#juniper has been on my mind lately and it shows lmao

[kitkatyes]

thinking about john juniper again

very rambly so im putting it under the cut

Its the fact that in the second game, this man decided that Phoenix, the very same person he named because of their ability to essentially rise from the dead, known to escape anything, can be left alone in a laser trap whilst he goes to the peace summit

juniper is a little incompetent and prideful, but I'd think he'd know better than to leave phoenix alone; well, I think he'd know better than to leave the drill/scredriver/laser thing in such an easily accessible location.

he knows who phoenix is-- thats the real kicker

maybe, just maybe, theres some shred of humility within him because of this

did he want pheonix to escape? I feel like there may be a possiblity-- he has titled himself as 'the worlds greatest actor', after all. perhaps he was so insistent on the idea that phoenix would escape and they wouldn't be directly killed by him

I mean, i can sense a little bit of fondness between the two-- sorta like, a thrill of the chase dynamic (junipers just living the pipe dream of being some sorta evil nemesis-- I like to think he always liked playing the villain in some movies he'd been cast in) And, like, he seemed so surprised when phoenix showed up

I mean, if juniper wanted phoenix dead, why not kill them there? If he wanted to keep them captured, why not take them to the peace summit (imagine that haha <- not-so-subtle plug for one of my fics [listen, i was thinking about that fic before typing this out in a haze, okay? /vsilly]) He could've exposed the agency's involvement and make phoenix an example-- y'know, show them how serious he was

basically, juniper liked phoenix and wanted them to escape