportunity to get some new fans... 

Strangers in a Familiar Land: Lisa and Ann get into how people tend to act... weird about them due to their foreign looks; Teddie, on the other hand, loves the attention his human form gets from the people around town (and the girls conclude that Teddie would probably get into trouble in a big city)

Everybody Loves Kung Fu Fightin’: Makoto, Ulala, Lisa and Chie show off their moves and swap training tips. Lisa and Chie talk about their favorite martial arts movies and convinces the others to check them out

Big Bro’s Worries: Katsuya and Yosuke complain about their younger brothers, while P4 and P5 protags are slightly smug that they don’t get that much trouble from their sisters, especially P4 protag 

Velvet Room attendants

Since P2/4/5 all have multiple Velvet Room attendants, they’re gonna double up on some jobs to avoid over-crowding:

P2: Demon Artist: he’s in charge of the Workshop. Unlike the other attendants he’s human, so Margaret and the twins are probably intrigued/unsettled by him and Marie might also be curious as someone else who also stays at the Velvet Room but isn’t really an attendant

P2: Nameless & Belladonna: they handle the healing service. They can sense something unusual with the P2 cast due to the split timelines, but it has no bearing on the plot. I’m on the fence whether to include a healing service at all, but if there is one I think it suits them, since their music is supposed to put guests at ease

P4: Margaret & Marie: like their PQ and PQ2 roles, Margaret manages the Persona Compendium and Fusions, and Marie handles skill cards

P5: Caroline and Justine: the twins handle the quests, since Margaret does the fusions. Caroline enjoys ordering the persona users about

[you can find more on this AU tagged under PQ Triple]

[groovegalaxxxy5]

Shut up and eat your breakfast bar, Mercury.

The next chapter of Folie Á Deux is juuust about ready for release so I thought I’d put up a little preview. I know this fic has been overdue for a proper update for ages, and I am sooo sorry to ALL my poor neglected fics, ugh. In my defense I honestly can't recall ever having written anything that required me to consider so many different moving parts. It's been taking me so much time just to organize the timeline for this one, plus I'm trying some new things with it too(like POV characters...7_7;;) which has been...interesting.  But it’s going! Pretty well, actually!!

Inane rambling aside, this is only a tiny little snippet of what turned out to be a pretty long chapter, but I really liked this scene in particular. Hopefully my readers will too!

Youcancuttheesexualtensionwithakniiiiiife//

 The next time Mercury wakes it’s to a familiar electronic melody ringing out from nearby and a very unfamiliar sensation of softness and warmth pressed along his entire left side.  Instinctively he refrains from any abrupt movements, instead carefully easing open granite colored eyes still slightly bleary with the last vestiges of sleep to surreptitiously take in his surroundings.  

When he does the young assassin finds his heart jumping up into his throat unbidden at the sight of soft green tresses rustling softly with the constant airflow provided by the aircraft’s ventilation system, practically right up against his cheek. A nice, clean sort of scent — citrusy and kind of sweet but not overpowering — tickles his nose and the dark-haired boy’s eyes narrow sharply in confusion when he realizes that the warm weight pressing into him is actually his partner slumped over onto his shoulder. A careful tilt of his head reveals Emerald’s peacefully sleeping face, half obscured by verdant forelocks, as her chest rises and falls softly with each breath.  There’s a slightly worn hardback nestled in her lap, the corner of one page lodged haphazardly between delicate mahogany fingertips, but he can’t move his head enough to get a good look at it without shifting the arm that she’s leaning on—she probably fell asleep reading again.

As the sound of the thief’s scroll alarm drones on, her brow creases and a small groan of irritation stirs slightly dry, full lips.  Mercury immediately closes his eyes again, forcefully willing his heartbeat and breathing pattern into submission before she properly awakens and he’s forced to deal with cranky, just-woke-up Emerald and pissy, ‘there’s awkward sexual tension all of a sudden and I don’t know how but this is YOUR FAULT, Mercury!’ Emerald.  

The assassin almost immediately regrets his decision.  With his eyes closed, the scent of the green-haired girl’s shampoo (Perfume? Body lotion???) and the slight tickling sensation of her hair against his cheek feels like it’s amplified about a hundred times with the shift of focus to the rest of his senses.  In response, Mercury desperately tries to preoccupy himself with thoughts of what food joints he’s going to hit up once they finally get back to civilization.

The City of Mistral’s underground may be a seething cesspool of corruption of crime, but it also has some of the best street food in the world—because even criminals have to eat.  Emerald will probably lose her shit when he introduces her to the food at his favorite—

‘—Dammit.’  

His brief internal struggle is interrupted by the feeling of the young woman in question stirring in earnest, apparently no longer able to ignore the insistent sound of her alarm.  There’s a rush of cool air against his shoulder as she finally lifts her head, followed by the feeling of her tensing up against him when she presumably recognizes the extremely awkward position that she managed to fall asleep in.  Mercury desperately suppresses the urge to steal a glance at whatever goofily mortified look he’s sure is probably crossing his partner’s face right now and instead directs all his available resources to maintaining the pretense that he’s still sound asleep.  The dark-haired boy is keenly aware that right now he’s losing out on some prime “let’s annoy Emerald” material (which undoubtedly would have come in handy later on when he inevitably grows bored of whatever tedious bullshit Cinder has them expending their energy on for the mission) but he’s even more curious as to how she’ll react to the situation if he just plays the whole thing off.

He can hear Emerald crankily jamming her finger into the screen of her scroll just before the alarm goes silent and then an aggravated little grunt—she’s never in a good mood right after she wakes up, but she sounds particularly agitated right now. After that things go suspiciously quiet, though he can still faintly feel the thief’s body warmth seeping into his side, and Mercury experiences a moment of confusion.  He can hear her breathing softly nearby, but she doesn’t seem to be moving.

‘What the-...Is she just...watching me sleep???’

It takes every ounce of training Mercury has to maintain his cover at that moment. He can practically feel the thief’s sharp, vermilion eyes roving over his face, and though he can’t actually see Emerald’s expression, her Aura feels strangely concentrated.  It feels like she’s scrutinizing him.  

‘Shit. She knows.’

A few more seconds of quiet and then the dark-haired boy suddenly feels his heart jump up into his throat again at the abrupt sensation of a single point of pressure digging softly into his cheek as Emerald leans in towards him.  Her face is definitely right next to his, so close he can feel her breath tickle his cheek.  She gently pokes him a couple more times then, seemingly testing to see just how soundly he’s sleeping.

“Just five more minutes,” the green-haired thief finally mumbles after a small sigh of defeat.  He can feel her words roll over his cheek in a gentle rush of warm air before she pulls away. And then, as an afterthought, “You really do look like shit, you know that? …’s what you get for not going to sleep at night like a normal human being….Stupid jerk.”

After that there’s the sound of Emerald shifting in her seat slightly and then the quiet rustling of pages turning.  Mercury somehow manages to maintain his composure, but he feels strangely unsettled after the weird encounter—his heart rate refuses to get under control after that despite his pointedly slow, steady breaths, to the point that he’s almost sure that the young woman sitting next to him will hear his pulse any moment now and catch on to the fact that he’s been faking it the whole time.

She doesn’t, however, and in what feels like mere moments Emerald is calling his name as she roughly nudges him awake—for real this time.

“Mercury. Mercury. Get up — we’re almost there.”

“Mn?” He feels like an absolute idiot pretending like he’s only just now waking up when he’s actually been extremely, painfully alert for the last several minutes.  This was such a stupid idea.

“We’re going to be landing soon—you need to wake up,” she repeats, giving him another nudge that’s just as insistent but a bit gentler this time, “Brothers…you really were tired—you slept the entire way. Usually you won’t shut the hell up.”

“Aww, sorry to leave you so bored and lonely for the whole flight, Em,” he says smoothly after a small yawn, offering her the best shit-eating grin he can muster at the moment, “Promise I’ll make it up to you later.”

“Just get ready to land,” comes the exasperated reply.  For the most part, Emerald sounds as dismissive as ever, but he can’t help but notice the slight waver in her voice.  The assassin feels his own mental composure recover just slightly at that particular realization—It’s actually something of a relief to know that he’s not the only one who’s feeling more than a bit out of sorts right now.  

Sufficiently satisfied that he’s not going to fall back asleep, the green-haired girl gets to her feet and steps over to where their luggage is located to begin rummaging around inside her bag until she produces a familiar looking small, rectangular package. As he watches the thief tear open the packaging to her rations, the dark-haired youth feels his own stomach start to burble a little bit, reminding him that they departed well before breakfast time this morning.

Mercury stands and gives his shoulders a good stretch before likewise raiding his own bag, and a few minutes later finds them sitting across from one another in front of their packs, both munching away on Atlesian military grade breakfast rations.    

“Where’s Cinder?” he asks casually, not because he actually cares but because he knows it’s one of the easiest ways to get her talking.

“Still on the upper deck. When I went up to check on her about an hour ago she was poring over maps of the city.”

“Mm. They’re really serious about making this a repeat of Beacon,” Mercury comments. Out of the corner of his eye he catches Emerald’s eyebrows quirk together uncomfortably for a split second at his observation, prompting the dark-haired boy to pause mid chew, gaze narrowing momentarily in frustration.

‘Aaand there it is. Brothers’ blood, Em…You’re really gonna make me do this aren’t you.’

“…You cool with that?” he ventures slowly, surreptitiously shifting his gaze so that he can properly observe her reaction.  

“I want whatever Cinder wants,” Emerald replies firmly, pinning him with an irritated side-glare.  He really has to give it to his partner—she’s an excellent liar.  Emerald’s tone sharpens a bit in response to his inquiry, but her voice is otherwise steady and her gaze doesn’t waver in the slightest when she pins him under it.  If it weren’t for the way her breath caught in her chest for just a split second when he first raised the question, he would have been inclined to believe her.

“Just asking,” he says dismissively, backing off from the topic with a disarming little shrug.

“…Fuck you, Merc,” the green-haired girl comments at last, after pointedly glaring up at him in silence for a moment, “Seriously.”

“Wow, Em,” he gasps, adopting a thoroughly scandalized expression, “I know I promised I’d make it up to you, but—”

“Shut up and eat your breakfast bar, Mercury!”

//ActuallyitreallyISMercury’sfaulteverytiiiime

I like that this excerpt gives absolutely NO hint as to where this chapter actually ends up lmaooo  Just a nice little innoculation of UST-filled banter and pre-romantic cuteness before shit goes completely sideways and upside down... 

[leonawriter]

Second Chances

Read it on AO3

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII

Characters: Cloud, Shelke, Genesis, various others.

Summary: Following on from First Encounters, Shelke helps bring certain things to light about their new acquaintance. When Cloud finally finds him again, his attempts at getting answers are less than fruitful.

Written for @strifesodosweek, though this one’s mainly platonic again.

...

It happens while Genesis is away, and no one knows where he's gone. It isn't the first time that's happened, and they weren't too bothered about it, because everyone had things they didn't want to talk about, something that Cloud understood more than most.

It's one of those rare occasions when there's more people around than there aren't, too, which he'd be suspicious of if it weren't for how sometimes, that's just how things are. 

Vincent's talking to Tifa, Yuffie's stroking Nanaki's mane, and Cid's taking a drag of a cigarette by the door when Shelke comes walking in, looking vaguely uncomfortable and saying that she had 'information that she believed that everyone present might benefit from'.

...

"The man who is now staying here, I believe that he is the one that Deepground referred to as 'G'," she continues as soon as everyone is settled down. "He introduced himself to Cloud as a SOLDIER First Class, am I correct?"

Cloud nods. He doesn't look her in the eye.

"G... as we now know him, 'Genesis', was the origin of Deepground, in many ways, according to all of the information I was able to obtain on the matter, and the one whose cells were used in order to create the Tsviets. Shinra seems to have made extensive attempts to delete his existence from history, so what I was able to find was... at times inadequate, and often inconclusive, but does point to the indubitable fact that the Genesis we know may be the very same as the SOLDIER who despite Shinra's efforts, will agree caused a considerable amount of damage and loss of life up until some years ago."

It took effort for Cloud to not let the ringing in his ears overtake him, to keep listening to what was being said, to not grip the table so hard that Tifa was going to have to get a new one.

Tifa sighs, and he looks up, to see her sharing a look with Cid, who looks grim, but...

"Yeah, I figured as much," the man says. "I mean, with a name like that? There's only so many in the world, y'know? And damn, but I was around in those days - they can pretend it didn't happen as much as they like, but the Genesis war was a thing, and people tend to talk when there's something going on like a SOLDIER gone rogue. All hush-hush of course, but what wasn't."

His head- his head... 

The world flashed green, just for a split second, enough to put him off balance.

A voice-

You were a test subject in Hojo's new experiment. 

The monster has been harvested, and can be discarded.

"...thought I knew him from somewhere."

Tifa's voice snapped him free, but he still felt the sweat on the back of his neck. Her words registered to him only vaguely, as he tried to remember how to breathe again.

"Cloud?"

He shakes his head. 

"I'm fine," he says. Vincent doesn't look much like he believes him any more than Tifa does, but the last thing he wants right now is for them to start fussing over him, when they have bigger problems at hand than whatever his memories are up to this time. He's thankful when they just let the matter drop.

"Like I was saying, I thought I knew him from somewhere. His face seemed familiar, you know? And his name, somehow."

"So this guy waltzes in here like he doesn't expect anyone's gonna remember him, is that it?"

"I don't know, something about this seems-"

"He saved Raye and Este before I could get to them," Cloud cuts in, his eyes still squarely on the surface of the table and no one and nothing else. It's almost as though he's hearing someone else speak, and doesn't know whether to hate himself for speaking up for the person he didn't know if he could trust any longer, or feel relieved that he was saying it at all. "If all anyone's got is incomplete data and rumours," including me, he added silently, even now, I wouldn't rely on anything I remember from back then unless someone else is able to back it up, "then... even if nothing else... we can't judge him like that until we know everything."

When he eventually looks back up, Shelke's eyes are on her hands, crossed on her lap.

"I merely thought that additional information would be useful," she said. "Especially if something came up where a lack of prior knowledge would have caused further divisions."

...

Genesis doesn't return for several days, and it's long enough for some of the others to start wondering if he'd merely been toying with them, stringing them along, using their hospitality.

Cloud doesn't know what to think, and he doesn't really know what he wants to think, either. The two images in his head - that of the man who saved a couple of kids and their dog just because he was there, and that of someone who'd had a war named after him - clashed, irreconcilable.

He finds that his feet are taking him to the church in Sector Five, and wonders what Aerith would make of all this. What Zack would make of it.

The last thing he expects to find in the church are black feathers. His heart stops, hand going for his sword - the last time he had seen feathers like these... it hadn't been here, but Loz had been here, and fought Tifa, too.

A quick scan of the rest of the church suggested that there hadn't been another fight here, that nothing was out of place, that the pool of water that Aerith had called down that cured Geostigma was still as it should be. 

He finally sees the source of the feathers when he looks up to check that the Buster Sword is still in its place, and he feels himself go cold at the sight.

The wing was on the wrong side. Misshapen, compared to Sephiroth's. 

Instead of silvery-white hair falling straight down, the owner's hair was red, and fell over black and red leather, what little could be seen from behind, and with the way that the winged man was hunched over.

Cloud puts one foot in front of the other, and sees Genesis - because there's no one else it could be, no matter how much he wishes it wasn't - tense at the sound. 

"Shelke told us a few things," he says as he walks. "And we figured out a few other bits by ourselves."

He pauses several feet away, but Genesis still hasn't risen from the pew. He hasn't even turned to face him. A nervous tension pools in Cloud's stomach at the idea of Genesis, who had been unarmed the last he knew, taking Buster Sword and using it to turn on them all.

"What are you even doing here?"

When Loz had come, it was supposedly to find him, although he'd taken to fighting Tifa and stealing their materia. He had no such understanding of this man's motives. Not anymore, at least, if he ever had.

"My soul, corrupted by vengeance, hath endured torment... to find the end of the journey in my own salvation and your eternal slumber." Genesis let the church echo for a few moments before saying anything else, the words ringing familiar to Cloud, but not explaining anything. "I came to pay my respects, of course."

The wing shook itself out slightly, before settling down again.

"You knew Zack," he says, and it isn't a question. It's the only thing that fits.

"I... suppose you could say that."

Genesis says it in such a way that Cloud knows there's more to it, that it's complicated, and he wants to take the man by that stupid coat of his, and shake him until his feathers fall out along with some answers.

But he doesn't. Because Aerith's flowers aren't that far away, and he knew better than any that her presence still hadn't truly left them. There'd already been enough fighting in this place.

"I spoke up for you," Cloud hears himself saying. "I thought you deserved a chance."

Perhaps some part of him had intended it to come out as anything other than confrontational, but if it did, then it failed - it sounds like nothing more than an accusation.

"All in all, a terrible decision, really," Genesis says flatly. "I could list off any number of reasons why you and everyone else I've come into contact with should hate me." Something about the way he said it gave Cloud no doubt about that, either. "Unfortunately for you, however, I have promises to keep, and none of them include dying any time soon."

Genesis stands, and the wing stretches out as the man sorts himself out, head tilting up, as though attempting to judge the size of and distance to the hole in the roof.

"Promises?" Cloud asks, reaching for something, anything, to help him understand. "What sort of promises?"

"Nothing you need to worry yourself over, Cloud."

Genesis' head tilted, and Cloud wondered why hearing this man say his name already felt so different from when Sephiroth had  - there was something similar but off that he couldn't quite put his finger on. 

Then again, that was Genesis all over, it seemed. Full of contradictions, constantly shifting. Like fire.

The wing flaps once, and before Cloud can react to say or do anything else, Genesis is gone, leaving a trail of feathers floating down in his wake. 

He walks over to where the man had been, half expecting to see something there, some kind of trap, but finds nothing.

There is, however, a single Banora White apple sitting on top of a few black feathers in front of the Buster Sword, and Cloud almost thinks that he can feel a memory on the tip of his tongue before it disappears on him, like a whisper on the wind.

Zack... I hope I made the right decision. 

A single feather fell onto the water's surface as he walked back to the open doors, creating ripples as the wind blew it this way and that.

...

AN: I don't often write about 'how do the gang find out about Genesis' past', but I do feel like it should ideally be handled really carefully, and yeah, if people hadn't thought about it and then it comes up later, then there are going to be issues there. 

Timeline-wise, I'd also put this as before 'Spar With Me', which gives an idea that things do indeed get better.