#like player got connection to Cloud from just one day of battling together

[hexxter]

Rewatching Disney worlds parts cause I love the friendship the player get with the characters.. SEPHIROTH???

I didn’t remember that part ever happening…

Am I overthinking it to think its actually means something for the future lore? Its probably just gameplay stuff lol like boss battle

But I can’t help it cause its fits my little headcanon version of khux and Player’s life

[tunasama13]

OKAY OKAY I GOT BACK INTO PLAYING MY OLD POKEMON GAMES, and *sighhhhh* holy fuCK-

Pokemon White:

- N MY BABY BOY WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE YOU AAAAAAAAA

- Bianca is a mood

- That. Fucking. Ranger. With the. Overpowered. Marcactus.

- I got into the game, tried to get my old team back together only to find that besides my starter, EVERYONE WAS UNDERLEVELED AS FUCK

- Did I mention how much I want to punt Ghetsis into the Distortion World? Giratina needs some dinner.

- (Not me headcanon N to be a half Zoroark AND biologically related to Lusamine, Lillie, and Gladion from his bio mothers side)

- NOT ME GETTING WAR FLASHBACKS IN VICTORY ROAD

- Elesa my QUEEN.

- I mayyyyy or may not ship Cheren and Bianca?

- Alder is N’s adopted dad now, FUCKING BATTLE ME.

- My game card was all fucked up because of my shitty DSi with an eternally dusty cartridge and me trying to scratch out the nonexistent dirt.

- Okay okay, TELL ME HOW I NOTICED THIS. Ghetsis= Lusamine/ N=Lillie/ The Sages= Faba x7/ Anthea and Concordia= Wicke(?) (sorry Gladion my baby 🥺)

- I will keep making connections to Team Plasma and the Aether Foundation until the day I die.

- ALSOOOO, the Juniper’s father-daughter relationship is wholesome as fuck.

- N has a boyfriend and a girlfriend, their names are Piers and Flannery (DON’T WORRY SHE’S 19 IN MY HC, also, she’s never given a specific age, and she looks slightly over 18?)

- I laugh everytime I defeat a Team Plasma grunt

Pokemon Ultra Moon:

- LILLIE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH YOU INNOCENT LIL BEAN

- GLADION, MY EMO BABY BOYYYYYY

- Lana is adorable, BUT I HAVE TO TRADE A FUCKING EMOLGA TO MYSELF TO DEFEAT THAT DAMN TOTEM ARAQUANID.

- Lusamine is Ghetsis but she’s attractive and actually gets redempted, I STILL HATED HER FOR THE FIRST PART OF THE GAME THOUGH.

- Speaking of Lusamine, Lillie, and Gladion. I will die with my headcanon that they’re N’s biological aunt/cousins.

- Hau, YOU ANNOYING RAY OF SUNSHINE.

- Kukui and Burnet’s relationship is sooooo sweet 🥺 IF YOU TEAR THEM APART I WILL BEAT YOUR ASS

- I love how Kukui found Lillie washed up on the beach and went, “HONEY GET THE ADOPTION PAPERS”

- Nebby is baby, I would willingly adopt the scared cloud baby.

- I don’t know why, but that flying type Elite Four member pisses me off. WHATWASHERNAME???

- Guzma is a traumatized stinky gremlin, and I love that traumatized stinky gremlin.

- FABA CAN FUCKING FALL IN A DITCH AND DIE

- Ghetsis you asshole, HIT LILLIE AGAIN AND NEBBY WILL RIP YOU APART.

- Also, uhhhhhh, Ghetsis just threatened to murder his “sons” cousin.

- Wicke? More like, THICKE

- Oh yeah, my dumbass made my Pokemon player character Lillie and Gladion’s younger sister, SUCH A DUMBASS I AM.

- Nanu, Acerola. Stop giving me Killian and NBB vibes. ( @usernose )

- ALRIGHT N AND LILLIE SIMILARITIES. THREE TWO ONE GO!

1. They have mentally abusive fuckwad parents (except Lusamine got redeemed)

2. Lillie has Solgaleo/Lunala, N has Reshiram/Zekrom

3. They leave at the end of the game (in Sun and Moon and Black and White) WITH EMOTIONAL ASS PIANO THEMES

4. Obviously show signs of being abused (I’ve seen theories with N having bipolar disorder/Multiple Personality Disorder, and Lillie just has straight up PTSD in the manga.)

- Of course, in my HC, N is Lillie’s cousin, soooo...

- THE ULTRA WORMHOLE IS SOOOOOO FUN

- I have PTSD from that fucking Totem Araquanid constantly murdering my team

- Wh- Colress. WHAT.

- I felt so bad for Popplio 🥺

- The fucking contrast between the girl preschoolers and the boy preschoolers. The boys start bawling and throw temper tantrums and the girls are like, “YAY I LOST! :D”

- Gladion is baby boy, emo baby boy, protecc him.

- Illima gives me weird Aoyama vibes, and that’s okay.

[fayeimara]

Meant To Be || One For Every Billion

6. By My Side | Pt 5

It takes you just a moment to understand his last message but you're already looking up as the dots are being connected and there he is, walking towards you with a real smirk on his real face.

So when he reaches you, you immediately say, "Definitely cute." and watch his mouth drop as he blushes.

Pretty boy didn't think you'd say it, did he? People should really know better than to dare you.

Although he gathers his composure pretty fast, responding after a beat, "Not cuter than you."

You laugh and shake your head, finishing the rest of your drink before standing, "Do you want anything?"

"I'm good, I just had a milkshake from the snack bar on the corner."

He moves to let you pass by him, following your lead as you move to exit the lounge and comment, "That's how you got here so fast. Where are the others?"

"Decided to do their own things, I guess. I think Maki was tired. I don't know what Iwa-chan and Mattsun are up to."

"Uh huh." You had a pretty good idea. They're probably busy being some of the best wingmen ever. That or Toru just ditched his friends, but you don't think he'd really ever do that.

But he'd also be complaining a little more that they ditched him if he didn't have some sort of idea so... you don't know what to think. Which is becoming a constant issue in his presence but it doesn't feel bad or scary.

At this point, you're not going to question it. If everyone is okay and happy, then you're going to focus on the now. Toru is really good at bringing that out in you, you realize as you come to a stop in the warm night air.

Turning to face him with a smile, you ask, "So, then, any requests from the birthday boy?"

His eyes light up with excitement and he responds, "Yes, but it's a surprise!"

"Okay, but.. shouldn't I be surprising you?" You question as he starts to lead you away from the lounge entrance.

"You already did! Now I know we have all night to enjoy the rest of the park."

"Or at least until it closes in a couple hours."

"Then we can gather anyone who's still up and have a party in my room!"

"Yeah, that's real ambitious. We'll see on that but- what's first?"

He stops briefly when he sees a cotton candy stall and answers in his sing-song manner, "First, something sweet for my angel."

Oh he's so cute. Seriously. But you let him buy it for you before prompting, "And now?"

"And now," he looks over at you with a satisfied smile, "we enjoy a ride down a river in a boat." He reveals, just as the two of you reach the entrance to the small, peaceful dock.

"Don't they close the river rides after dark?"

"In ten minutes, actually. So we should hurry because it'll drop us off to our next destination."

You look at him in surprise as you both join the relatively short line. Did he have this planned for before, when he thought you were going to leave? It's a little bittersweet because that's really thoughtful but, it also makes you sad to realize that would mean that maybe he thought the two of you wouldn't see each other again until the next time you visited. It also made you question... Were you unintentionally pushing him away when you visited?

Or you're just overthinking as per usual and he just puts this much effort into it every time he's spending time with a girl he might like. Right.

The two of you reach the front of the line in just a couple minutes and listen to the instructions from the staff member who tries to hand you down into the automated boat. You say 'try' because Toru's hand cuts in between and he helps you instead, giving the guy a pretty condescending smile. He's not even threatened, just.. acting like there was no other possibility because, well, it's not even a contest. You can't lie, you like it.

You settle down and he gets in after you, pretty steady himself as he elegantly plops down into the seat next to you, his arms stretching forward for a brief moment before leaning back into the seat, shifting his legs forward, and placing his hands in his jacket pockets. And whatever he just did there.. that's pretty hot too.

As your boat moves away from the dock, you're struck by the romantic atmosphere of the ride. The quiet melody of the water you're gliding through, the trees dotting the sides of the river that sway with a breeze every so often, their branches reaching towards the water like the leaves are looking for a cool, gentle place to lay. You and Toru, under the stars that are peeking slightly out of the sky, like shy observers to your secret little adventure.

He isn't saying anything either, studying the environment and in his own thoughts you suppose, but you don't mind the silence. You do, however, offer him the cotton candy, tilting the base of the cone you're holding so it's angled towards him. He pulls a hand free from his pocket to reach out and grab a tuft of the cloud-like candy before popping it in his mouth with a smile.

"Do you think about where you want to be in the future?" He's looking up at the sky, head tilted back against the seat, when you look over at his question.

You bite your lip, considering what he's asking. You think way too much about it sometimes, you suppose. "How far in the future?"

He looks over at you in surprise, like he expected a quick answer instead of your clarifying question. Now it's his turn to think. "I guess in a few years, after graduating. What do you want to do?"

"What I want to do is probably very different from where I might be, I think."

"How so?"

You're both looking at each other, lost in another bubble together, so you try to be as honest to yourself as you want to be with him, "In an ideal world, I would either write or play volleyball. Realistically, I'll end up tied to... my family business more than I'd like. Which means I likely won't have the time or energy left to do the things I love."

His eyes are wide, you think he's realized he just turned a mountain, not a rock. Maybe even you wouldn't know what to say in response to someone who just said what you did. But then he surprises you yet again, "If you know what you want to do, what stops you from making sure that's where you end up instead, no matter what?"

"You know," you smile at him softly, "That's exactly the battle I'm currently fighting. So we'll see how it turns out, I guess."

"So," his voice turns teasing, "will you pick writing or volleyball, when you win?"

"Probably writing," you answer with a laugh, releasing the weight that just took a break on your shoulders.

"Why?"

"You love volleyball, right? So much that you can't see yourself doing anything but that for the rest of your life?"

He sends another shocked, wide-eyed look your way but you're surprised he doesn't realize how clear that is to read on him, how easily you figured it out really early in the course of your correspondence this past year. You tuck that away for another day and continue your answer to his question.

"I love both like that and, the way I see it, I'm lucky to be able to love more than one thing at a time. And because I do, they'll both always have a place in the future I want. So it's not really that I'm making a choice between one or the other, I'd be incapable of that. Volleyball will always be in my life, even if it isn't the same way it is now. It's just that I'll pursue writing as my vocation while continuing to enjoy volleyball however I can."

"So you won't go pro." He doesn't state it as a question but it sounds like there's still one in there somewhere.

"I don't think so. That's... a little more complicated."

He shifts to turn more towards you, pulling another piece of the cotton candy you're holding between the two of you and encouraging, "I've seen your videos, Y/n. You're as much, if not more, talented than either of your cousins."

You laugh again, "Aren't you a little biased, Oikawa?"

"Sure, but I'm still telling you the truth as I see it. You've already filled the gaps they lack as players, you almost seem to have none. You're part of the powerhouse teams in your region, even country. And you can only improve from there."

"Yeah. But it's not talent or skill or even anything about volleyball itself that makes me so sure about its role in my life."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I promise, I will another day. But I know it'll be a long discussion and I want to hear your answer."

"My answer?"

"Where you want to be after you graduate."

"Don't you already know?" His lips pull up into a confident smile, "Because you said it, Y/n-chan. I can't see myself doing anything but playing volleyball for my future."

"No matter how you get there?"

"No matter how I get there." He confirms, watching you with a tilt to his head, "But I will get there."

"Of that, I have no doubt. I've seen you play, too."

And like that, his smile twists into a satisfied smirk, "Just on video, huh? You still have to come to one of my games in person, though."

"Oh, I do, do I?" You're grinning as the two of you fall back into lighthearted teasing.

"Of course. I think there's still a thing or two I could teach you."

"I'm sure. Without a doubt."

By the time the boat reaches the end of its line, the cotton candy is completely gone, much like any space between you both. The two of you are just short of leaning into each other, your sides already pretty much pressed against each other for most of the fifteen minute ride, as you and Toru talked and joked about various things with only the blinking stars and swaying trees as your witnesses.

You take a deep breath in as your boat approaches the dock, starting to pull away from him slightly, but you also catch the now-familiar scent of some product Toru uses and it smells divine. It's the sort of scent that makes you want to lean into his chest or neck and just relax while he holds you.

Oh my god. You need to slap yourself. That was pathetic, right? And after just one romantic boat ride, holy shit. You still have another hour and a half to go unless you completely bail on him. And for what? Because you caught yourself slipping? Again?

Ugh. No. You're here to be a good friend. And okay, take it slow and see what else could be between the both of you. But that shit wasn't slow.

You've pulled away, physically and metaphorically, by the time your boat docks but you still accept his hand as he helps you off, blocking the attendant yet again. He doesn't pull away though and neither do you, so you're still holding hands as you and Toru walk to your next destination.

Just taking it slow. Right... Shit.

Turns out your next destination is the carousel. You two keep switching horses, messing around until you're politely removed. After which you hit up some of the rides like the one that spins really fast so that you're pressed back against the reclined wall, or the one where you sit in a claw that swings you up, down, around, etc.

Following that, it's mini coasters and then upgraded back to some of your favourite thrill coasters from earlier in the day. You tell him it's a completely different experience at night. After the first one, he agrees. So you two hit up four more.

By the time the two of you get off the last one, teasing and laughing about who was screaming louder (it was him, obviously), you only have a little over twenty minutes left before the park closes. So your hand finds Toru's, your fingers lacing together with ease and electric familiarity by now, and you pull him along in order to run back to the hotel through the remaining crowd.

"Why are we going back?" He's barely even out of breath as he easily catches up to race beside you, but you guess neither are you. Thank you, conditioning.

"It's a surprise!"

The concierge barely startles when he sees two teens just run through, raising his hand to call out before lowering it in defeat. You're already gone anyways. You reach the elevator bay and hit the button for your floor, thankfully the door to the middle one opens immediately with a smooth tone. When the two of you get in for the ride up to the top floor, the pace steadies and you're just looking at each other while you each catch your breath, then you burst out laughing again.

"Okay so you're still not going to tell me?" There's a little bit of mock attitude in his tone but it's washed away by his genuine smile.

"Just wait."

The elevator dings as it reaches your floor and you're pulling him out with the doors barely open. The two of you reach your room and you swipe the card over the lock, opening the door, pulling you both through and closing it in swift motions before letting go of his hand and running to the balcony.

"Come on!"

You look back to encourage him forward as you open the double doors and he strolls up to your side before you both step out together. Just as you reach the rail, faint music starts to drift up from the park's speakers, getting louder and louder until you can hear its strains clearly, playing the orchestral melody that indicates the park will be closing in fifteen minutes.

It's what you can see only from up here that you wanted to show him. Because with the music that plays, there are lights quite literally at every inch of the park that turn on in an incredible show.

Many people gather on the streets or at particular locations for the ground level view. But those are always crowded and honestly a pretty limited view of the show's true scale. It's the guests who have park facing rooms and know to stop for the view from their balconies at this time that experience the true and complete nature of the stunning spectacle.

"Wow." He barely says it, it's more like a word he releases with his breath, but you're so happy knowing you were right.

This is the perfect ending to an incredibly special day that deserves no less. You and Toru stand there, side by side for the full fifteen minutes, still under the carpet of stars that seem a little closer from up here. The two of you hold hands, arms and sides pressed against each other as you both lean on the balustrade and listen to the crescendos and decrescendos, glancing at each other with smiles and the occasional comment. Sometimes pointing to a corner or edge of the park laid out beneath you to pull the other's attention with a tug on your linked hands.

And when the music starts its final rise only to move into its final descent, you look instead at Toru and find him looking back at you. With your hands still linked, you lean into him further to place a soft kiss on his cheek, mirroring the one from a year ago, this on his other side. Then you lean back to look at his flustered but happy face with a soft smile and add your wish for him to your blessing-

"Happy Birthday, Toru."

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Masterlist

Behind The Scenes!

-ngl but that moment when Toru takes a seat in the boat was fully inspired by my memory of him at the Karasuno vs Shiratorizawa match, just after Iwa hops over the seat like wow, but then the way Oikawa stretches out from his previous position... just more wow. Sorry, I can't explain it. I love that scene (and the others with those two that follow) and I don't know if I'm the only one it stuck with like this...

A/N: Okay...time for the vent... I will be the first to say that I love Kuroo and Suna primarily, and both the Miyas are a close second.. but I DO NOT KNOW HOW OIKAWA KEEPS PULLING THIS ON ME like... this whole episode really got away from me again. I mean, I did like Oikawa as a close second to Kuroo (who's been my steady the whole time, js, it's unwavering) for a LONG time before being intro'd to Inarizaki but... then Suna just came in and turned my head until I was like.. Oikawa, who? But maybe this just goes deep, so I didn't know he was always still in there. He IS incredibly lovable after all, you can't change my mind about that, and I really respect him as a complex character and okay, yeah, I honestly can't remember who was my first between him and Kuroo at this point because I was simping for them both before I really even remembered their names (and was trying to avoid being teased by my bf for rewatching scenes with them since he had to bribe me to watch the show in the first place). Anyways, I don't know what I'm saying anymore since I desperately need to go to sleep, maybe for a whole day, so I hope you guys like this one! Because.. just, yeah. Toru <3 I guess

Taglist: @delusivist, @prettyinblack231, @kac-chowsballs, @sakusasimpbot, @hawkthekinnie, @poppi144

[takuchat]

The development of Final Fantasy VII is a mysterious and hard thing to follow. While there is plenty of info out there, much of it is either rumors or unsubstantiated.   The sad thing is, there is no easy way to find legitimate information on the game.  This is why I am here now, this article will serve as a source of factual information about the development of the original Final Fantasy VII.

Below, you will find interviews from the games development and release. As well as links to the sources of these interviews( interviews copied so they will not be lost one day ). Beyond interviews there will be Press Releases and some other cool information.  Enjoy.

  Logo concepts

Meteor Concept art

  Final Fantasy VII – 1997 Developer Interviews

  Hironobu Sakaguchi – Producer Yoshinori Kitase – Director Tetsuya Nomura – Character Design, Storyboards, System, Mech Design Yuusuke Naora – Art Director Motonori Sakakibara – Movie Director Akira Fujii – Battle Scene Director Ken Narita – Main Programmer Yasui Kentarou – Magic/Summoning Effects Kenzo Kanzaki – Backgrounds Nobuo Uematsu – Music

FF6 vs. FF7

Kitase: Our development concept for the story in FF6 was to have over 10 main characters, any of which could be called “the protagonist.” We challenged ourselves to create a world without someone you could point to and say, “this is the main character.” This time, with FF7, we knew from the beginning that we wanted Cloud to be the main character, and we were going to tell his story.

Aside from the story, FF6 had a lot of details undecided when we began development. A great many things were filled out along the way. In contrast, with FF7 we knew from the outset that we were going to be making a real 3D game, so from the earliest planning stage we had very, very detailed designs drawn up. The script was also locked in, and our image for the graphics was completely fleshed out. So when we began the actual work, we had already created what you could call “storyboards”. Of course there was some experimenting as we worked, but we were very clear about what we were supposed to be doing from the outset.

Actually, the very first thing we decided in FF7 was how the camera angles would change during battle scenes. We also decided on the materia system, where any weapon and armor can be equipped with any materia. Accordingly we knew the battles wouldn’t be about characters with individual, innate skills, but rather that combat would change depending on the way materia was used.

Sakaguchi: After FF6 was completed the staff had some free time. We then started thinking about what new hardware there was and what we wanted to do with our next creations, and we created a movie as an experiment. At that time we were working with the SG1 workstations, which had rendering software designed for next generation hardware. For that reason we thought it would be good if we could continue using this setup for our next game. With the SG1 software, we could develop graphics for any hardware. 1 However, for our purposes, we didn’t want the frame-by-frame, slow rendering that takes many hours; we wanted to develop a way to render the visuals in real-time for our new game.

Kitase: I believe we only had 3 months to figure all that out.

Choosing the Hardware for Final Fantasy VII

Sakaguchi: It was starting to become clear to us what the memory capacity for the different next-gen consoles would be. Our games were going to need a huge amount of memory. The Final Fantasy VI CG demo we made for the Siggraph exhibition took 20 megs all by itself. We thought that demo had a lot of visual impact, so there really wasn’t much question about which hardware we would use; if we were going to realize the promise of the demo we had shown at Siggraph, nothing but the CD-ROM format would suffice.

Another reason for choosing the CD-ROM was related to price. I think one of the big reasons the first Final Fantasy was favorably received by players, and the later games in the series gained so many fans, was that you could buy those games for around 5000 to 6000 yen. We tried to have the same pricing for Bahamut Lagoon, Gun Hazard, and our other later Super Famicom games, but using cartridge ROM meant those games had to be sold for over 10000 yen. New players did not flock to those games like they had before. If we used CD-ROM for Final Fantasy VII, we’d be able to have a 2-disc game at a price of 5800 yen. I was hoping it would be possible to make a game that could sell several hundred thousand copies.

Introductions, Difficulties, Favorite Moments

Sakaguchi: I’ve been working with Kitase for a long time, since FF5. He did most of the event scenes in FF6: the opera house, Celes’ suicide scene, the scene where Setzer climbs the stairs and reminisces, and more. I’m not exactly turning things over to the next generation just yet, but for FF7 almost all the story was done by Kitase. His original ambition was to be a film director, so he’s well-disposed towards this work–I’ve left all the in-game event scripting in his hands.

As for my part, since FF3 I’ve led the battle team, and that was my role this time too. Well, actually, the battle team is composed of solid veterans, so I stepped back a bit and played more of a producer role.

Nomura: For FF7 I worked on character design, storyboarding, and the underlying story.2 I have too many favorite parts to sum up quickly here… well, I like it all.

Narita: I was the main programmer. I did all the programming related to the field, and I also helped get everything together at the end. As for difficulties… hmm. Since it’s been a pretty sudden shift from the Super Famicom to the Playstation, we struggled first with getting used to the Playstation hardware itself, then finding out what appealing features it had, and learning how to bring out those features to make a good, balanced game. But on the programming side, what was really hard for me was going from 2D to 3D. Probably any programmer would say the same I think.

As for things I’m proud of, I thought the movies and the in-game field scenes transition into each other very smoothly. That was also the most difficult thing for us in terms of the programming.

Sakakibara: I worked on the movie cutscenes. The challenge for me was just the amount of volume we had to create, it was crazy. What I liked was the opening scene in the beginning. Although I’m already starting to forget it. (laughs)

Fujii: I did the backgrounds for the battle scenes. What was hard for me was that the field graphics would design their graphics with a very high polygon count, and I think had to find a way to reduce that count so the graphics could be rendered in real-time. Selecting the primary elements to render was very difficult. At first I was just fumbling through it, but I gradually got the hang of it and was able to connect things very well. When I first saw characters move around in those backgrounds I had made, I thought they looked great… if I do say so myself. Unless you’re specifically paying attention to them, battle backgrounds aren’t something you usually notice in a game, but we really had to prepare a huge number of different backgrounds for all the different map terrains.

Kentarou: I did the programming for the battle effects and summons. What was fun for me was recieving the storyboard mockups from Tetsuya and thinking “there’s no way, this is impossible.” But then when I got down to it, they came out surprisingly well. The Titan summon was especially memorable for me. The way we did it was new to me, and I think it compares really well with the work I’ve done in the past.

The CG Team

Sakaguchi: We definitely hired a lot more CG staff than we had before.

Kitase: Yes, but they didn’t feel like a separate, “detached force” from our main development team. They had experience in the game industry. What’s more, our existing staff at Square, who up to now had only worked on games, were able to learn a bit about CG from them.

Sakaguchi: For FF7, about 80-90% of the field and game mechanics were done by our traditional staff. For the CG staff with their specialized hardware knowledge, we tried to let them do their thing (but this time with a video game). Several top-grade special fx guys who had worked at Digital Domain and Lucasarts’ Industrial Light Magic also contributed to FF7.

Maps and Backgrounds

Naora: I worked on the unifying all the graphics, including the movies. The majority of my work was on the background graphics. In our previous games, most of those graphics were done with a fixed top-down perspective. To take a town for an example, the map would be composed of various sprites: houses, streets, foliage, fences, and so on. With FF7 we didn’t have to use sprites and could instead present the maps as one seamless image.

I had experimented with this before in the trial scene of Chrono Trigger. I used a bunch of memory to make one single image for the background. Previously we had to reuse so many sprites for our maps, but it was very exciting to be able to include whatever we wanted for FF7. We could have more varied terrain, and our whole image of the game world really expanded.

The work of mine that I really want people to see is, of course, Midgar. I had the image of a pizza in mind when I designed that city, and I really like how it turned out.

In any event, what we really wanted to convey with the backgrounds was a lived-in feel. Down to the beds and individual toilets, I put a lot of detail into everything.

And even after I stopped working, my boss was still making stuff. On one of the posters hanging on the wall, he added an image of Hironobu Sakaguchi. (laughs) I should be upfront: there’s many graphics that even I don’t know about hidden away in the game. Be sure to look closely at the walls inside the buildings. Who knows what surprising things you might discover. The Rocket Town especially has a variety of interesting things hidden away.

Cinematic Aspirations

Kitase: Visually, I wanted Final Fantasy VII to be a completely unified work, with a single style running from beginning to end. The cut-scene movies, overworld map, and battle scenes would not be disconnected, but would instead smoothly and seamlessly transition into one another. To call this game “cinematic” would be correct, but what I really wanted was something where all the compositions and shots would be suffused with meaning and show the intent of the creators.

For all our previous games, when we’ve been in the phase of brainstorming ideas and sketching pictures, there’s always been the knowledge that we have to work within the hardware memory limitations. This time there were no limits, and no restraints.

That difference in available memory had a really big influence on the development. For the gameplay system, story, and in-game events, it didn’t change very much. What the increased memory allowed in FF7 was more painterly visuals, with a better sense of space and composition. Naturally the graphics quality itself has also gone up, but I think it’s in the cinematic presentation where you see the evolution.

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Sakaguchi: Speaking of cinematic, we also wanted to have a soundtrack with no repeated music. In movies, you don’t hear music get repeated, you know. Depending on the scene the tempo or the intensity might change though. I think something like that should be possible… although there is the matter of how much available spirit/creativity we can get out of our composer, Uematsu. (laughs) Of course FF7 is a game that takes over 40 hours, so some music is repeated, but our overall goal was to make it as cinematic as possible in that regard.

We also had Yoshitaka Amano do illustrations for the world of FF7. Some of his work appears as a frescoe on a wall in the game.

Kitase: We had really been wanting to use Amano’s artwork in-game before. In FF6, we wanted to have one of Reim’s drawings being Amano’s artwork. In the ending scene Reim would have painted a wall mural showing scenes of all the adventures the heroes had undertaken.

Character Design

Nomura: Since the characters in FF7 were going to be rendered in real-time, the nitoushin,3 chibi-style character design we’ve used in previous games wasn’t going to work here. If they brandished their sword overhead they’d end up stabbing themselves in the head. Not using the super-deformed style meant we had no limits on how to animate these characters.

Naora: I helped out on the character design too. In the previous games with the nitoushin, deformed sprites, it would look really lame if they rode a motorcycle or something. By changing the character’s dimensions, we were able to have them ride different vehicles.

Nomura: My involvement with FF7 goes back to helping create the basic story, and we came up with the characters during that time too. I think that was a good way to do things. Barret and Cait Sith were two characters whom I had wanted to create for a long time, but everyone else was created as we were writing the story.

As for things I personally designed, I think the Yin and Yang boss came out really well. Also, the Iron Giant. It wasn’t enough to just have a good initial design though. I had to create a design, then translate it into a 3D model, then see how it looked all-around, and only then could I say “alright, this is good.” Yin and Yang and the Iron Giant were two designs I felt that way about.

I also helped out on all the storyboad designs for the summons. Since 3D allows you to change the perspective in various ways, we decided to make the summons have really flashy camerawork.

Favorite Characters

Kentarou: I personally really like Red XIII’s scenes. Every time I remember that one scene of his, I start to tear up. (laughs)

Kanzaki: My favorite would be Tifa, because of her ample bust. (laughs)

Fujii: Yuffy. I like the sounds she makes. Also, it’s not a character, but I like all the summons.

Kentarou: Ah, yeah, I have a special love for Titan. Nomura said Titan should flip over the ground that the enemies are on. He would peel off a slab of the land: no matter what terrain he was on. (laughs) At first I had him come in on normal ground, and he’d flip the same slab of ground no matter what terrain… but that looked boring. I had a small insight into the problem and was able to solve it.

Narita: My favorite character is Barret. Because he does the same damage when he’s in the back row. (laughs)

Kanzaki: Yuffy and Vincent can do that too, though.

Narita: You can clear the game without getting Yuffy. I didn’t add her to my party. As for Vincent, I can’t forgive him. (laughs) Yeah, it’s Barret all the way for me.

Sakakibara: I like Jessie. She cleans your face for you. (laughs) If only you could have had Jessie in your party.

Nomura: For me, it’s of course Cloud and Sephiroth. My concept for Sephiroth from the beginning was that everything about him would be kakkoii.4 His battle movements, and all his in-game scenes too. My image of the relationship between Cloud AND Sephiroth was that of Musashi Miyamoto and Sasaki Kojiro, and I had them in mind when I designed their appearance, as well as their swords. Of course Cloud is Musashi, and Sephiroth is Kojiro.

Animating the Characters

Narita: The movement of the characters during the in-game events was actually all done by character designers in the planning group. Normally those designers convey what they want to a motion specialist, who then animates them. But in our case, the character designers learned how to do the motion work, and if they wanted to add some movement or gesture to a character they did it themselves. That’s why each character’s movements differ depending on who created them. There were designers who liked very exaggerated movements, and those who preferred more quiet, subtle movement.

For the character battle animations, however, we had motion specialists for each character. But for all the other in-game events, the designers created the character’s movements themselves.

Narita: Nomura was the Demon King of retakes. He was always making the designers re-do things. “Nope, that’s wrong there.”

Kanzaki: But it’s really thanks to him that we achieved very realistic motion.

Nomura: We spent more time on the typical, everday motion of the characters than we did on other types of motion. That’s where the character’s personality comes out, after all. So yeah, I stuck my nose into everyone’s work there. (laughs) I drew the designs for these characters from the moment we had our basic idea of them; no one told me “draw him this way” or anything like that. Every character in FF7 is one that I designed just how I wanted to.

The first characters we had were Cloud and Barret. From there we kept talking, and as we worked our ideas out, new characters would come up. All the characters were created in the course of our discussing our ideas for the game. None of them were created after the fact, as in “oh, let’s make this kind of character.” As we brainstormed about the game, we’d realize a character was already there in our minds.

Limit Breaks

Nomura: With each Final Fantasy, the entire team contributes to the initial design/planning documents, and we then pick out the best ideas from there. During that highly individual period of brainstorming, I came up with the idea of adding limit breaks to the battle system. In FF6 we had desperation attacks that would happen when you were near death, and I wanted to build on that idea. Since you were free to build your character by adding and removing materia, I also wanted to add limit breaks as a way to bring out the individual, innate personalities of each character. For that reason I’m really glad we were able to include them. It also allowed us to add more unique animation for each character, too, further emphasizing their individuality.

The Music of FF7

Uematsu: I know many players were hoping that with the move to the Playstation, we’d have studio quality music instead of the internal sound chip like that used in the Super Famicom games. And I know other companies are recording CD quality music for their games, but with FF7 we decided to do all the music with the Playstation’s internal chip.

  That’s because as far as sound quality goes, we felt the Playstation’s hardware was more than capable. It has a higher dynamic range than the Super Famicom, and 24 voices (the Super Famicom had 8). The sound effects were all recorded in the studio, but the music, from start to finish, is all the Playstation’s internal chip. This way the music puts less demands on the read access time of the CD-ROM. It’s stressful to be playing a game and have to wait all the time for the CD-ROM to load data. So we prioritized a less stressful experience over better sound quality.

From the first Final Fantasy up to Final Fantasy V, the music has had a European atmosphere: the north, castles, blue skies… But FF6 started to break away from that, and FF7 begins with a new image, a dirty city of the future. So I was thinking the music should change too. I personally like a lot of different styles of music, so I saw this game as a chance to show parts of myself which I hadn’t been able to express before.

I used keyboard and guitar for the basic compositions, and I read the story and script as I composed. But there were so many songs this time that I was really worried I would run out of time. There were something like 100 songs needed. I’d compose, then program it in, and if it was wrong I’d revise it. Rinse and repeat. I write the music out first and then proram it into the sequencer, but there was no guarantee that the Playstation hardware would have the kind of sound I was looking for. And the sound quality might be very different. For that reason there ended up being a lot of unused songs.

Wrapping things up

Narita: At the end of the development we had a closing party. We gathered all the development staff together, and we all watched the credits roll after the last boss was defeated. As the staff was listed, each respective developer stood up and took a bow. It was the first time I realized “oh, he did that.” And it was the first time I really felt how many people had been involved in making this game.

Fujii: Once the field, battle, and world maps were all joined, that was when I first felt the power of FF7 as a finished work.

Narita: Until then, everything was being developed separately, and only at the end was it all joined together. When the world map was added and you could walk around, that was definitely the moment when I felt, “wow, we’ve really made it.”

You see, the way we made FF7 was totally different from the way we made the previous Final Fantasy games. Before, there was no real “director”–everyone was, individually, their own director, and everyone created the actual data that would be used in-game by themselves. There was a head person who generally controlled the flow of work and made sure everything got into its final form, though. I guess you’ve got to have someone like that.

But to imitate that with FF7 would have required a huge number of staff and hardware for them all to work on. You could say that the way we made FF7 was closer to the way they make movies.

Sakakibara: Speaking of that, we were also asked to make sound effects that would be of the same quality and character as those you hear in movies. It felt entirely different from the way we made sound effects before.

Kanzaki: The quality of the backgrounds took a huge step up, too. We didn’t have to reuse any sprites or tiles.

Kentarou: When I was making the battle effects, it felt like business as usual for me, so I didn’t have a feeling like “these are awesome!” then. But at the very end when we were debugging and I saw them, I thought for the first time how nice they looked. I also thought, “damn, it’s a good thing I didn’t slack off.” (laughs) It would have been really bad if we had just made a bunch of shoddy effects. (laughs)

Kanzaki: There were a lot of worries at the start of the development though.

Narita: Yeah, in a certain sense, FF7 is something of a minor miracle. I mean, we only had a year to do everything.

Fujii: It’s the shortest development we’ve had so far.

Narita: Yeah, that it was. And normally you’d start developing your game after you’d learned the new hardware. But we had to learn the hardware and create the game all in the same year. I really couldn’t believe it when I saw the finished product of FF7. It’s amazing that so many people were involved, and that we completed it in so short a time.

Fujii: Time is always the one thing you’re in short supply of. We had to do the battle system after all the field stuff was done, so practically speaking we only had half a year for that. The last dungeon was a real slap-bang, rushed affair.

Midgar near finished

Concept

midgar

Interview with Official UK PSX Magazine

  Published in October 1997

Official UK PSX Magazine: Describe the game in 100 words.

Square: The latest in the Final Fantasy series is the closest Square have come to their ultimate goal of blending real-time action with FMV-quality animation, in an all-encompassing, totally absorbing and immersive interactive gaming experience. This seventh heaven is a mix of stunning backdrops, adorable and believable characters, intriguing plots, pulsating battles and tricky puzzles, which all add up to the best RPG yet to appear.

What’s the plot?

The world of Final Fantasy VII expands on FFIII’s concept of Magitek, where magical forces are a reality and have thus been incorporated into the technological progress of civilisation. This isn’t your typical fantasy setting: vast chimneys belch smoke, steam trains criss-cross the urban sprawl, neon signs crackle in the rainswept ratruns between towering factories. It transpires that Mako is a ‘dark’ form of magic, and its insidious corruption of the Shinra Corporation has created a police state by empowering a security force. You begin the game as an ex-soldier-turned-revolutionary, and immediately find yourself assisting a terrorist group called Avalanche in their attempt to overthrow Shinra and restore balance to the exploited world.

Is there anything in this game that we’ve never seen in any other?

If you’ve played SNES versions of the Final Fantasy series, then possibly not. There are slight deviations from the first six, and the music and graphics are obviously enhanced. But as a PlayStation starting point, continuity was very wise. For novice owners, however, this will be like nothing you’ve seen.

What other games have influenced Final Fantasy VII?

Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II… need we go on? There is a whole history of RPGs and all the paths that lead Square here were winding. In Final Fantasy VII, however, there have been more Western influences both externally and from those on the team.

What’s going to be the best bit of the game?

Taking an already believable story and gameplay and placing it in an environment that now looks real it is a real shock to the senses.

Why will it be better than any other game of its ilk?

The characters for a start. Square’s scriptwriting talents are once again employed to make you fall in love with the characters, then mercilessly pull your emotional strings as they experience suffering, joy, love, betrayal and even (whisper) d.e.a.t.h. Also the quest is huge, straddling no less than 3 CDs, and with so many locations that the average completion time is reportedly 120 hours.

Any specific technical conventions to speak of?

At first the system might seem to bear similarities to Resident Evil, in that your polygon hero can move around a detailed pre-rendered environment, but the backgrounds are packed with interactive ‘hot spots’. The integration of old and new techniques also gives FFVII a unique cinematic quality. Its many cut scenes are CGI movie sequences that use the same pre-rendering as the rest of the game, so that when the dizzying camerawork finally comes to a halt, the scene on which it settles is also the environment in which your character can explore. The direction is seamless. The combat system boasts AD&D complexity. Weapons and items have slots in which to fit Materia, orbs that endow the wearer with extra powers such as the ability to steal, or summon Esper-like creature attacks, with some weapons boasting more slots for combining enhancements.

So why should anyone care about the game?

Because it’s the best RPG to appear on the PlayStation. It’s sold five million copies already in Japan!

   Hironobu Sakaguchi Interview

  Interview with Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy series and producer of Final Fantasy VII. From PlayStation Underground #2 demo CD set, released in the US in 1997.

Transcription and screenshots by Tuulisti.

PlayStation Underground: Why is Squaresoft publishing Final Fantasy FVII only on PlayStation?

Hironobu Sakaguchi: In the August of 95, one of the US’s largest CG conventions, Siggraph, was held in LA. At that time we were not sure what the next generation RPG game should look like, so as an experiment we created a CG based, game like, interactive demo to be presented at the show. It focused on battle scenes that were 100% real time and polygon based. This became the seed of Final Fantasy VII and it was then that we decided to make this a CG based game.

When we discussed designing the field scenes as illustrations or CG based, we came up with the idea to eliminate the connection between movies and the fields. Without using blackout at all, and maintaining quality at the same time, we would make the movie stop at one cut and make the characters move around on it. We tried to make it controllable even during the movies. As a result of using a lot of motion data + CG effects and in still images, it turned out to be a mega capacity game, and therefore we had to choose CD-ROM as our media. It other words, we became too aggressive, and got ourselves into trouble.

Why did you need such a large staff?

A larger developer team will not always create a better game, but when a project moves onto a scale such as this, you get to spend a lot of money, and work with highly qualified staff.

We were able to use many high-end machines and work with a staff of approximately 100 people, and I believe this was one of the largest game development teams in history. As a result, the final game generates a tremendous amount of energy. My theory is this: if one person creates a game – it can be a racing game or anything – or 10 people create the same game, the one created by 10 people will be much richer in scope. There is a larger pool of resources to draw from, and each person is able to put passion into his role, creating a greater sense of depth.

How has film influenced your game-making?

It is easy to get emotionally involved with both films and games, although in different ways. Adding certain interactive aspects to films however, I believe players can get further into them, even become one with the visual images. I have always emphasized visual and sound effects because rather than making my games equivalent to films, I want my games to surpass films. That is my goal.

Why is Final Fantasy VII getting so much praise?

Without changing the basic game play, the visual and sound effects have been significantly enhanced further drawing the players’ emotions in to the game. One way RPGs enforce too many images and too much sound on the players, robbing them of the feel of control. In order to avoid those responses, we did extensive research during Final Fantasy V and VI on how to make the players interactively involved in the game, while upgrading the visual and sound effects. The results of this research are reflected in Final Fantasy VII.

Are there any new themes in Final Fantasy VII?

When we were creating Final Fantasy III, my mother passed away, and ever since I have been thinking about the theme “life”. Life exists in many things, and I was curious about what would happen if I attempted to analyze life in a mathematical and logical way. Maybe this was my approach in overcoming the grief I was experiencing. This is the first time in the series that this particular theme actually appears in the game itself. See if you can spot it!

What was it like to work with director Yoshinori Kitase?

I have been working with him since Final Fantasy V. When he joined Square, he told me he initially wanted to become a film director, but that he thought this would be impossible in Japan. The previous version of Final Fantasy could be called puppet shows compared to this one. It’s a real film requiring innovative effects and various camera angles. His experience studying cinematography and in making his own films has contributed a lot to the making of the game. He is the director of this game.

  The Making of Final Fantasy VII

  May 2003 edition of Edge magazine’s regular feature “The Making Of…”, spotlighting Final Fantasy VII. Interviewed for this article were Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura.

Transcription by Tuulisti.

3.28m sales in Japan, 2.92m in the US and 1.77m in Europe. Three CD. Over two years’ development. Over 100 team members. Nine out of ten. Adults in tears. But Final Fantasy VII represents much more than cold record-breaking statistics. Here was the catalyst for the worldwide RPG revolution…

“This was undoubtedly the game that changed everything.” Yoshinori Kitase, the director the most important RPG ever, has cause for hyperbole. “We felt a wind of change inside the company during the development process. There was this incredible feeling I’ll never forget: we were making a new thing… making history. Imagine.” He pauses. Imagine. At the time there were many doubters, but Kitase-san’s instinct proved right; Final Fantasy VII eventually propelled the high-production RPG into one of the most popular videogame genres worldwide. The first demo of the title, creatively bundled on an extra disc with Square’s first 32bit offering, Tobal No.1, stunned the world with its steam punk setting, achingly melancholic score and arresting visuals. And it bore evidence of a huge team working on a title with aspirations not yet though possible in the medium of videogames. “There was a huge number of people we had never worked with before. Up until that point Squaresoft’s teams had only ever dealt with the traditional 2D medium. All of a sudden we had new people coming in working with software like Power Animator and SoftImage that we had never heard of before. From and industry point of view, it was unbelievable what we were trying to achieve. That is why we all had this strong feeling; this great enthusiasm.” As the software houses were jumping from the 16bit systems to 32bit hardware, Squaresoft made the headlines for choosing Sony over previous soul mate Nintendo. The story behind the split is yet to be explained and as the two companies only recently kissed and made up (with the departure of warring Hirosohi Yamauchi from Nintendo and Hironobu Sakaguchi from Squaresoft) we’re are unlikely to anytime soon. Kitase-san is predictably diplomatic, “We had a big decision to make in terms of which hardware to use. Nintendo was not one step behind in terms of hardware. In fact, the N64 was quite attractive actually. But as our goal was to develop the next-generation RPG we came to the conclusion that only a high capacity mass storage media would facilitate what we wanted to achieve. This meant CD was the only option and so from that perspective, Playstation was the only choice.”

Access All Areas

There was a great pressure on the team to maximise the benefits of the new medium. “At that time Sakaguchi-san (Square’s founder) was the series’ producer. Right from the time the decision to go with CD was made he set down a ground rule for the team saying, ‘If the player becomes aware of the access times we have failed.’ So we tried many tricks to circumvent the issue such as offering animation while the game was loading data, etc. The constant fear for us having worked with cartridges for so many years was that the player would feel bored while waiting for loads. However, only CD media was able to facilitate more than 40 minutes of FMV movies so we virtually had the decision made for us.”

Another Dimension

Graphically Square was trying things only hinted at in the first generation of 32bit titles. Using polygonal characters on CG backgrounds and interspersing the action with streaming FMV was a bold aesthetic decision. “We were keen that the distinction between the in-game graphics and the CG movie sequences was not overly pronounced: something we could not have done on the N64. The change of dimension into 3D was a massive one for the Square team. You could see the game with maps and angles that only 3D could offer and in terms of game characters, we were able to offer far greater, detailed animations, so they would look more real and more alive on screen. But it was a daunting task.” The change from Final Fantasy VI to Final Fantasy VII is as graphic a demonstration of the transition between 2D to 3D as one will see. Just how apprehensive was Kitase-san about this sea change? “It was during development that I realised the impact that 3D realistic CG visuals had on overseas players. In Japan, you have the manga culture with the traditional deformed style world design and characters that live through a story with very serious themes. Overseas, you don’t have this. To be honest we were pretty confident that FFVII’s characters and graphics would be accepted overseas and ironically I was much more anxious to see how Japanese users would respond.” Undoubtedly at the heart of any RPG’s success is the plot. No matter how good your battle system or locations, without quality scripting there will be no incentive for the player to play. It is testament to FFVII’s story that the game is widely regarded as the acme of the series and still frequently referenced today. While Final Fantasy games have traditionally always drawn upon a huge selection of myths and legends, the seventh game used them as a framework for loftier ethical aspirations and ecologically conscious evangelism. “Sakaguchi had a great vision of the force behind the universe. He wanted to explore the idea that planets and people share the same basic energy and so are, in some way, intrinsically linked. He developed this philosophy from drawing upon other cultures that stated when a planet disappears an invisible energy is released in to space. This energy goes to some place to give life again when certain conditions are met. The same energy drives people. So matter who or what this energy comes from, it will concentrate all together to give life to something or someone again.” These were ideas that the SquareSoft founder had long been toying with and it is unclear as to how much of the philosophy was pure fantastical fabrication and how much was his own dogma. One thing is certain, they posed difficulties for Kitase-san, “Sakaguchi’s ideas were incredibly difficult to represent in the game since they concerned an invisible abstract concept. It was something I’d never seen done in a game before. So, I came up with the Life Stream. “This was an idea that planets have the same kinds of life systems as people’s blood or nerve network. It allowed us to more clearly examine the issues we wanted to. Sakaguchi-san’s main ideas for FFVII and the world he imagined for the game (the creatures, etc.) were very closely integrated into the “Final Fantasy” movie. FFVII and “Final Fantasy” started at the same time in their development process and they share nearly identical roots. I may have to play/watch both again and compare all their common elements.” Although lengthy FMV, random battles and an arcane combat system alienated some gamers—especially in the west where anecdotal evidence suggests it became the most returned game history—the combination proved the winning formula for thousands who had never sampled such fare before. Boosting weapons and skills with Materia, summoning devastating guardians, scouring the planet’s highest peaks and deepest oceans for secret items and raising and training Chocobo gave both fresh and old RPGers an inconceivably large universe to explore and revel in. It also provided us with a legendary videogame moment.

Death of a Friend

Easily the most infamous and memorable character in FFVII was neither the main lead nor the central antagonist, although both Cloud and Sephiroth are premier examples of excellent design and characterisation, but rather a flower seller who appears a little more than a third of the game. Tetsuya Nomura, character designer, conceived both the characters of Sephiroth and Aerith. “The main issues of contention for fans worldwide are still Aerith’s death and the ending sequence with Sephiroth. With the plot I wanted people to feel something intense, to understand something. Back at the time we were designing the game I was frustrated with the perennial dramatic cliché where the protagonist loves someone very much and so has to sacrifice himself and die in a dramatic fashion in order to express that love. We found this was the case in both games and movies, both eastern and western. But I wanted to say something different, something realistic. I mean is it right to set such an example to people?” Kitase-san is adamant that cultural art puts too high a value on the dramatically meaningful death, “In the real world things are very different. You just need to look around you. Nobody wants to die that way. People die of disease and accident. Death comes suddenly and there is no notion of good or bad. It leaves, not a dramatic feeling but great emptiness. When you lose someone you loved very much you feel this big empty space and think, ‘If I had known this was coming I would have done things differently.’ These are the feelings I wanted to arouse in the players with Aerith’s death relatively early in the game. Feelings of reality and not Hollywood.”

Classic Convention

At the time of release the internet was awash with rumours that it was possible to resurrect Aerith. Edge wonders if this was ever the developers’ intention? “The world was expecting us to bring her back to life, as this is the classic convention. But we did not. We had decided this from the beginning. There was a lot of reaction from Japanese users. Some of them were very sad about it while others were angry. We even received a lengthy petition addressed to our scenario writer asking for Aerith’s revival. But there are many meanings in Aerith’s death and that could never happen. Final Fantasy VII is arguably one of the most significant games of all time. Not simply because it was so well conceived and executed, but mainly because of its wider significance to Sony. In Japan, history dictates that hardware can not succeed without a best-selling RPG franchise. With Final Fantasy VII Squaresoft secured its position as king of the adventure tale and won Sony an army of fans both in Japan and the west. The continued pressure Square receives to do a remake of the title is evidence of the game’s continued popularity. Edge gently pursues the rumours. “If I were to redo the game onto today’s hardware I would like to make the characters more realistic, I mean like FFX for instance. I think I would try include full voice support but I would definitely keep very same plot and scenario. I know that other members of the team are eager to do the update, but, currently I have no plans. Cloud and Aerith have appeared in other titles (Final Fantasy Tactics, Kingdom Hearts) so it is possible FFVII character will appear in a future title but there is much discussion to be had first.” Whether a new generation of videogamers get to experience this RPG in next-gen clothing is almost irrelevant. While few would go back to experience this epic again, it is one of those rare games that cast an emotional spell over legions of players. For that reason it will always remain the stuff of legend.

    Afterthoughts: Final Fantasy VII

  Interivew with Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura from Electronic Gaming Monthly, issue #196, October 2005.

In light of all these new FFVII offshoots, we thought it would be interesting to look back at the groundbreaking original PS1 game that popularized the role-playing genre in the United States. We waxed nostalgic with two of FFVII’s most integral team members: Director Yoshinori Kitase and character designer/battle director/coauthor Tetsuya Nomura.

EGM: What does Final Fantasy VII mean to you? Yoshinori Kitase: FFVII was the first Final Fantasy for the PS1, and it was also the first 3D game in the series, so it determined the new direction that the franchise would take after the 16-bit Super Nintendo era. It’s by far the most memorable and important title for me, and when I had the chance to expand any of the past games, I immediately chose Final Fantasy VII for the project. The ending of FFVII seemed to me to open up so many possibilities with its characters, more so than other games.

EGM: When you were working on FFVII eight years ago, could you conceive of how much the game would affect the RPG marketplace? Tetsuya Nomura: When I look back, I remember having no concept of just how massive that project would go on to become. Of course, I’d been associated with the Final Fantasy franchise before FFVII, as I did monster designs on Final Fantasy V (Super NES). I remember that before we started FFVII, the characters from Final Fantasy IV were still very popular, despite the fact that FFV and FFVI had been released. I found this really frustrating. Why would people still be talking about those characters? So I made it my goal to create my own batch of characters that would be remembered and loved by the Final Fantasy fans. Also, starting with FFVII, I was far more deeply involved with the story and characters, so I was really extremely excited to work on that project.

EGM: FFVII was a departure from the Super NES titles… were you worried about fan reaction? YK: I wasn’t really worried about response to the graphical shift, as there were already several 3D games in America that were accepted by fans. My fear had been that the Final Fantasy franchise might be left behind if it didn’t catch up to that trend, actually.

EGM: What did you think of Cloud as a hero when you were making FFVII? YK: There wasn’t really much controversy or criticism about having him as the hero from within Square, but he is definitely a mysterious character. That’s one of the game’s main themes, the fact that the protagonist has all these secrets to unravel. He isn’t a straightforward hero like Superman; rather, he has lots of mysteries, self-doubts, and a real dark side. Mr. Nomura was also very good at designing a character like that.

EGM: We heard that the death of Aerith and the creation of Tifa both originated in a phone call between you two…. TN: It’s funny, some magazine ran that story, but only the beginning and ending of it. People think that I wanted to kill off Aerith and replace her with Tifa as the main character! [Laughs] The actual conversation between Mr. Kitase and myself was very, very long. Originally, there were only going to be three characters in the entire game: Cloud, Barrett, and Aerith. Can you imagine that? And we knew even in the early concept stage that one character would have to die. But we only had three to choose from. I mean, Cloud’s the main character, so you can’t really kill him. And Barrett… well, that’s maybe too obvious. But we had to pick between Aerith and Barrett. We debated this for a long time, but in the end decided to sacrifice Aerith.

EGM: Did you pick her to increase the drama? TN: In the previous FF games, it became almost a signature theme for one character to sacrifice him or herself, and often it was a similar character type from game to game, kind of a brave, last-man-standing, Barrett-type character. So everyone expected that. And I think that death should be something sudden and unexpected, and Aerith’s death seemed more natural and realistic. Now, when I reflect on Final Fantasy VII, the fact that fans were so offended by her sudden death probably means that we were successful with her character. If fans had simply accepted her death, that would have meant she wasn’t an effective character.

EGM: Which female character in FFVII is your personal favorite? TN: [Laughs] I’m not really interested in any superdeformed females.

EGM: Since Dirge of Cerberus is, chronologically speaking, the furthest game in the FFVII timeline, does it have a happy ending? YK: AC and DC both have their own resolutions, so don’t expect cliff-hangers there. Also, DC isn’t the direct sequel to FFVII, Advent Children is. So we can’t view DC as the ending to the whole big FFVII saga. Plus, FFVII definitely has so many diverse elements, and different fans have interest in different characters, so if, for example, one person is interested in Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith’s relationship, then AC may provide some sort of answers for them. Somebody else might be interested in Vincent, so they might want to explore DC. It’s not like this is going to complete the whole story, but it will satisfy fans who have strong attachments to individual characters.

EGM: At the very end of FFVII, we see the epilogue to the whole story that takes place 500 years later, so really, you still have another 497 years’ worth of games and movies to fill in…. YK: Ha, maybe I’ll try to do that. In a way, I consider that epilogue to be the true happy ending of FFVII. Well, it’s a happy ending even though all the human beings are destroyed. [Laughs]

Concept art

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Dengeki PlayStation Vol.17– Dengeki PlayStation Vol.40-Non Translated

    Magazine Previews

  Forum member Brooke dug up some old FF7 previews from August of 1997 and was kind enough to share them with us. If you were already a Final Fantasy fan then, you might enjoy the nostalgia of the excitement that had been absolutely ravaging the West after the game’s January Japanese release. If you were not, it’s a pretty fascinating look at just how beside themselves people were to play this game. Also included is the preview of Final Fantasy Tactics, another imminent release at the time, as well as a truly prophetic piece about gaming and the third dimension.-lifestream

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  final fantasy vii development final

final fantasy vii development early

FFVII 10th Anniversary Discussion: p. 8 to 13 of the FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania

  FFVII 10th Anniversary Discussion

In 2007 FFVII hit its 10th anniversary. To find out the secret of its appeal, we went to the 3 central members of the development staff behind FFVII and the Compilation. How does FFVII look through their eyes? Cloud’s Animations determined the image of the scenario

– It’s been 10 years since FFVII was released. I think the reason fans have continued to support it for so long is because it left that much of an impression on them, but what scenes stand out most in your memories as the creators?

Nojima: For me, it’s the scene where Cloud first appears at the start of the story. That scene used the cool standing animation Toriyama (Motomu Toriyama: FFVII’s event planner) made. If I remember correctly, it was named “Cloud showing off” (laughs). But when I say that animation I thought to myself objectively, “wow, this is great.” It was when I’d just started writing the scenario, and Cloud’s false persona was kind of determined based on that pose, and after that the image of the scenario started to solidify. Back in those days, a lot of different tasks would be going on simultaneously during production, so there were a lot of cases like that where the other staff would influence each other. All the important stuff was usually decided by talking it over in the smoking room (laughs). Nowadays since you’ve got the voice acting to record the scenario needs to be done first, so it’s turned into quite a lonesome task.

  Kitase: That Cloud ‘showing off’ standing animation appears in the Nibelheim flashback as well. When the Shinra soldier asked about doing “the usual”, he does that pose. The same scene is in CC too, so I instructed the staff to recreate that animation (laughs). You were in charge of the Nibelheim events in FFVII, weren’t you, Nojima?

Nojima: That’s right. Right up till the very end we couldn’t get the bugs out of it, so it was pretty rough. Like when Cloud was waiting outside of the screen for his part in the scene, his hair would be poking out from the edge of the screen (laughs). Story-wise, the scene at the Northern Cave where Cloud talks while upside-down left an impression on me. I worked on the direction for that scene, but getting the characters to run to match with the movie scene was tricky, and I remember having trouble with it. The part where Cloud addresses Tifa as “Mrs.” Tifa, I made that hoping that the people playing it would be taken aback by the change in Cloud and it would really hit the player.

Nomura: The scene that sticks out for me is the scene when Tifa going into Cloud’s mental realm and he remembers the truth about what happened in the past.

Nojima: It was Katou (Masato Katou: FFVII event planner) who made the events for that part, and the movies were made by Ikumori (Kazuyuki Ikumori: FFVII movie designer). Ikumori was originally graphic designer for the maps, and this was the first time he’d tried his hand at movies. He said, “I’ve never worked on the movies before,” but looking at him now…

Nomura: Now he’s the movie director on DC and CC.

Kitase: Katou also did the event on the airship, the night before the final battle.

Nojima: Oh, the scene with the risqué line of dialogue? It was Katou who wrote that as well, not me.

– The line “Words aren’t the only way to talk someone how you feel,” right? That was quite a mature conversation for a FF game.

Kitase: But I remember having to get another version that was too intense toned down.

Nojima: The original idea was more extreme. The plan was to have Cloud walk out of the Chocobo stable on board the Highwind, followed by Tifa leaving while checking around, but Kitase turned it down. But even with the line in question, maybe at that time none of us thought it would be something so important (laughs).

  In the original scenario, Zack didn’t exist

– Mr. Kitase, which scene do you find most striking even now?

Kitase: Like Nomura, I’d have to say the climax in the mental realm. The scene where the mysteries regarding Sephiroth and Cloud all become clear. I didn’t know until we were in the latter stages of development that Cloud’s memories were Zack’s. First of all, when I originally checked the scenario, the character of Zack didn’t exist. Zack was a character who came up as Nojima was building up the mysteries. So until that part was complete I was left wondering just how he was planning to solve this, and all the while making the event scenes, still in the dark about the truth.

Nojima: But with Zack, I didn’t simply bring him in just because it was needed for solving the mysteries. When I joined the development team, the concept of Aerith seeing her first love again in Cloud was already there, so I brought him in to link that with solving the mysteries.

Nomura: About the concept of her seeing her first love again in Cloud, at first we were thinking of making that man Sephiroth. When I got the request for the illustration of Zack we were already near the end of development, so when you look at it now it’s not even coloured, and I can’t really deny that it feels like quite a sudden request.

– Had you thought about the truth of the mysteries regarding Cloud and Zack from the very beginning?

Nojima: No, I thought of it as I went on with my work. So at the beginning there wasn’t much foreshadowing. The foreshadowing scenes, I asked the staff in charge of the event scenes to add after development reached a point where an outcome for the mysteries came into sight.

Kitase: In those days it was easy to go back and change things around later on. Lately, with the workload involved in making the graphics, it’s hard to ask people to change something once it’s been finished.

Nojima: Well, even back then, there were some people you could easily ask to change an event later on, and people who were difficult to ask, so the locations of the foreshadowing might be biased. I only went to the people who were easy to ask, and the foreshadowing is focused at the scenes they were in charge of (laughs).

Red XIII: Four-Legged Bane of the Event Planners – I think one of the things that have helped maintain FFVII’s popularity is the uniqueness of its characters. How did you go about creating the characters?

Nomura: At the very start of development the scenario wasn’t complete yet, but I went along like, “I guess first off you need a hero and a heroine,” and from there drew the designs while thinking up details about the characters. After I’d done the hero and heroine, I carried on drawing by thinking what kind of characters would be interesting to have. When I handed over the designs I’d tell people the character details I’d thought up, or write them down on a separate sheet of paper. At that time, I still wrote everything by hand as well.

– So in exactly what order did you draw the characters?

Nomura: The first ones I drew was Cloud and Aerith. Next was Barret.

Kitase: And then Nomura said he wanted to have a four-legged character, and drew Red XIII…

Nomura: After that I think things kind of stalled for a while (laughs).

Nojima: Because you said you wanted to have a four-legged character, it was a real struggle to make the cut-scenes. Like, ‘how is he supposed to climb a ladder?’ and ‘when he turns around his tail and his body end up going into the wall’ (laughs).

Nomura: The scene with Red XIII standing on two legs on the transport ship was funny.

Nojima: The scene where he says, “It’s hard standing on two legs” (laughs).

Kitase: You named Red XIII, didn’t you, Tetsu (Nomura)?

Nomura: I thought a name that didn’t sound like a name would be interesting, so I combined a color and a number. The reason I chose 13 was pretty much because it’s an unlucky number. The official details for the character and his real name ‘Nanaki’ was something one of the other staff did.

Kitase: It was probably Akiyama (Jun Akiyama: FFVII event planner) who thought of those.

– This is something I noticed before, but to type in ‘Seto’, Nanaki’s father, in Japanese with the keyboard set to kana input, you press the keys ‘PS’. I was wondering if this perhaps was where the name came from…?

Kitase: Did he think that deeply about it?

Nojima: If it was Akiyama who was in charge of that, I wouldn’t put some deep-rooted reason like that past him (laughs).

Yuffie and Vincent, who were almost cut at one point.

– Yuffie and Vincent are secret characters who you don’t have to get in your party, but I was surprised that they had so many cut-scenes prepared for them.

Nomura: There was even a time when some people thought we should cut them because we didn’t have enough time. But we somehow managed to veto cutting them, and as a result they became the secret characters they are today.

Kitase: The main reason for there being so many cut-scenes for Yuffie is down it the strong attachment that Akiyama, who was in charge of them, had. Her appearing in a battle and talking with her afterwards, all those were his ideas, and as development moved along the scope steadily got bigger and bigger.

Nojima: It’s really annoying when you try to save after the Yuffie battle and get tricked (laughs). For the story in Wutai, I made the parts related to the main story, but the events in the Pagoda of the Five Mighty Gods were the work of Tokita (Takashi Tokita: FFVII’s event planner).

Kitase: Those bits do have a Tokita-feel to them.

Nojima: Tokita is involved in the theatre, and the characters who appear there have the names of people involved with the theatre like playwrights.

– Who was in charge of Vincent’s cut-scenes?

Kitase: I remember making the event where he joins you in the Shinra Mansion, but his episodes themselves was Nojima, wasn’t it?

Nojima: I did write his episodes. The back story for Vincent and Lucrecia was around from the start, and I remember linking that with Shinra. In the end, Chiba (Hiroki Chiba: FFVII’s event planner) crammed the Vincent-related events in right at the last minute.

Kitase: Chiba is in charge of DC’s scenario, but thinking about it now maybe it turned out that way because he worked on the events with Vincent in FFVII.

Nojima: However, despite Vincent not having many scenes due to him appearing in the latter half of the story, he has a fair amount of dialogue, and when he does show up he talks a lot. Even though really he’s meant to be a quiet person (laughs). Even now I have a problem when creating scenarios, where even though the character is a cool and silent type, I end up making scenes where they just keep on talking and talking. Roles like Barret, who appear from the start and have a lot of lines, most of the time, basically don’t know anything. But characters like Vincent, or Auron in FFX, it tends to be the case that the quieter they are the more they know about things, and they just end up with more expositional dialogue. I still haven’t found a solution to this problem.

The reason FFVII’s characters have continued to be loved

– When thinking of the character’s stories or working on their designs, do you have any kind of tried and tested methods, Mr. Nomura?

Nomura: Maybe not a method in particular. For FFVII’s characters, they’re the result of wanting to make varied, and in a sense going for an orthodox balance. In the recent FF games, I now receive the profiles of the characters before handling the designs, so I don’t worry about the character building much now. I think FFVII was it as far as me thinking of the character’s stories first goes.

– The characters of FFVII seem to be especially popular even out of the entire series, but where do you think the reason for that lies?

  Nomura: Hmmm, I wonder? Nothing really hits me. Well, I guess that each character has their own individual episodes which are well told. You might say their personalities are too strong (laughs).

Nojima: Yeah, they were made nearly excessively individual. For example, once you’ve decided Aerith speaks like this, it starts to escalate in that direction. And like Cloud’s cool standing animation we mentioned before, all the staff in charge of the events took in anything that seemed interesting. Even Cloud’s “not interested” catch phrase comes up so much you start to think, you won’t normally say it that much (laughs).

Kitase: Everyone used it, didn’t they?

Nojima: In that sense, their characters were definitely strong. In FFVIII onwards, the height of the characters increased, and we starting to be conscious of realism. And when that happens, there are times when you start comparing them to real life people. But with FFVII’s height, even in 3D, you still don’t really get that sense of reality. Maybe in that aspect they were like cartoon characters, which was a plus. I think, maybe they had a kind of easy to remember quality as symbols.

Kitase: When I first read Nojima’s scenario, I felt strongly that his image of a heroine was fresh. The hero didn’t have a typical personality, single-minded or righteous, and Aerith lived in the slums. Those things were really fresh. And having 2 heroines, Aerith and Tifa, and having the hero waver between them, at the time that was something new. And Sephiroth too, who appears from the start and is the final enemy, and is sort of a rival. For me personally, I think those things which weren’t in past FFs might be the secret to its popularity.

Nomura: In regards to Sephiroth, I wanted to avoid having the kind of plot development where you get to the end of the story and suddenly this boss you’ve never heard of yet just appears. With FFVII, I wanted to do a story where you’re chasing someone you’ve known was the enemy from the get-go. As for the heroines, during development some people were of the opinion that compared to Tifa, Aerith has fewer scenes and didn’t really stand out, so we also increased her appearances.

Nojima: As a motif for them, Tifa is “the childhood friend who’s been with you since nursery school”, and Aerith is “the girl who transfers school mid-term and quickly leaves for another school.” Since she doesn’t have many scenes, you’ve got to make it so that the transfer student has a big impact. That was what I thought.

Feelings about Aerith, the tragic heroine

– You can’t talk about FFVII’s heroines without talking about the tragedy that befalls Aerith at the Forgotten City. That event was a very memorable scene not only for the FF series, but all RPGs.

Kitase: In the past FFs as well, important characters died and went away. Like Galuf in FFV for example, they followed a pattern where the character would go down after giving it his all in a fight. In this case, often it went that the characters think something like, they’ve tired so hard, and just accept the death and overcome it. When creating stories I think that is an option, but in FFVII we were thinking, could we take this a step further? Bring out a sense of loss somehow? What I didn’t want to have was the kind of story development where even when a character dies there’s no sense of loss, on the contrary it just raises motivation and pushes you forward.

Nojima: Kitase’s loss talk has been consistent since back then.

Kitase: And with a lot of stories, before they die there’s a lot of dramatic preparations, aren’t there? Like a “pre-prepared excitement”, or “using this as a step to fight evil further”, those are the kinds of developments I wanted to avoid. In reality, death comes without warning, and you’re left feeling dazed at the gravity of the loss… Rather than wanting to fight evil, you’re just overcome by a great sense of loss, like you just want to give up everything. I was in charge of the direction of that scene, and I tried to bring out that sort of sense of realism.

Nomura: It’s related to ‘life’, one of the themes of FFVII, so it’s not portrayed as a “death for excitement’s sake” but expresses a realistic pain. Death comes suddenly, so I think the emotion there wasn’t excitement or anything, but sadness.

Nojima: Speaking from a scenario standpoint, FFVII is ‘a story of life cycling through the planet’, so someone needed to be part of that cycle. In other words, although what happened to Aerith isn’t really based on logic, as far as the story goes, maybe one of the team was destined to lose their life from the very start. But how that one became Aerith wasn’t decided through a notice as is popularly mentioned. It was decided after everyone, including myself, racked our brains about what to do.

Truth hidden in the abbreviations of the Compilation titles

– 7 years after the release of FFVII, the Compilation began, but it was a surprise that Advent Children, the sequel, was a film.

Kitase: Originally the AC project came about when the staff said they wanted to make a film.

Nomura: But having that film work being based on FFVII was decided from the beginning.

Kitase: They’ve made several of the movie scenes for games before, so they have the know-how. But an independent film was a big challenge for us, so we had to be ready for it being considerably difficult. When thinking of what subject material we work with while having that readiness, we came up with FFVII. At first it was only planned to be 20 minutes, but before I knew it there were fight scenes, and finally it grew to 100 minutes… (laughs).

Nomura: After we started the project, there was a period where it was put to one side for a while. At that rate, the project itself seemed like it would just go up in smoke, so I put my hand up and said I’d do it, and started again from there, adding in fight scenes and so on.

– Was the formula for the Compilation’s titles, AC, BC, CC and DC, planned from the start?

Kitase: In order of release BC comes first, Advent Children was the first title we decided on.

Nomura: For BC’s title, Taba (Hajime Tabata: BC’s director) and Itou (Yukimasa Itou: BC’s producer) came to me saying they had a good idea. “How about linking with AC, and Before Christ (B.C.), and going with Before Crisis?” I just gave an nonchalant “sure, why not,” but I never thought it would end up being a formula (laughs). So, next we skipped C and went for DC. Then planning for CC suddenly began. Kitase came to my office one day and told me, “think of something” (laughs).

Kitase: That was how it all began. At then, we were thinking of a PSP port of BC. At the time, you could only play BC on NTT DoCoMo mobile phones, so we wanted to let a wider spectrum of players to have a chance to play it. So personally, I was planning releasing it on the PSP with basically the same graphics as the mobile phone version, even if we did fill in the story a bit. However, when I told Tetsu about this, I hadn’t realized at that time that that wouldn’t be enough (laughs).

Nomura: Since at first I was told it’s BC on the PSP, I thought of calling it “Before Crisis Core”. But at that time we’d already decided on having Zack as the main character, so we said, “since it’s going to be different from BC, we don’t need ‘Before’ in the title, do we?” So we took off the “Before”, and by chance it fitted the CC which we had skipped.

Kitase: When I saw the cut-scenes of the completed CC, the quality was good enough to release on the PS2, and I never expected it would be this good. With CC, I had only read part of the scenario when I worked on it, so when played up to the ending myself, as a consumer, I was moved, like “aah, so this is what Zack’s story was like…” (laughs). When I saw the ending, I though to myself, “all the titles have come together nicely. I’m glad we did the Compilation.”

  WEEKLY FAMITSU ISSUE NO. 1224: YOSHINORI KITASE INTERVIEW

IT BEGAN ON THE SNES

—First off, can you tell us how the development of “FFVII” came about?

Kitase: After development on “FFVI” ended, we started the “FFVII” project on the SNES. All of the team put forth ideas for the characters and game systems, but during that time we needed to help out “Chrono Trigger” team who at the time had run into trouble, so for a time development of “FFVII” was put on hold.

—Was the “FFVII” being developed then different from the finished one?

Kitase: Yeah. It was completely different, and Nomura (*1) had proposed things like a design for a witch. In the end, when development started up again it changed to the current setting centred on mako and the like, but the design for the witch Nomura made was incorporated into “FFVIII” in Edea.

—I see. So then, when the development began again, it become the world we have now which has a strong sci-fi feel.

Kitase: At the time there were a lot of Western-fantasy RPGs around, so we wanted to set it apart, and we wanted to achieve more realist ways of showing the story. Also, Mr. Sakaguchi (*2) had suggested a modern drama-esque story with a strong sci-fi feel.

—Had you decided on making it an RPG using 3D polygons at that point?

Kitase: When development had restarted, talk of a next generation console was already in full swing. Since the next generation hardware was said to have chips that excelled at 3D graphics, we also made a 3D battle demo movie based on “FFVI” and studied using 3D. Soon the idea came up that movies would be indispensible to the evolution of “FF” and we decided to development for the PlayStation, which utilised CD-ROM that had a large storage capacity.

“ALONE IN THE DARK”

—Was the decision to make “FFVII” in 3D a unanimous one?

Kitase: There were two directions the development of “FFVII” could have taken. One was to put pixel characters on 3D maps, like “Dragon Quest VII” and “Xenogears” would later use. And the other was the method used in “FFVII” where the characters are rendered using polygons. The pixel characters used in the story scenes in previous “FF” games were extremely popular, so at first we were considering the former which is an extension of that method. But as we couldn’t made a realistic drama in that way, and with polygon characters we could use the movement of their entire bodies to express things, we went for the later to look for new possibilities.

—Was there no resistance from the team?

Kitase: There was at first. Particularly, with the loss of the pixel graphics, the designer team such as Naora (*3) seemed to have felt that their job was put at risk. But in their own ways, everyone went to the CG training sessions and such and learnt to handle it. The people who had been there since the old days are those who had overcome that sort of times of change. In a sense, that was really the turning point for the development.

—Were there any titles that served as a reference when making a 3D RPG?

Kitase: A foreign game called “Alone In The Dark” was an inspiration. The backgrounds were single images done in CG, and when the polygon character moved along them, the camera would switch and the viewpoint would change. That method was new. “Alone In The Dark” was an adventure game, and its story was set in a mansion, but I thought that by taking this and using in it in RPG with vast field maps, it could be something different and new, so I went around showing this game to all the staff.

MOVIE SCENES YOU CAN CONTROL

—In “FFVII” one of its unique features was being able to control characters during the movies.

Kitase: What I wanted to do most of all in “FFVII” was to seamlessly join the movies and the game parts. We wanted to avoid there feeling like there was a massive gap in the graphics when moving from the movies to the playable parts, and Mr. Sakaguchi also said to not make it feel like the movies stick out. So we did some tests and made the part in the opening where the camera zooms in from a shot of all of Midgar to Cloud jumping off the train. I was in charge of the composition of that part, we used a method where as it moved from the movie to a CG image, the characters were positioned so they didn’t move out of place, and we refined it numerous times to get it to sync up nicely. When it went well without moving out of place, it felt brilliant. By the way, the kind of showy events like the scene where Tifa jumps off the Junon cannon, I was mostly responsible for those (laughs).

—Do you think scenes you can control during movies not being in other games was down to Square’s high level of technical skills at that time?

Kitase: No, rather than technical skill, I think it was more the inventiveness to want to do those kind of things. We wanted to take what “Alone In The Dark” did, having polygon characters on top of a CG background, and take it one step further. And because this was our first 3D game, we didn’t know the limits so we could have reckless ideas. We commissioned an outside CG company for the movie scenes, but when the trial version was completed, we would say “the story’s changed so we’d like to extend the movie scene by about 30 seconds” which really surprised them. Since at that time even just extending a movie by a few seconds costed 10 million yen. We made these unreasonable orders without knowing that. In the end we made do with a few revisions, but we gradually learnt that you can’t get retakes as easy as you could with games (wry smile).

—(Laughs) Did Mr. Sakaguchi give any orders for other parts?

Kitase: I think Mr. Sakaguchi wanted to follow the tradition of the pixel graphics, and to show the characters’ expressions on the field screens, so he paid attention to the size of the heads. In battles you can zoom in the camera, but since the field screens are a single background image, you can’t do that. As a result, the proportion of the characters are different in battle and on the field. But when we looked at it after “FFVII” was released, we thought “people are probably going to feel something is off with the difference in proportion” and so in “FFVIII” we the proportions on the field and battle scenes the same.

A SCENARIO WITH A HINT OF MYSTERY

—How was the story, which was distinct from the RPGs that had come before it, created?

Kitase: Before “FFVI” we had Mr. Sakaguchi’s plots, and based on that each of the staff would throw in their ideas and flesh it out, but with “FFVII” we could express things more realistically, so we couldn’t take a mishmash of all the separate episodes the staff had made up and make a single coherent game. That’s where Mr. Nojima (*4), who was one of the new staff members, came in. He had written an RPG scenario with mystery elements for “Glory of Heracles III: Silence of the Gods” on the SNES, so to make it a surprising story like that we left the scenario to Mr. Nojima and he incorporated the elements everyone wanted to do.

—Things such as Cloud’s true identity were certainly surprising.

Kitase: For Cloud’s identity, we only vaguely had an image of Cloud’s own existence being up in the air and it ending there, but the actual unfolding of events was left in Nojima’s hands. And he made not only the scenario but the actual event scenes as well, and the parts where all the mysteries get made clear like Nibelheim in the past were all in Nojima’s head so he hadn’t written it down in detail in the scenario. So we were doing the test play with no idea how it was going to end, and that’s how we first found out what happens. In particular Zack was made like that as well, he was a character Nojima brought in while he was building up the mystery, so we had no clue that he was that important a character (laughs).

—That’s surprising (laughs). Did Mr. Sakaguchi have any directions for the story, having written the plot?

Kitase: Mr. Sakaguchi had been deeply involved with the story up to “FFVI” but with “FFVII” he focused his efforts on the battles. It was Mr. Sakaguchi who suggested the materia system. At first materia had the name “spheres” which Nomura proposed, but Sakaguchi thought we should make it something that would resonate easily even with elementary school kids, so we went for ‘materia’. Back then, the staff were trying to come up with some cool name, but Sakaguchi said that in order to get it embraced across the board you can’t just think about what’s cool.

DEVELOPMENT BRIMMING WITH ENTHUSIASM

—Was the wide variety of mini-games something you planned to include from the start?

Kitase: We had thought of the bike mini-game where you escape from Midgar, but apart from that we had no plans at all (laughs). Now we don’t have staff who aren’t working on anything, but back then we could have staff who had a bit of free time between projects. There were some new staff as well so, kind of doubling as training, we had them make things that needed specialised programs, like the roller coaster shooting game or the submarines.

—So that’s the story behind it! By the way, were there any specific episodes from back then that left a mark on you?

Kitase: Actually, 6 days after “FFVII” mastered up, my eldest son was born. I luckily got there in time for the birth, but afterwards my wife said “you can’t just simply show up for the moment he’s born and everything’s fine” (wry smile). So while I caused some worry, it was a memorable time also for the birth of my son.

—So finally, can you give a message to the fans of “FFVII”?

Kitase: Looking back on the development of “FFVII” now, the difference in proportion between the field and battle sections encapsulates how the desire to “include the stuff we wanted to do” won over consistency. Those bits that are rough but you can feel the energy behind them, those are my favourite points in “FFVII”, and I think maybe what has been supported for so long. As you get used to game development you try to make something more clean and refined, but even if some things were a bit irregular, like there being so many mini-games, later on you come to realise that those can create some unpredictable sort of fun. I hope we can treasure that energy in the future as well, and not forget the enthusiasm we had at first as we make new games.

*1: Tetsuya Nomura. Character designer for “FFVII”. *2: Hironobu Sakaguchi. Produced heavily involved with the “FF” series. *3: Yusuke Naora. Art director for “FFVII”. *4: Kazushige Nojima. In charge of the scenario of “FFVII”.

– On the 15th anniversary To Tetsu

You’ve mainly received attention for your character designs, but you also suggested various systems like the limit breaks in “FFVII” which would be used in later games in the series. Limit breaks are similar to the special attacks in fighting games, but what an interesting idea it was to think it would be fun to place those into an RPG format. If I said it to you directly you’d get ahead of yourself so I won’t, but I would just like to say ‘thank you’ (laughs). (Kitase)

– On the 15th anniversary To Nojima

While we were asking you to come up with a mysterious story like “Glory of Hercules III”, me and Nomura kept throwing these elements we wanted without considering foreshadowing, so I think incorporating them must have been tough. But I am grateful that you pieced them together without turning us down. Thank you. But around the time of “FFX” our unreasonable behavior was too much *even for you* and you had a displeased air about you, didn’t you (wry smile). (Kitase)

  WEEKLY FAMITSU ISSUE NO. 1224: TETSUYA NOMURA INTERVIEW

CHANGES IN THE VISUAL ASPECTS

—What was the most significant thing for you in the transition from “FFVI” to “FFVII”?

Nomura: I guess it was utilising polygons. The difference in high between the characters on the battle screen and the characters on the field screen also kind of seems like the gap between “FFVI” and “FFVII”, and seeing that process of trail-and-error is memorable for me.

—At that time, I hear you could have gone in the direction of using pixel graphics, or 3D, but what were your thoughts on it?

Nomura: I originally handled the pixel graphics, so I thought that if there were no pixels then my work would be gone (laughs). Later I took some training to learn CD, but I went into design and direction rather than working as a modeller.

—The “FF” series had been particularly known for Mr. Amano’s (*1) illustrations previously, so did you feel any pressure when your illustrations were to become the main focus in “FFVII”?

Nomura: I thought of my drawings as the standing images for the pixel graphics of the previous games, so there wasn’t any pressure.

—Standing images for the pixel graphics?

Nomura: In the “FF” series, Mr. Amano’s image illustrations and the pixel characters’ designs didn’t necessarily match. Personally, I considered image illustrations and the pixel graphics as being different categories in a sense. I was in charge of the pixel graphic parts, so I never considered myself as standing alongside Amano or taking over from him. The company decided from a rights perspective to put my name out in front, but originally there weren’t any plans like that at all.

THE TRADEGY OF AERITH AND THE BIRTH OF TIFA

—It was apparently Mr. Sakaguchi who selected you for “FFVII”, but how did that come about?

Nomura: From before when making a “FF” title, everyone would put plans regardless of their section. While everyone handed in text documents they made on a PC, mine were hand-written and had illustrations attached. Because I had originally studied advertising, I would keep in mind how to make people want to read it. Mr. Sakaguchi thought those illustrated proposals were amusing. Then one day he said, “let Tetsu draw the characters.” The start of this was the brush images for “FFVI”.

—Because your proposals were amusing!?

Nomura: Until that point, I hadn’t had many proposals taken up at all, so I don’t think that’s the reason (laughts). I suppose he liked the illustrations on the proposals.

—When it was decided that you would draw the illustrations, was the world and characters’s details already pinned down to a degree?

Nomura: There was a plot for the story, and I drew them based on that. But during the course of it Mr. Sakaguchi put Mr. Kitase (*3) in charge of production, and at that point in time the plot went back to square one. From there, I was also included in coming up with the original idea for the story, and began drawing while thinking up character and story details. At first Mr. Nojima (*4) was still on the “Bahamut Lagoon” team, so Kitase and myself refined the plot.

—Was the Aerith’s shocking death scene also confirmed at that time?

Nomura: I suggested to Kitase about having either Aerith or Tifa die, and it was decided that we’d go in that direction.

—Were there two heroines from the outset?

Nomura: No, originally there was only Aerith, and Tifa was added as another heroine later. To make up for Aerith dying, we needed a heroine who would be by the hero’s side until the end. Plus with Aerith’s death, while there were characters in previous “FF” games who lost their lives, we wanted to try a different approach. By bringing out a ‘sense of loss’ with Aerith’s death, we also wanted to portray the theme of “FFVII” which is ‘life’.

—It did certain have a different impact than that of the loss of characters in past “FF” games. Were there any other points you focused on with the story?

Nomura: I wanted to have a story where you chase Sephiroth. One where there is a SOLDIER who was once a hero, and the heroes follow him. Following a moving enemy hadn’t been done before, and I thought that by chasing something it would help pull the story along.

RELATION BETWEEN THE ORIGINAL CONCEPTS AND THE DESIGNS

—Were there any aspects of the character designs that you struggled with?

Nomura: For Cloud, at first I thought that it’d be better not to use too many polygons, so I gave him sweptback hair, but I didn’t think that looked much like a main character so I changed his hairstyle.

—Were you already thinking about polygon counts at the design stages?

Nomura: While considering it, I tried to be as unreasonable as I could. I thought that was necessary in order to do things no one else had done. For instance, making Aerith’s dress with polygons was very hard at the time. But I believed that thinking about how to make that so it moves naturally would lead to improvement of skills and rendering.

—Sephiroth’s long hair must have also been tough work.

Nomura: That’s right. That was also because I wanted to make the contrast easy to see between Cloud and Sephiroth in their designs. Blond and silver, short and long.

—At the time you said in an interview with our magazine that the image of Cloud and Sephiroth was based on “Musashi [Miyamoto] and Kojiro [Sasaki].”

Nomura: Yes. In particular the weapons, and the “showdown” image, was Musashi and Kojiro.

—Were there any other parts where the story concepts or mental images came through strong in the designs?

Nomura: At first, Sephiroth and Aerith were to be brother and sister, so I gave them similarities in their fringes. That aspect was dropped during the early stages, but the fringes stayed (laughs). I believe the original idea for them to be siblings later became that Sephiroth was Aerith’s first love. Ultimately Nojima thought up Zack, and it was all tied up.

WHITE IS THE “FF” IMAGE COLOUR

—Back at the time, did you realise the extent of the influence “FFVII” had on people?

Nomura: The Internet wasn’t wide-spread yet, and there weren’t really any avenues to see the opinions of a vast number of people, so I didn’t really know how it was being received by the public. But as the release was drawing nearer, the commercials on TV were played a lot, which gave a sense of the scale of things.

—There were several variations of commercials, right.

Nomura: Among those was a commercial that Kyle Cooper (*5) had edited. That was really cool, and it impacted me the way that different editing can give such a different impression. It was because of that that I took an interest in video editing.

—So the current high quality trailers came about because of a commercial for “FFVII”!?

Nomura: No (laughs). There is an outside editing director who has worked with us for a long time, but the present trailers are created with him.

—I see. The novel design for the game packaging, with just the logo on a white background which would be carried over to the future titles in the series, was also talked about.

Nomura: A lot of that was down to (Tadashi) Nomura who lead publicity for “FFVII”. Actually, we were talking about removing the lettering of the logo and just having the image of Meteor Amano had drawn. To have people recognise that it was “FFVII” from that. I thought that was pretty cool, but it didn’t materialise. The background being white was because Sakaguchi said that the image of “FF” was white.

—So there were lots of ideas even for the packaging. By the way, I heard that you are also involved with overseeing merchandise and publicity?

Nomura: That’s true, at the time I wasn’t sure how much I should do, so ended up drawing everything like roughs for plush toys and such (wry smile). I think it’s precisely because I didn’t know, that I was able to try my hand at everything. It was “FFVII” that was the start of my involvement in publicity as well. Though I ended up revealing info about “FFVII” I shouldn’t have and causing trouble, after that I started getting confirmation first. After I started working together like that, I was also able to cooperate with their publicity strategies, and I think I managed to get them to understand the intent of the development. Most of all, it was fun to be able to do that together.

ENERGY FROM IGNORANCE

—What sort of impression do you have now looking back on time spent making “FFVII”?

Nomura: We were basically rushing headlong, without knowing what we could or couldn’t do. And that’s why I think we could generate that much power, and pack everyone’s ideas in there. Our being able to be reckless making games that way ended with “FFVII”. Personally, it was the first “FF” where a wide range of my ideas were picked up, so it was a lot of fun.

—But before then as well, you not only created the pixel graphics but also submitted proposals as well, right?

Nomura: I put forth ideas for “FFV” and “VI”, but they were only really a part of the whole. Unlike in “VI” where with the inclusion of my ninja and my gambler I was given charge of the stories for Shadow and Setzer, “VII” was the first “FF” where I was involved from the ground up. Before then, I had been giving my opinions to a few people like Kitase, so it was interesting to be able to openly introduce proposals.

—”FFVII” is a game that has been supported by fans for over 15 years, but what kind of feelings do you have for the “FF” series?

Nomura: I still remember well what Mr. Sakaguchi said about “FF” at that time. There’s no one to tell that to the new staff, so I’d like to ask Kitase if he’d do so (laughs). I watched up close how Sakaguchi had left Kitase in charge of the development floor, and personally I think that Kitase is the true heir of “FF”. Also, “FF” carries weight because it’s a title that passed through many people’s hands and not just a single person’s. For example, “Kingdom Hearts” has the same main characters and the story carries on, but with “FF” the fact that ‘each time it’s different’ can feel like a tall hurdle. But that’s exactly why the new “FF” must always exceed the ones of the past. Even “FFVII”, which has been supported by the players for a long time and many people hope for a remake, but right now we want to prioritise new titles, and to try our best to make those become like “FFVII” or something greater.

*1: Yoshitaka Amano. Works on the image illustrations and logo designs for the “FF” series. *2: Hironobu Sakaguchi. Producer heavily involved with the “FF” series. *3: Yoshinori Kitase. Director of “FFVII”. *4: Kazushige Nojima. In charge of the scenario of “FFVII”. *5: Kyle Cooper. A video creator who produces the opening credits for films, with many credits such as “Se7en” and “Mission: Impossible”.

– On the 15th anniversary To Kitase

We see each other a lot normally, so I don’t really have anything to say (wry smile). Lately, there are getting to be fewer people who worked on “FF” with Mr. Sakaguchi. Among them, I’ve worked with you for a long time, and it feels like you’ve done a lot for me. Let’s keep on going into the future. (Nomura)

– On the 15th anniversary To Nojima

I think it’s great how you write this dialogue that gives characters clever things to say, and surprising stories. In “FFVII” Cloud’s true identity was a real shock. You later founded your own company and went independent, but I hope we can keep on working together still in the future. (Nomura)

  Sources and Other Links!

  If you like to read about Final Fantasy VII, I would also recommend buying the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania.

Interviews

Interview with Official UK PSX Magazine – October 1997

Hironobu Sakaguchi Interview – from PlayStation Underground #2, 1997

The Making of Final Fantasy VII – from Edge #123, May 2003

Afterthoughts: Final Fantasy VII –

 Dengeki PlayStation Vol.17– Dengeki PlayStation Vol.40

“EGM2 August 1997 issue” scans

FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania p. 8-13 “Creators’ Discussion”

 Final Fantasy VII Developer Speaks Out About “The Travelling Salesman”, interview by GlitterBerri.

Yoshinori Kitase Interview

 Tetsuya Nomura Interview

  Press Releases

FFVII North American Release Announcement – SCEA, February 1997

FFVII’s Marketing Campaign – SCEA, August 1997

FFVII Official Release Date Broken – SCEA, September 1997

FFVII Breaks Sales Records in First Weekend – SCEA, September 1997

FFVII Sells Over 500,000 Copies in the U.S. – SCEA, September 1997

FFVII Sells Over One Million Copies in the U.S. – SCEA, December 1997

FFVII for the PC Official Announcement – Eidos, June 1998

Other

Marketing material https://www.resetera.com/threads/final-fantasy-7-marketing-stuff-etc-reunion.37961/page-2

Xenon- http://xenon.stanford.edu/~geksiong/papers/sts145/Squaresoft%20and%20FF7.htm

Final Fantasy Beta- https://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/11/final-fantasy-7-beta/

See Also Beta versions of Final Fantasy VII’s world and assets- Here and here

Deleted Scenes and unseen text- Here

Concept arts here and here. Oh look more.

  From the FFVII Ultimania Omega (2005). Early concepts for the world, characters and themes. – Character Files: Page 518, Cloud, Barret & Tifa. – Character Files: Page 519-520, Aerith, Red XIII & Cait Sith. – Character Files: Page 520-523, Yuffie, Cid & Vincent. – Worldview & Terminology: Page 523-525 – Scenarios & Scripts: Page 525-526 – Scenarios & Scripts: Page 527-528 – Scenarios & Scripts: Page 528-529 – Scenarios & Scripts: Page 528-529 (Part 2)

The Unused Text Series

Text and scenes found within the game code of the retail editions. Complete with in-depth commentary written by Shademp. • Article Index and Term Register • Part 1: Bombing Mission & The Train Ride • Part 2: Sector 7 Slums • Part 3: Train Escape & The Sector 5 Slums • Part 4: Honey Bee Inn – (1) Entrance, Lobby & Dressing Room • Part 4: Honey Bee Inn – (2) Waiting Room & Second Floor • Part 5: Rescuing Aeris, Story Time at the Inn – (1) Wall Market to Shinra HQ Library • Part 5: Rescuing Aeris, Story Time at the Inn – (2) Shinra HQ Library to Kalm • Part 6: Chocobo Farm to Corel Prison – (1) Chocobo Farm to Cargo Ship • Part 6: Chocobo Farm to Corel Prison – (2) Costa del Sol to Corel Prison • Part 7: Gongaga to Wutai • Part 8: Keystone Quest to End of Disc 1 • Part 9: Over the Glacier – Attack on Junon • Part 10: On the Highwind – Cloud’s Return • Part 11: Underwater Reactor – Infiltrating Midgar • Part 12: End of Disc 2 – Final Dungeon

Additional Sources- http://shmuplations.com – http://www.ff7citadel.com/ –

As time goes on, I will try and further enhance this article with more sources and interviews as I find them. I truly believe it is important to keep the history of classic games development alive.

The Development of Final Fantasy VII The development of Final Fantasy VII is a mysterious and hard thing to follow. While there is plenty of info out there, much of it is either rumors or unsubstantiated.   

[arthurhwalker]

reMarkable 2 Review

I had some requests for a review of this device, and I am glad to oblige in this case. I've been closely following digital pen stylus tech for about eight years. I'm just old enough that I still need to handwrite a lot of things to tap into my creativity, but greatly dislike clutter in my life.

The reMarkable is for the person that writes enough by hand to fill several notebooks a year. For someone that wants the tactile and somatic component of writing on paper to associate with their process. The new reMarkable 2 does basically what the reMarkable 1 did; faster, better, and with a much improved piece of hardware.

If you've read my previous review from May 2018, you know I basically raved about the first generation reMarkable. I had a few criticisms of the Gen 1, and a lot of that has been addressed with the Gen 2.

Support & User Experience

I've used a reMarkable tablet continuously for almost three years. I've never had a support issue with one. The software is updated regularly, features added, and user experience improved with each iteration.

There is really no comparisons to be made with that kind of uninterrupted usage. No smartphone, tablet, or computer you ever own will be that reliable. A 3-4 year old Thinkpad, running Linux, is about as close as it gets to that level of, switch-on-and-use, every day, without fail feeling.  

The reason is that the reMarkable 2 is leveraging the most reliable hardware, user input methods, stylus technology, and operating system basis available. My fear has always been that my reMarkable wouldn't be as reliable as a regular piece of paper, and a good pen. So far, that fear has never been realized with the reMarkable 1, or 2.

Pen Stylus Input

The majority of what one picks up and uses will be Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP) stylus tech, with Microsoft Surface Products, or Wacom AES (Active Electrostatic) like that found in a lot of Asus, Dell, Lenovo, and so forth. The older Wacom EMR (Electromagnetic Resonance) is used less frequently, and usually only with their own products, or a version thereof with Samsung Phones and Tablets.

Of the three options, Wacom's EMR is still the best.

That's what you'll find on the reMarkable Tablet, and if you get their Marker Plus (it's the black one) it has the magical EMR eraser tip opposite the drawing point. There is no better pen stylus experience, for general use, sketching, handwriting capture, tilt sensitivity, and so forth.

The Marker Plus is $50 more than the regular Marker. It is worth it.

What if you're like me, and you have a drawer full of pen stylus products? Products that include the legendary Excalibur stylus pen that came with the Thinkpad Tablet 10 Gen 1, and worked with the EMR capable Thinkpad Yoga S1 from 2013? The one with the eraser tip, and sweet felt tip point? Will that stylus work?

Yes. Yes, yes it will.

However, the reMarkable Marker Plus just feels better. It's heft (19g) is perfect, eraser tip rounded to feel like the real thing, and tips that degrade gracefully without marking up the screen. Buy. The. Marker. Plus.

The Hardware

The manufacturer says that the reMarkable 2 gets 3 times the battery life of the 1, is 2 times as responsive (relative to rendering digital ink), and is the world's thinnest tablet at 0.19". Mostly, this is all of this seems to be true. Also, as mentioned before all the new Marker Plus has a built in eraser, all the new accessories snap together with magnets, and it charges with USB-c.

The screen is capacitive touch capable now. No more page turning buttons, and you can swipe down from the top to back out of a document or folder. You can turn pages with the swipe of a finger now. It takes a second to get the gestures down, but they're crisp and reliable once you do.

The tablet runs off of a dual core ARM process (a good thing, in my opinion).

My only quibble is that it is supposed to be able to connect to both 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz WiFi, but so far I've only gotten it to connect to 2.4. It might be something with my specific router, and I'm not sure if my experience is typical.

On the lower left hand side of the tablet there are 5 connection points. This suggests that the tablet may have the ability to connect to other accessories in the future. If reMarkable added a Plain Text Editor, and a keyboard cover to the reMarkable, I would be over the moon.

There is no evidence that they will do this, but a guy can dream. Having what's basically an e Ink Typewriter this thin and light would be the ultimate for this writer.

The Software

It is much the same experience as the reMarkable 1 with a few new additions.

You can convert your handwritten notes into text, cursive or block letters, and share by email. There is support for 33 languages.

With a Google Chrome plug-in, you can read web articles and pages on your reMarkable. If you're already battling with eye strain from looking at glowing screens all day, this is a nice feature.

Reading large PDFs and eBooks is still not crisp and snappy, but it is a vastly improved experience when compared to the reMarkable 1. Large graphically intense documents can be navigated without it taxing your patience. What I store on my reMarkable is vastly different now because of how much improved document handling has become.

I find the small sacrifice in speed rendering pages worth it, compared to the eye strain I get reading on other screens.

More pens, features, page templates, and ease of organizing have been added incrementally over time. With regard to the core functioning (Linux Based Codex OS) of the device, the manufacturer has only ever improved and supported the reMarkable.

Aesthetics

The reMarkable 1 was good for what it could do. It wasn't a bad looking product, but compared to the reMarkable 2, it was a rough prototype. Most tablets do not feel as nice in the hand as the reMarkable 2.

Rubber no-slip nubs on the back, rounded edges, satin finished glass and aluminum, make the tablet itself feel like it's from the future. I bought the Polymer Weave Book Folio, a step up from the regular Folio. A close friend got the same device and marker options as I did, but opted for the Premium Leather Folio.

Definitely, get the Book Folio, and if you can scrabble together the extra money, get the premium leather. That's my only regret is that I didn't spring for the best accessory offered. Is the Polymer Weave good? Absolutely, worth the $99. It is rigid, will protect your investment, and it's very classy looking.

My friend who picked up the Leather Folio is a graphic designer, and has greatly informed my sense of aesthetics over the years. She says the Leather Book Folio is well worth the extra. She is, most certainly, correct.

So, yeah, if you're going to get a reMarkable 2 and want a slightly used Polymer Weave Book Folio (mine), I'll let it go for cheap (so I can atone, and get the leather version, ha ha).

Value

The reMarkable 2 doesn't have a web browser, app store, Merge Dragons, audio player, or other third party applications. It won't replace your iPad, or Android Tablet. It will replace all the paper, notebooks, and pens in your life. This is especially true if you have a small scanner (like a Doxie), and leverage reMarkable's Smartphone app and cloud sync feature.

This tablet is for people that like paper, a lot, but don't want to carry it around or keep track of it. It is for people that fill 8-12 Moleskines a year, and mark up hundreds of pages of documents, for themselves, and others. It is for people that tap into their creativity by writing things down, sketching diagrams, and making lists.

The act of holding a pen or pencil against paper is a cognitive trigger, built into their implicit memory, every day, for years, that allows them to do their things.

$399 will buy a decent Samsung or Apple branded tablet, but neither of those is designed to emulate the experience of writing on paper like the reMarkable 2 tablet is. The reMarkable 2 will run you $399, a Marker Plus $99, and a Polymer Weave Folio $99, bringing it all to almost $600.

Unless you lurk reMarkable's website, and wait for a promotion. They did run a promotion for their pre-order, and will likely do something similar within a year of release. It is my recollection that the manufacturer ran at least two promotions for the Remarkable 1, and the savings were significant.

If you don't need one right this minute, check the website every week or so, their Amazon Store edifice, and whatever other options they have for your region.

Competitors

In the last few years, reMarkable has only acquired more competition in the e ink Tablet market. That competition varies depending on where you live in the world. In the US, no one makes a thing that directly competes. I looked at other products, didn't see anything that made me pull out my reMarkable 1 and make a list of pros and cons for comparison.

That isn't to say there isn't a better thing for your use case, but there wasn't for mine.

Final Thoughts

If I didn't drive this point home earlier, I'm going to make it now. The reMarkable 2 will not replace your laptop, mobile OS (iOS/Android) Tablet Device (meant to replace your laptop), or Smartphone. There isn't even a calculator app on the reMarkable 2.

The Remarkable 2 will replace the pens, pencils, highlighters, notebooks, and print outs cluttering up your daily carry bag, desk, and life. It's a digital paper option, not a personal computing option. When used for that purpose, it is exceptional, and well worth the investment.

[mariamermaid]

Ghost

Billy Hargrove X female Reader

Summary:  Hawkins most popular bad boy and bad girl always had a special connection, and with the upcoming summer holidays things are about to change…

Words: 5k+

Warning: Swearing, Smoking, drinking

A/N: Inspired by Halsey´s Ghost

——————-

I’m searching for something that I can’t reach

 You remained seated on the motorcycle, the helmet waiting in front of you. The cigarette still hung loosely from the corners of your mouth, the red stains from lipstick fading with each puff you took. You hated Mr. Wesley for the fact that he had given you detention on the very last day before the summer holidays. He never liked you anyways.

But now it was finally over, even though the hours had stretched for what seemed eternity, the dread was finally over and nothing could stop you from the holidays.

But then you heard the howl of a car, approaching you from the side. You recognized the motor sound and didn´t even bother to take your eyes off the school building.

“What are you doing here, Y/l/n?”

“Billy”, you breathed exhausted. For several seconds you thought about giving him some snarky comment back, but you were too tired to put up with his bullshit.

“Wesley had given me detention.” You explained, finally tearing off your eyes the building to look at Billy, who was sitting in his blue Camaro. He was smoking as well, but you just finished yours and threw it away.

He huffed. “Detention? The old cunt Turner did the same with me.”

It was your turn to let out a rough laugh, then you eyed him again. He had been watching you in the meantime, just to avoid the eye contact now.

“There´s a party at Cathy´s today, you coming?” He then asked after a short silence.

Billy and you didn´t talk much, when you did, you mostly just threw comments at each other and argued. You both had a reputation to sell and especially after he had moved here, you had often battled for the titles. But after a few months, you had given in, deciding to share your territory with him. You barely actually talked to each other, it made sense you didn´t know much about him. But somehow you had gone from previous enemies to allies.

“Cathy that bitch? She´ll love to see me there!” You added with a grin. Billy nodded smiling as well.

“Right, didn´t you almost break her nose?”

“Didn´t she call you a fucking dick the other day after not wanting to go on a second date?”

You both laughed and you felt a certain weight being pulled of your shoulders. The sun didn´t stand that high anymore, the temperature dropping to a still warm but endurable level. There were no clouds, the sky was perfectly blue and birds chirped in the trees around the school.

“You got any plans for the holidays?” Billy shook his head.

“Nah, not really. Mostly starting to work as a lifeguard.” You huffed again, pulling the helmet finally closer to your body. “How fitting, you checking out girls all day and even getting paid for it.”

“Well, will you come by?”

“You wish, Hargrove. I´m not a pool person.”  He chuckled lowly, while you rolled your eyes.

“Don´t tell me you don´t have a nice bathing suit for that ass of yours.”

You shrugged innocently. “I don´t, prefer to go without one at all.” You watched Billy swallow; his eyes fixed on you. “But a public swimming bath is not the place for that.” You continued smiling devilish. Then you finally pushed down the sunglasses from your head, giving him one last glance.

“Especially not with you there.”

After you put on the helmet and started the bike, you took off but still heard how he screamed after you.

“You coming to the party or not?!”

You were already too far and the machine too loud, instead you showed him the middle finger, knowing well how he hated it when you provoked him. In the mirror you could see that Billy first licked his lips, then scratched his jaw, before leaving the parking lot as well.

I don’t like them innocent, I don’t want no face fresh

Want them wearing leather, begging, let me be your taste test

 You did indeed come to the party, which was already in full swing. You arrived late, not having planned to come any earlier. It was just past midnight and at least 90 percent of the people were already drunk. Luckily, the warm weather still lasted and the ripped shorts you wore were enough for the night. As always you were accompanied by your leather jacket, but you had left the bike at home. You already knew you would be drinking. Cathy stood in the front yard, flirting with a football player but when she caught an eye of you, she angrily approached.

“What are you…” You didn´t give her a chance of talking and instead, you took the cup in her hands. She almost flinched at your touch, that bloody nose of hers was a good warning.

“Heard there was a party”, you added simply and continued to walk through the garden where the most people had gathered. With a quick look into the house you saw that snacks and drinks were inside, and two couples heavily making out. In the backyard was a bonfire, a table where beer pong was played and two large speakers echoing with music.

Somebody almost ran into you, until you recognized the girl.

“Hey Nancy!” You greeted her, she smiled awkwardly, the boy holding her hand was Jonathan Byers.

“Already leaving?” You grinned and she further blushed. Nancy and you had known each other for ages, you had played together in kindergarten and when Steve was being a dick to her, you had her back. As much of a reputation you had, you never depended on images and when eyeing the two, you thought they were a cute couple.

“Yeah”, she stuttered and now Jonathan also blushed. You patted her shoulder, offering them a genuine smile. “Then have fun.”

You further chatted with various people in the crowd until the loud screams interrupted your current conversation. Together with your friend, Craig, you approached the newly formed group.

It was mostly boys, they all had gathered around one certain dirty blonde-haired boy, who just had finished jugging a beer keg. He didn´t drown the last slug and spitted it around. The group around him cheered and some even applauded; they acted like animals. While turning to shower his success Billy´s eyes landed on you, his dark orbs were dilated and hunger laid in the deep blue.

Just then you drowned your cup as well.

He grinned and strolled over to you. By his walk he was already full and when he patted Craig on the chest, you couldn´t help but roll your eyes.

“Craig, my dear friend, would you be a darling and give us some space.” Billy didn´t wait for him to protest and practically pushed him away. Craig watched you cautiously, but you shook your head, telling him that it was fine. Craig was one of the best baseball players in Hawkins and you knew he was working hard towards a scholarship, which was also why he neither drank or smoked.

Billy casually slipped his arm around your shoulder, he smelled like smoke, beer and his discernible perfume, he always wore. But you shook off his arm.

“Y/n, didn´t think you would come?”

“Didn´t want to be missing out on seeing you drunk idiot.”

He acted offended, until realizing that you weren´t drunk. He grabbed your arm again, this time harder to make sure you wouldn’t slip away again, but not in a hurting way. “C´mon we´re getting you something to drink.”

He lead you inside the house, on the couch was still the couple making out, the other one in the kitchen left at the side of Billy Hargrove, who gave them an annoyed glare.

He gave you another cup of cold punch and watched you take a sip.

“Oh, Y/n, I know you can do better.” You glared at him, a playful glare, then you drowned the cup. And another cup.

The next one you decided to take slower and Billy seemed to approve now, that he pulled you away again. You found yourself in the dark hallway, somehow already lost in the unknown house. In some inexplainable way, you didn´t mind though. Billy was still able to walk straight, well almost, but he spoke a little besotted.

“You didn´t tell me your plans for the summer, besides going skinny dipping without me, which is really a shame!”

You took out your cigarettes, knowing well that Cathy´s parents probably didn´t want to have smoking in the house. You offered him one as well, which he gladly took. While you packed them away again, Billy had pulled out his lighter and you leaned closer to catch the fire. You felt his eyes watching you closely, the small fire being one of the only light sources, your face getting illuminated.

When you looked up, you starred directly into his piercing eyes.

I like the sad eyes, bad guys, mouth full of white lies

Kiss me in the corridor, but quick to tell me goodbye

 Billy leaned closer and closer, his breathing bringing the flame out of rhythm. Luckily, you weren´t yet drunk, and you quickly yanked away. The sudden movement of yours created a small wisp of wind, which extinguished the flame. For a few seconds you only heard him breathing, you had leaned back at the wall until he moved to lean against the opposite wall as well. Then he used his lighter again for his own cigarette. His eyes only catching the light for seconds, sparkling.

“I got no plans.”

It was dark again, sometimes you saw the cigarette blaze when Billy took a puff. But you knew he was watching you, because so did you.

“No plans? No vacation with family?”

He didn´t see how you bit your lip, how you pressed your fingernails into your hand.

“No, my dad´s working abroad anyway.”

He immediately realized how you didn´t mention your mother, feeling sympathy, but not telling.

“So, you´re all alone all day long?”

“I got a cat.” He huffed.

“Maybe I should come and visit, we could have some fun.”

“You don´t even know, where I live.” It was true, Billy didn´t know where you lived, but he couldn´t admit that.

He wanted to ask you more, finding himself getting more and more interested in your personal life. He also felt surprisingly peaceful, he didn´t have to pretend around you.  

But your pleasant moment was again interrupted by someone.

Melissa Andrews, she sat next to you in Math and often helped you when you didn´t understand something, ran past you and stumbled into the bathroom to throw up.

You sighed and stubbed out the cigarette with your foot.

“Sorry, Bill.”

Then you joined her in the bathroom and closed the door behind you. You knew that it was better when nobody saw her in that state.

Melissa kneeled in front of the toilet, both of her hands grabbing the seat. You emptied your cup into the sink and filled it with water. Then you sat down at the rim of the bathtub, holding back Melissa´s hair. When she took a break to look up, you offered her the water.

“C´mon drink up, it´ll help I promise.”

She drowned the cup in one, then she faced the toilet again, bot not vomiting. You watched how her eyes lazily looked around, she must have felt pretty dizzy.

“Was…”, she tried, but it took a second try for her to finish the sentence.

“Was that Billy Hargrove with you in the hallway?”

You chuckled and filled the cup a second time.

“Yeah”, you answered nonchalantly, giving her the cup again. Melissa sipped, finally looking at you and not anymore the toilet, but still sitting on the bathroom floor. She started grinning.

“Oh, so the bad girl and bad boy are a thing now?” You shook your head, still smiling.

“Me and Billy? Hell no!”

She rolled her eyes. “Then why was he in here with you, talking, instead of outside with his boys or flirting with somebody?”

You knew she wasn´t wrong because her words made you think. It was your luck that Melissa had to throw up again and dropped the topic.

You waited for half an hour, until you were sure that Melissa was finished, at least for now. You then helped her stand up.

“Do you want me to get you home?” She nodded tired.

Her arm was linked with yours when you left the house and Craig quickly caught sight of you.

“Need help?”

You shook your head. “I think she´s fine for now, I´m going to walk her home, it´s only a few minutes.”

Melissa and you sometimes had studied together, you had been at her place a few times and it was not even five minutes away. When you reached the house, Melissa fumbled with the key until you unlocked the door. “Are your parents home?”, you asked whispering and she nodded.

You didn´t have to turn on the light, her room was the first door on the left and you managed to get her into bed and even take off her shoes. Then you quietly snuck out the house again, sighing relieved that her parents hadn´t noticed.

You wandered back to Cathy´s party, but the alcohol that had hit you previously,  had vanished again, as well as your party mood. You decided it was just the fact that you had spent half an hour in a bathroom, and it would come back again. Melissa´s words still spun in your head. Then why was he in there with you?

You shook your head and entered the backyard again, but when turning a corner, you saw Cathy pressed against the wall, her lips crashing against Billy´s.

You sighed and rolled your eyes; your good mood was now completely ruined. A bitter taste spread in your mouth and your stomach turned.

Leaving the party again and now final, you decided to walk back home. Why did it bother you so much that Billy and Cathy made out?

You say that you’re no good for me

‘Cause I’m always tugging at your sleeve

And I swear I hate you when you leave

But I like it anyway

 You didn´t know that Billy had seen you in the window´s reflection and immediately sprinted after you. He silently swore to himself, then he grabbed his car keys and drove away from the house party, only to find you two streets away. Again, you recognized the car engine and continued walking, while he pulled down his window.

“Need a ride home?”

“No.” It was a lie; your house was in the woods and it would take you at least 45 minutes to get there by foot.

“C´mon Y/n, you could show me where you live?”, he was leaning down so he could watch you from his seat.

“You shouldn´t be driving, you´re drunk, Hargrove.”

“I also shouldn´t let a lady walk home alone, in the dark in the middle of the night.”

“Yeah, you´re right. Somebody could kidnap me!”, you exclaimed, growing annoyed with him.

“For example, in a blue Camaro.” You added and Billy´s grin dropped. He quickly gathered himself again, ready for his next try, but you abruptly stopped walking, lowly growling.

“Leave me the fuck alone, Hargrove!” You screamed furiously, your fists clenching.

The motor stopped, in the background two houses turned on their lights, alarmed by the sudden screaming.

You shook your head, feeling how angry, hot tears started forming in your blurry eyes. You spun back around, not wanting to face Billy anymore longer. Then you quickly walked away, even though it took all your strength not to run.

 My ghost, where’d you go?

I can’t find you in the body sleeping next to me

My ghost, where’d you go?

What happened to the soul that you used to be?

 ***

A week later, you found yourself feeling way better.

On the way home you had smoked almost an entire pack of cigarettes, then you couldn´t fall asleep at three in the morning, had taken a shower, watched the sunrise, finally fell asleep and woke up hungover.

It was time to take care of yourself. 

You had almost completely stopped smoking and instead of going to any parties, you went to bed earlier. You had finished an entire book and were on your way to the second. Your house in the woods was right next to a small lake, surrounded by high firs. It was peaceful and quiet, exactly what you needed. You spent most of the time outside, either reading or swimming, while your cat often joined you. Your father wasn´t home as usually.

It had taken a few days to adjust and to forget that awful night that stuck to your memory like a disgusting piece of gum, but now you had almost forgotten about it.

So, while you sunbathed by the lake, you couldn´t anticipate what was happening in the very same time, not too far away from you.

With a loud thud and a following gray smoke escaping the hood of the blue Camaro, the car stopped.

Billy was stuck in the middle of nowhere, there wasn´t even an emergency phone nearby, and he couldn´t make out why the car had stopped. Annoyed he pushed back his locks and light another smoke. It was about then when he realized the gravel path leading into the woods. Maybe he could find a hut or even a house with a phone. He made his way through the forest until he reached a house. It took him by surprise, it wasn´t even a shack; it was an actual house. A good, expensive looking one, made out of light wood with a chimney and large windows.

He rang the bell, but nobody opened, he looked around, the garage was closed; what if nobody was home?

He still decided to take a closer look and walked around the building. The small, turquoise lake surprised him even further, but what surprised him the most, was the girl laying in the grass at the end of a gangplank.

You laid on your back, your cat, Maple, chilling on the dock, watching hopeful into the water for a fish. You wore sunglasses, the book next to you, you hadn´t heard the doorbell. Or Billy approaching.

“I see you do own some nice bathing suit.”

You jerked and sat up to find him staring at you from the small hill, where the house stood.

“Billy? Billy Hargrove?!” He chuckled and further approach, until he was only a few feet away. You suddenly felt a little exposed, you wore your favorite two-piece bathing suit, which actually looked really good, yet you felt uncomfortable.

“What are you doing here?”

“Believe it or not, it´s pure coincidence.”

“Oh really?”, you asked overly sarcastic. Behind your sunglasses he couldn´t see how your eyes twitched.

“My car broke down.”

“What if I don´t believe you?” He crossed his arms.

“Then go take a look on the road.” You sighed; your peaceful day was gone. Finally, you rose and walked to him, but his eyes not once left your face to check you out. You casually patted on his shoulder. “You can use our phone.”

He wanted to follow you into the house, but before Maple ran past him, hissed at him and then followed you as well.

“She doesn´t like strangers”, you added and entered the living room through the back door from the terrace. “Nice house you got.”

“As I said, my dad´s always working.” “So, we´re all alone out here?” You rolled your eyes.

“Phone is in the kitchen.”

While he walked to the large kitchen with marbled details and several plants, you took the stairs to your room and quickly put on a light dress. It wasn´t something you wore to school, let alone the fact that you couldn´t wear a flowy dress on the motorcycle.

When you came back to the kitchen, you could listen how Billy just ended the call.

“Yes, I´m waiting, what else should I do? See you then.” He hung up, seeming angrier than before, but then he looked at you and his face softened again.

“How long will it take?” “They say the earliest they can come is in an hour.” You both let out a sigh, until you walked to the fridge. “Ice tea?”

He nodded and sat down on the stool at the high counter top, watching how you poured two glasses. Your open hair softly swung with your movement and so did your dress. Then you put down the glasses and sat across him. He offered you a small smile.

“You look pretty.”

You raised your brow, taking a sip. “Do I?”

He blushed slightly, quickly glancing down to avoid your eyes.

“Yeah, you always do.”

“Oh my god, did Billy Hargrove just compliment me?”

He laughed, finally facing you again and you smiled as well.

“What about Cathy?” You then added, still grinning but the words visibly stung him, his lips pressed to thin line. “Oh wait, let me guess; it was only good for a night!” His smile had completely vanished and he clenched his jaw, trying not to turn a hair. He knew he would regret it…

“We just made out”, Billy mumbled. “No details? What about your bad boy reputation?” You asked, provokingly whispering to the end.

“What about your reputation? Leaving parties early, then not coming at all anymore?”

“Oh Billy, there´s a significant difference between you and me. You have the womanizer reputation, the guy that beats up the other one because he looked at him the wrong way. I have the image to not give shit about them, there are only a few people that actually matter to me and if somebody hurts them, I give them hell.”

“So, you´re saying I don´t care about anybody.”

“Oh no, you do, you just think it´s weak to show it.”

He bit his lip, his knuckles turning white while holding the glass. You were right, you almost always were.

You’re a Rolling Stone boy, never-sleep-alone boy

Got a million numbers and they’re filling up your phone, boy

I’m off the deep end, sleeping all night through the weekend

Saying that I love him but I know I’m gonna leave him

 “You care about your sister, Max”, you added while standing up again.

“I care about you.”

“No you don´t-“  “Yes, I do. I couldn´t sleep after that party, I didn´t know if you had come home, if you were safe… I called Melissa and Craig, even Nancy, but they hadn´t heard from you.”

You stood at the other end of the kitchen; your mouth slightly opened. After seconds had passed, you licked your dry lips, hoping it would help to get some words out.

“Sorry, I didn´t know you were so worried about me. But I had called Craig the other day…”

You watched his jaw clench again. “Yeah, he didn´t really want to talk to me, probably thinks I´m gonna steal you away.”

“Steal me? From who?”

“Oh, you know, Craig”, he eyed your confused expression. “You know he has a thing for you, right?”

It was your turn to avoid the glance. “No, I didn´t.”

“I mean he´s perfect for you, Hawkins best football player, king of the school, there´s nothing more a girl could wish for.”

“I don´t wish for him, I´m sorry to not feel the same way he does.”

After several minutes of silence, you cleared your throat, trying to push away the awkward mood.

“I´m going to wait outside.”

You placed yourself back on the blanket, Maple only a few feet away and always keeping a wary eye on Billy. Billy followed you as well, but remained standing, looking uncomfortable around, unsure what to do. You sighed and closed the book you just had opened again.

“You can sit down if you want to.”

He did as said, and you continued to read, well pretend to read your book.

“What are you reading?”

“Pride and Prejudice”

“Shouldn´t we read that next year in school?” You nodded.

“Yeah, but I had some free time and it´s actually not that bad.”

Billy gave a barely noticeable nod, then silence sat in again.

He was leaning forward, his arms on his knees, his blue eyes facing the lake. You realized how deep, dark circles that were drawn under his eyes; he looked like he hadn´t slept in a good while.

“You look tired.”

Billy turned to look slightly back at you, but then didn´t answer.

“If you want to, you can take a nap, I´ll wake you when they come.”

You glanced back into the book, but eventually he leaned back and lied down. In a matter of minutes he seemed to be asleep and you waited by his side.

 My ghost, where’d you go?

I can’t find you in the body sleeping next to me

My ghost, where’d you go?

What happened to the soul that you used to be?

20 minutes, 30, 40, 50…

Time passed and after the stated hour was over, you started to wonder when the breakdown service would arrive.

Billy continued to peacefully sleep, his nose sometimes flinched a little, but in a cute way. He had needed the sleep dearly; he woke up two hours later.

Surprised he sat up, he almost seemed shaken by bad dream.

“How long did I sleep?”

“Two hours, and seven minutes to be exact.”

“What?” He jumped up, ready to run into the next best direction, but stopped when realizing that he didn´t know where to go. Within second he went from peaceful to a disordered mess, which obviously worried you.

“Half an hour ago the breakdown service had called; they can´t make it today.”

The tension immediately left his body and his shoulders sank, but you saw the storm behind his eyes. 

“Why didn´t you wake me?” He sounded angry, but you remained calm and looked him straight into the face.

“You seemed like you needed it.” His face softened; he knew you were too good to him.

“You shouldn´t do that.” His words left you confused.

“What? Letting you sleep?”

“No, getting involved with me. People around me tend to get hurt.”

You swallowed, unsure what to say.

“Y/n, I… I´ve been feeling like this for quiet a while now; I really like you. Like a lot.” He mumbled, avoiding your glance while you slowly stood up as well.

“But I know, I´ll break your heart and you don´t deserve a broken heart.” His voice was shaking and you still weren´t able to get one word out of your mouth. His sudden confession came unexpected to you.

“I´m sorry.”

Before you could a chance to speak up, he turned and hurried away. You tried running after him, but Billy was gone. As prompt as he had come, he had disappeared again.

You say that you’re no good for me

‘Cause I’m always tugging at your sleeve

And I swear I hate you when you leave

But I like it anyway

 ***

“Billy?” Max knocked on her brother’s door, their father wasn´t home at the time. Billy had come home on a Thursday evening, per foot, without the car.  His father immediately became angry, asked him where the car was; Billy didn´t answer. After a bloody lip and black eye from him, Billy had gone into his room and since then barely left it. Today was Monday.

Max didn´t like admitting it, but she grew worried about her brother. When she was at Mike´s with Lucas and Dustin, she overheard a phone call from Mike´s older sister Nancy. She apparently had talked to a friend of hers, chatting about a party from a few weeks ago. She had said something about Billy and Y/n, hanging out there, privately in a dark hallway, talking.

First, Max didn´t think of it as much, but then Billy kept acting so weird and after three girls had called to ask Billy to a party, Max slowly became suspicious.

Max didn´t know you well, but liked you. Once a senior guy in school exclaimed that girl can´t skate and you had shoved him into a locker, giving Max a little wink.

“Billy?” Still no answer came, Max leaned against the door. “You know you can talk to me.” She added quietly. “Is this about Y/n?” She asked even quieter. Billy ripped the door abruptly open.

His face first seemed angry, but then he saw the fearful expression on Max´s- he slowly nodded.

I’m searching for something that I can’t reach

 The two siblings both sat on the couch, both in silence. They tried to figure out what to say, but didn´t know how to start. They had stopped talking to each other long time ago, it was like they needed to learn it all over again. When Max just opened her mouth, they doorbell rang. She glanced over to Billy, he didn´t make a move to open the door. Sighing to herself she opened it, only to find you standing there. Behind you waited the blue Camaro, the keys in your hand.

“Max, is Billy here?”

Max starred at you perplex and then slowly nodded. “Billy?” He didn´t answer.

“Billy, you might wanna come, Y/n´s here.”

You suddenly heard steps and Billy came to your sight. First, he starred at you, then car.

You realized how he looked more tired than ever, his eyes a little swollen and his left eye had remaining yellow, blueish tints from a black eye.

“Hi”, you said a little high pitched. Max already smirked, finding herself the first one to be shipping you two together.

“I´m gonna give you some privacy.” She explained and left your sight again, disappearing in the house.

“What are you doing here?”

“The breakdown service arrived the next day, I came with them and decided to bring you your baby back.”

His eyes flinched.

“But the bill?”

“I covered it, well technically my father did.”

“I don´t need your pity.”

“It´s called a present.”

“I don´t want it.”

“But how will you take me on a date without a ride?”

He stopped, starring at you wide eyed. You took a deep breath, you had carefully put together the words and now had come the time to say them.

“I thought about what you said and maybe you´re right, maybe you will break my heart. But what if you won´t? What if we, Hawkins famous bad boy and bad girl, worked out?”

He stayed utterly still, you weren´t even sure if he heard the words you had said.

Until he leaned forward, his hands cupping your face and his lips pressing against yours.

First, you were taken back, but then allowed him entrance. Your hands softly grabbed his hair around his neck. When you finally parted again, you were both gasping for air.

“Ok let´s try it, I promise I won´t break your heart.”

“Can´t say the same.”

“I´ll take the risk.”

 ***

By the end of the summer Billy found himself changed, changed by you.

And when you entered Hawkin High after the break again, hand in hand, both wearing boots and similar jackets, everyone eyed you with envy. And it felt damn good.

He was finally happy in a long time.

My ghost, where’d you go?

I can’t find you in the body sleeping next to me

My ghost, where’d you go?

What happened to the soul that you used to be?

[xb-squaredx]

Pokémon Sword and Shield: A Franchise Turning Point

The Pokémon franchise has been around for over 20 years, and in that time it has proven to be more than a passing fad and has carved out a massive multi-media empire. Outside of some rare spinoffs like the Pokémon Stadium games or the likes of Colosseum or Pokken Tournament, the series has stayed primarily on handheld consoles. For years fans dreamed of what a true, mainline Pokémon game could be like on a home console. During E3 2017 when Game Freak announced that such a title was in development for Switch, people got excited. The resulted games, Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee were not quite the main leap people expected, instead being a strange hybrid of Pokémon GO and remakes of Pokémon Yellow. However, the announcement that a true new generation of Pokémon would hit the Switch in 2019 reignited that hype. While at first excitement was high, over time a dark cloud hung over the titles, Pokémon Sword and Shield. Controversies erupted over the announcement that not every little critter would be featured or transferable to the game, and as time went on any new announcement was met with pushback. Everything from visuals to new features was criticized all the way up to launch day. Now that Sword and Shield are in players’ hands, at the end of the day…how did it all turn out?

A WHOLE NEW WORLD

This time around, trainers embark across the Galar region, basically the Pokémon equivalent to the UK. I do like Galar as a setting; it has a ton of character, with probably the most interesting aspect to it that Pokémon battles are treated as a major spectator sport. If you want to join in the Gym Challenge, you need a sponsor, and your Gym battles take place in massive stadiums filled to the brim with roaring fans. It’s an interesting deviation from past games, even if the basic formula is about the same. The characters within Galar also have a fair amount of charm from your main rivals to the Gym Leaders, to the undefeated Champion. A lot of people give Hop, your main rival, a lot of flak, but I found he had a lot of hidden depth to him and he has a satisfying arc as the story goes on. As he loses to you again and again, he doubts himself and subsequent battles have him throwing in random Pokémon and strangely his signature partner, the adorable Wooloo, is absent. Once he gets his act together, however, he forms a pretty balanced team, and Wooloo’s back front-and-center. It was a neat moment of character growth shown off through gameplay. As far as Champions go, Leon has a lot more presence throughout the game than a lot of past Champions. His flair, his awful fashion sense, his inability to follow directions…it all made him a bit more endearing. Most of the Gym Leaders are pretty much just there as stepping stones, but they all are fairly memorable either for designs or flashes of personality. It helps that everyone gives you neato trading cards too!

Galar’s main claim-to-fame is the Wild Area, a huge collection of different biomes located smack in the middle of the map. It has far and away the largest collection of Pokémon within, with different monsters appearing depending on the weather or time of day. It’s a place you’ll be returning to time and time again, and it made a big impact. It’s the only area in the game with a controllable camera, for one, and rather than follow a linear balance curve, the Pokémon you encounter in the Wild Area are often far too strong to handle. You’re even forbidden from catching Pokémon if you lack a certain number of Gym Badges, so the place is full of Pokémon you can only really admire from afar until you’re “worthy” of getting them.

Take the Wild Area away though, and Galar feels pretty small. With only ten Routes in the game, Galar is among the smaller regions. Most Routes are very straightforward, not many branching paths or hidden goodies, and there isn’t any neat new areas opened up after beating the game either. The Wild Area, from a franchise standpoint at least, is pretty impressive, but looking at the game on the whole it feels a little lacking. That’s not to say Sword and Shield don’t bring in new mechanics to mess around with, but whether they make up for what’s been taken away is going to vary with people.

GO BIG OR GO HOME

Since the games went 3D, each region tends to have its own core “gimmick” to differentiate it with older titles. X and Y had Mega Evolution, Sun and Moon had Z-Moves and for Sword and Shield we have Dynamax. Something in the air in Galar can allow Pokémon to grow to colossal size for a short time, granting them extremely powerful Max Moves for its duration. While Dynamaxing seems cool at first, the spectacle kinda wears off after your first few uses of it (not to mention the animation lasts forever), and upon further inspection it’s not as great of an upgrade as you’d think. For one, a Dynamaxed Pokémon only gets a health increase, and all other stats stay the same. Abilities and their elemental types stay the same too, so it’s not a game-changer like Mega Evolution was and it really has more in common with Z-Moves. The Max Moves can be nice, as they’re usually a good deal more powerful when it comes to raw damage, and can come with nice side-effects, but it’s kinda inconsistent. The stronger Fighting-type moves actually become weaker as Max Moves, for one. On top of the base Dynamax ability, some Pokémon can use “Gigantamaxing” instead. This changes their look overall and grants them a unique G-Max Move, though considering how hard they can be to acquire I’m not sure it’s all that satisfying. It doesn’t help that rather than having a certain species of Pokémon capable of Gigantamaxing, it comes down to unique Pokémon themselves that have the trait and it can’t be passed down through breeding either. Overall, Dynamaxing has its uses but I highly doubt it’ll become a staple of the series and will likely be replaced with something else for the Generation 9 games, and I can’t say I’ll miss the mechanic much.

One big addition to the series is Max Raid Battles, found in dens littered all over the Wild Area. Teaming up with up to three other players, locally or online (or team up with awful CPUs if alone), your goal is to take out a permanently Dynamaxed Pokémon. You get a limited amount of turns and if you suffer more than four knockouts, the Raid will end in failure. Victory, however, enables you to get rare and powerful Pokémon, some even coming with really great stats and difficult-to-obtain Abilities, and it’s practically the only way to get Gigantamax Pokémon. The difficulty of the Raids increases as you progress through the game, however, and the Five Star Raids can be brutal. The rewards are great though, getting a lot of extra loot. Bonus moves to teach Pokémon, EXP candies that eliminate a lot of grinding, and more, even if the capture attempt fails. The one real issue with Raids is that some Pokémon can be pretty stingy with appearing in Raids, and you’ll have to use somewhat rare items, Wishing Pieces, to kick some Raids off. There are also the occasional connection issues, but I have more to say on that later.

Outside of these new features, there are the standard quality-of-life changes that each game has, though some can be harder to notice and appreciate than others. You can send Pokémon in storage out on Jobs, to get some neat rewards and some EXP for them, though I find them to be a bit underwhelming. Being able to swap Pokémon on the fly now is a godsend, and together with the EXP Share built into the game, it allowed me the freedom to switch up the monsters in my party and get newcomers up to speed quickly. Most games I barely bother with more than the maximum six, but the sheer variety of Pokémon in Galar let me feel more comfortable with constantly swapping around. On that same note, no National Dex aside, there’s a LOT of choices in Galar. Route 1 alone has over ten Pokémon you can catch right at the start, as opposed to the common mammal, common bug and common bird. It was nice to see some under-represented Pokémon make the cut, but I won’t argue with anyone bummed that their favorites aren’t allowed in. It is a regrettable decision overall, even if it might have been unavoidable here.

Now, you’ll notice I didn’t mention the story much at all because…there isn’t much of one. Pokémon as a franchise isn’t known for its storytelling, despite the Black and White and Sun and Moon games existing and having very well-done stories. Overall, Sword and Shield seems to focus more on characters than an overarching plot and that isn’t too bad overall, but it makes the eventual climax more than a little disappointing. Team Yell, our villainous organization this time around, are just a bunch of hardcore fans for another rival of yours, a girl named Marnie. The conclusion to their story felt very flat, and the eventual main problem involving the Legendary Pokémon is tacked onto the end of the game with little build-up. It doesn’t help that the main villain’s motivation doesn’t make sense. He wants to avert an energy crisis that’s 1000 years from actually happening, and for some reason he refuses to let you get your shot at fighting the Champion because apparently putting things off for one day is unacceptable. It’s just very sloppy. And honestly, “sloppy” can describe a lot of this game, sadly.

WHY Y-COMM WHY

No game is without flaws, and Sword and Shield are far from the first Pokémon games to have their fair share of issues, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that these games in particular are a victim of compromise. Game Freak doesn’t have the luxury of delaying games and polishing them up to a fine sheen, not when the multimedia empire has merch and anime to launch at the same time. I’m also certain that working on this game alongside the Let’s Go games AND Little Town Hero did them no favors. So there are areas in the game that lack polish. The story’s abrupt conclusion, the visuals in general, and Galar itself feeling a tad empty; these are all compromises that had to be made to get this game to ship on the date decided well in advance. I can sympathize with the developers here, and really they’re in an un-enviable position. But at the same time, I’ve been playing Pokémon games for over twenty years, and I kind of expect better, you know? Far too many times I have to shake my head and question why something is designed the way it is, or why it feels at times like the games are going backwards in quality. Problems that were solved several games ago rear their ugly heads again, and for this being a brand new generation and the “proper” debut on a powerful home console, I can’t help but feel that this is just a 3DS game that’s been blown up onto my TV.

NPC character models and the Pokémon themselves look fine, as does the sleek UI, but environments look kinda rough. The Wild Area itself, I say with no exaggeration, looks like it was ripped out of a GameCube game. Those trees are a meme, but at the same time, they also look that bad. Some of the main towns are pretty grandiose, be it the giant castle theme of Hammerlocke, or the steampunk designs of Motostoke, while others feel incredibly barren. It’s kind of intentional with Spikemuth, but I was more than a little disappointed with how small towns feel. While it’s great that HMs have been officially retired (starting from Sun and Moon), Galar itself feels like it has little to offer those that want to explore. You don’t get access to a way to cross water until near the endgame, but there are only a small handful of areas you’d need to backtrack to with that ability. There’s not even a Victory Road in this game, or a rough equivalent.

Sword and Shield, from a competitive standpoint, seems to be trying to make strides in breaking down barriers and allowing more casual fans to dip their toes into competitive play, which I really appreciate, but I think there’s still room for improvement. While on the one hand, it’s never been easier to tweak and customize your Pokémon to your heart’s desire, the game is still not as transparent on certain subjects. You can view a Pokémon’s Effort Values, extra points you can place towards stats, on their stat screen, but only if you hit the X button on that screen, and there’s no indication that’s a thing you can even do. I was more than fifty hours into the game before a friend even told me that! There have been some pretty major strides to reduce the time commitment however, so I have to give the game credit there. As far as game balance goes, having less Pokémon to choose from does inspire creativity, though from what I hear, a fair few Pokémon are a bit of a problem, but that’s no different than any other game. Honestly, even attempting to balance a game with so many moving parts and possible strategies is pretty admirable. I’m not deep into the meta of competitive Pokémon though, so I feel there’s not much I can add to the conversation. If there’s one thing I can’t defend however, it’s this game’s connectivity features.

Starting from the DS era, Pokémon has had online features, but Sword and Shield marks the first time that the Global Trade Station, or GTS, has not been available. This means it’s impossible to put up a posting for a desired Pokémon, or fulfill other’s requests. This wouldn’t be so bad if the way to trade with friends wasn’t such a chore. Rather than being able to freely select a friend and initiate a trade or battle with them, players must enter four-digit codes and HOPE the game pairs them up. This is in every way a downgrade from the past several games. X and Y released over SIX years ago and solved this very issue with the Player Search System. Y-Comm, as it stands, is an awful replacement and there’s not one thing about it that other systems didn’t do better.

If you connect online, the game will have “stamps” appear that show you what friends are doing, alongside broadcasting trade or battle requests from random people, but often those requests are out of date, and trying to join in will result in error messages, the requests fulfilled long ago. Trying to join friends in Raid Battles is an exercise in trial and error, and if online in the Wild Area, other players constantly appear within it and as a result the game begins to chug along. What could have been a neat way to interact with other players across the world results in the game becoming worse to play, so I mostly left it off. Connecting with others has always been a franchise selling point, way back to the days of the Game Boy Link Cables. To see this game drop the ball so severely is worrying. I care about this far more than the graphical issues, far more than the National Dex, and it makes me hesitant to try out the next titles if they can’t solve these issues and KEEP them solved.

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

Pokémon Sword and Shield are not bad games; they’re in fact filled with charm and fun. I’ve logged over 80 hours into the game over the past few weeks and the hours flew by. There’s a lot of work that’s clearly been put into the game. The Pokémon designs and concepts this time around are really creative, for one. There’s the Applin line, dragons that hide in apples, and the abominations that are this game’s fossils; carelessly stitched together pieces of incompatible fossils resulting in a freak of nature. I love them. My heart goes out to Game Freak, because it’s clear people worked hard here, but this simply can’t be the game they wanted to make. I think Sword and Shield are turning points for the series, but it’s unclear if that’s a good thing or not.

For all the backlash and negativity surrounding these games, they’re still the fastest-selling Switch games ever. Many fans are pretty satisfied with the game as-is, and the real bitter pill disgruntled fans need to swallow is that…these games have no real reason to improve in quality. Think about it; sales aren’t down, and there’s not a true rival to these games anymore, so why would the hire-ups at Nintendo and The Pokémon Company give these games more time and resources? On top of this, remember that these games are only one part of the massive whole that is the Pokémon brand. Pokémon GO makes a frankly disgusting amount of money, the anime has been going strong for two decades, merch is in no short supply, and now we can likely add major Hollywood films to the list as well. If Game Freak was any other developer, behind any other franchise, they’d likely be able to delay the games to polish them up and add in content that would otherwise be cut, but they can’t do that when they MUST launch simultaneously with the anime, the card games, the merchandise, etc.

The series has been around for so long now as well, while many fans have likely moved on from the franchise, new ones are lining up to take their place. On top of that, there are Pokémon diehards that will likely always support the series. Pokémon is a constant for them; it’s almost like comfort food in game form. They’re not WRONG for feeling that way, and I’m kinda in that same boat. I knew going in that these games were going to be somewhat disappointing, but I still bought the thing! For all the rage directed at these games, many people still gave them their money, and I think the message has been read loud and clear: Pokémon can get away with cutting Pokémon, so it’s unlikely Game Freak will change course any time soon.

Now, of course, that’s one way to look at things. A negative way to be sure. It’s also possible that Game Freak can learn from issues they had with developing these games and push past them. As they get used to console development, to HD development, and get a better idea of what fans want, the next games might actually surpass all expectations. Pokémon as a franchise has always had feature creep to deal with, and Sword and Shield is clearly where it all boiled over. So maybe if they don’t have to worry about accommodating nearly 1000 critters in every single game, they can make larger strives towards higher quality. I don’t want to count them out, but at the same time, I won’t hold my breath either. I’ll always be open to what path this franchise takes, even if they stumble a bit to get there.

In the end, Sword and Shield feel more than a little rough, but there’s some real bright spots glimmering in what might be the franchise’s Darkest Day. The Pokémon themselves are still fun to use and capture, the characters and world of the games are still wholesome fun, and I’ll reiterate that pumping over 80 hours into this game didn’t feel like a chore and I was largely engaged for the entirety of that time. Here’s to hoping that brighter days lie ahead, and a few years from now we can look back at the Dexit controversy and laugh.

-B

[atinyidea]

Appellation | Ateez | COMING SOON

╭                                                                            ╮

       Appellation /ˌapəˈleɪʃ(ə)n/ noun 

       FORMAL 

       noun: appellation; plural noun: appellations 

       a name or title

╰                                                                           ╯

a series of one-shots created around a singular word and its meaning.

appellation masterlist | main masterlist

Ambedo ——— Kang Yeosang

n. a kind of melancholic trance in which you become completely absorbed in vivid sensory details—raindrops skittering down a window, tall trees leaning in the wind, clouds of cream swirling in your coffee—briefly soaking in the experience of being alive, an act that is done purely for its own sake.

☞ Made an orphan after the birth of your youngest sibling you had no choice but to grow up at a young age. Your birth father having been killed at sea while in the Royal Navy and your mother failing to complete her will during her pregnancy sickness had landed you in the arms of a greedy tyrant of the underground who snatched you and your siblings to take away all you had to your name. Unfortunately for you, when you put up a fight, as it was your duty as the eldest, you were requited with pain, fear-mongering and death threats leaving you with no choice but to follow your ‘new fathers’ rule. You were taught the tricks and tips of being a shadow, a thief in the night and while you could never actually kill someone you definitely knew how to make it look like an accident. You thought all your life would be drowned in the mixed greys of misery you never stopped to find the rainbow and Gods it was a sight when you finally found it.

Anecdoche ——— Park Seonghwa

n. a conversation in which everyone is talking, but nobody is listening, simply overlaying disconnected words like a game of Scrabble, with each player borrowing bits of other anecdotes as a way to increase their own score, until we all run out of things to say.

☞︎ When you were younger, and your mother was still alive, your biggest joy in life was chess. As 'nerdy' as a chess hobby was, it was the one thing that was solely yours and your mother's. She would take you to play in both friendly and professional tournaments despite your aristocratic station and the backlash you received. After she died you only played against one person, the one person where the outcome of a match always ended in draws — Park Seonghwa. He was mysterious and arrogantly playful and while he irked you down to your core he was undoubtedly your only friend in the hell that was your current life.

Chrysalism ——— Choi Jongho

n. the amniotic tranquillity of being indoors during a thunderstorm, listening to waves of rain pattering against the roof like an argument upstairs, whose muffled words are unintelligible but whose crackling release of built-up tension you understand perfectly.

☞ Under the weight of a thunderstorm, with a headache threatening to drill into your head, Jongho provides you with a distraction from your work that leads the two of you to reminisce about the significant [ and not so significant ] memories you shared since the day you met — coincidently under a thunderstorm too.

Heartworm ——— Choi San

n. a relationship or friendship that you can’t get out of your head, which you thought had faded long ago but is still somehow alive and unfinished, like an abandoned campsite whose smouldering embers still have the power to start a forest fire.

☞ When you were younger, you knew you were one-hundred per cent in love with your best friend, Choi San. However, because he was also, in fact, your brother’s best friend, and you were a sixteen-year-old rebel adamant to never admit your feelings, you had to watch as he got his first girlfriend during a party Seonghwa had thrown for you. Now, years later and in the middle of college, you find yourself in a familiar setting: a party was thrown for you by your brother and Choi San looking as breathtaking as he always does.

600 special prompt for my lovely soul partner @san--shine

42: “Exactly how drunk was I?”

49: “Good morning, sunshine.”

Kenopsia ——— Jeong Yunho

n. the eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet —a school hallway in the evening, an unlit office on a weekend, vacant fairgrounds—an emotional afterimage that makes it seem not just empty but hyper-empty, with a total population in the negative, who are so conspicuously absent they glow like neon signs.

☞ Being ripped from your house, family and education because an evil bigot wanted a war was not something you had planned for. Being targeted by said evil blood purist because of your standing as a muggle-born was petrifying enough but when wizarding towns get attacked as well as muggle towns there's not much you can do to stop the terror growing in your heart. Visiting Yunho's family on a whim to find out there was nothing left is the last push for the two of you to finally express your feelings with one another.

Petrichor ——— Song Mingi

n. a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather.

☞ Before the rain started you and your mother had joked about not remembering what the rain smelt like anymore, since you were in the longest drought there had been for a couple of years. As the rain kept coming and electronics stopped working more and more it's become harder for a teenager to live her life [and considerably more boring too ] so you acted on the throwaway idea by your boyfriend to ditch study and run away for a date. Now that the rain doesn't stop you almost wonder if you were the one to jinx the world.

Ringlorn ——— Kim Hongjoong

adj. the wish that the modern world felt as epic as the one depicted in old stories and folktales—a place of tragedy and transcendence, of oaths and omens and fates, where everyday life felt like a quest for glory, a mythic bond with an ancient past, or a battle for survival against a clear enemy, rather than an open-ended parlor game where all the rules are made up and the points don’t matter.

☞︎ Sometimes when some people get bored they decided to change a conversation subject, try out a new hobby or simply switch song selections... Not you though. No, when you get bored you decide to raid your witch friend's hellish books and purposely summon the king of demons to satiate your curiosities. The kicker? You two actually get along a whole lot more than expected and soon random summons for stupid conversations become chaotic village pranks become a tangle of limbs and the possible restart of your undead heart.

Xeno ——— Jung Wooyoung

n. the smallest measurable unit of human connection, typically exchanged between passing strangers—a flirtatious glance, a sympathetic nod, a shared laugh about some odd coincidence—moments that are fleeting and random but still contain powerful emotional nutrients that can alleviate the symptoms of feeling alone.

☞ You had known him your entire life. You grew up together, sheltered from the world by palace walls. When Wooyoung was named a knight and left in charge of you, you couldn’t have been happier for you got to spend almost every day with your best friend. When you realised you loved him shortly after your eighteenth birthday - where you had done something so embarrassing as kissing him out of the blue - you decided you didn’t want to love another. And so, when the war declared upon your kingdom forces your father to utilise every last knight he has Wooyoung has to leave, and you figure he took your heart with him.

long overdue 300 special prompts for the lovely @acampos9

1. “When will I see you again?”

2. “You are the first thing on my mind, the last thought before sleep and, my truest love.”

[sian22redux]

Field of Dreams

Part 2 of 2.  Y/N has a surprise for Steve when he worries about the fallout from their spat.  Fury and the Avengers just might, might, also be involved. ^_^

A little baseball history, one huge surprise, and a spark that begins to flame.

Rating: G. Steve Rogers x Reader. 

@nomadicpixel‘s winning fic from my Cleveland’s loss to Boston.  As usual it isn’t short (what moi?) but was such fun to write.  I know waaaaay too much about the ‘Trolley Dodgers’ now.   Enjoy!

-------------------

“Still can’t talk to women.”

Bucky shakes his head, reaches across Natasha’s yogurt and Clint’s pancakes with his metal hand to snag the very last strawberry while Steve sits and glowers at the morning’s feed.

It’s humbling.  Frustrating and embarrassing all at once, but unfortunately the straight up truth.  He can’t talk to women and the evidence stares up from his Starkpad.  Y/N’s elegant brows crashed together, his own mouth set in a line below the blaring headline:  ‘Unfriendly Rivalry?’  

“Tell me something I don’t know,” he mumbles dejectedly, running a hand through his still-damp blond mop. The past three days of coverage have been appalling.  Blogs and pundits shredding Fleur and Y/N for speaking out.  Blaming her for the entire stupid mess.   Branding her as some sort of Feminazi for daring to argue with America’s Hero.

It’s so unfair.  Misogynistic and unbalanced and sticks in his craw because the truth is he is the one who is in the wrong.

He shifts awkwardly in his seat “How did we go south so fast? I apologized for the tweet. She was gracious and understanding and I just…”

“Couldn’t let go of something you see as wrong?”  

The whole table bursts out laughing. Sam’s throaty chuckle echoes.   Bucky’s head back guffaw trails up towards the ceiling.  Clint looks like he might pop the latest stitches in his gut while Bruce reaches for a napkin to wipe his streaming eyes.  

Thanks. Thanks guys.

Nat smothers her own knowing smirk in a dainty coffee cup while he groans and tries to hide his head in his hands.  Point to the assassin who always goes straight to the jugular.  He knows the whole thing is pointless but games at Ebbets Field with Bucky were some of his fondest memories from before the war.  It rubbed him wrong.  Got his back up and heck he should have known to back down from the edge but that doesn’t mean that he always can.

“I am an Idiot.”

”Confirm!!”  

“Tony!”  

“If the suit fits, Cap. Morning all.” Starks’s CEO saunters in and swipes a piece of toast from Bucky’s grip,  flips a chair back to front and casually sits astride.   Their chief needler is dressed for corporate battle in a Givenchy three piece suit.    He ignores the protest of ‘Hey!’ and wolfs his purloined breakfast down.

“Snooze you lose, Winter.  Head on a swivel.”  He grins in the face of Bucky’s glare as Bruce, ever the peace-maker, sets another piece on Bucky’s plate.  “Not that I think Miss Y/N will be too upset by the result.  There is no such thing as bad press in this biz.”  

“Not upset?!”  Steve’s jaw hits his knees.  “Even the Post and Times have carried it on page 3!”

“Exactly.”  Tony points with an absently filled coffee cup. “Headline coverage is headline coverage. The whole country is talking about it. The assholes who told her to get out of the boardroom will drive up her sales in sympathy.”    

Steve bites his lip.  “Really?”  

“Yup.  They’ll get a nice bounce out of this and probably a few million follows.  Wish I’d thought of it.”

From somewhere above Clint’s purple arrow mug there is a strangled snort. “You, publically picking an argument?  That’s not news, that’s an everyday occurrence.”

“Sure thing, Birdbrain. At least I….”  

“Guys.  Guys.” Steve puts up his hands.  The morning’s habitual serving of trash talk is giving him a headache.  He rubs his temple and tries to think this through.  Should he make some sort of statement?  Tweet out an apology? Would flowers and a note be more personal or should he assume she wants nothing to do with him in this universe or next?

That last thought makes the bright sunny day feel like a wall of cloud’s rolled in, but who is he kidding?  

Expressing himself had gotten him into this mess.  The last thing he wants is to make it even worse.  

“What should I do?”

The table falls uncharacteristically quiet.  Sam claps him on the shoulder as he rises and takes his dirty dishes to the sink. Bruce mumbles something about ‘relays’, following Clint’s retreating back.  Bucky, the traitor, puts his metal hand out as if to say, ‘don’t look at me. you’re on your own pal.’  

The only two left in support are pointedly ignoring him.  Tony and Natasha hover over their Starkphones, avoiding his pleading gaze until, suddenly, Natasha’s ‘pulls’ up a page to float, glowing blue, above the jam.      

“I think it’s been decided for you.”

Steve blinks, quickly scans the hologram of the New York Times fifth page while Tony whistles low. “Brilliant. They’re freaking brilliant. I’d like to poach their PR rep.”  

Natasha thumps him on the arm. “Tony. Focus.”

“Just kidding.  Ah, not actually.  But I will send a few tens of million their way.  Jarvis?”

<Sir, it is already done>

“Excellent.”

While Tony texts Pepper excitedly with this news, Steve, slack-jawed, reads the page size Invitation in detail.  

It is blue on white, stamped with the Dodgers official logo and signed with the sort of flourish gained only from practicing calligraphy.

Natasha’s smiling so wide he can see her pointy teeth.   Tony is grinning from ear to ear.  And Bucky, Bucky is trying to hide a tear.  

“Every boy’s goddam dream Stevie,” he says, “She’s got class.  Class and guts.”

That she does.  But holy hell.  Him play in a game? He’s so rusty a swimming pool of oil couldn’t help. Besides, when the Avengers have some downtime they more often kick a soccer ball around.  Sure he’s thrown out ceremonial first pitches since coming out of the ice, but the last time he’d hit he could barely connect the ball and bat.  Now?  Serum’d up?  Would he explode the ball like Randy Johnson did a bird?  Would it leave orbit and be a danger to traffic on Elysian Ave?  He’d have to dial it down.  Check his swing somehow.  It’s worrying, but the sweet reality of jogging freely around the bases without wheezing or coughing up a lung hits home.  

Wow.  It would be fun.  You never forget the smell of popcorn and hotdogs and chalk and…..

A little anxiety starts to set in. “I haven’t played in seventy-seven years.”  

“Seventy-nine,” quips Buck. “High school gym class.  You bunted and Mickey Ryan got to pinch run.” His best friend shakes his head and reaches for his phone, pulls up the Dodgers’ message app.   “You’re going man.  And we are going with you.”

Steve blushes.  Gives in to reality.  Yes he’s going.   And inside--in his heart of hearts--- he’s looking forward to seeing Y/N too.

----------------------

July 1st..

“Good morning Captain Rogers. Welcome to Dodger Stadium.”  

“Good morning Miss Archer,” Steve shakes hands with Fleur’s Press Secretary, stands uncertainly on the pavement outside the Player’s entrance.  It’s warm and not too windy, perfect playing weather, but already he has a little trickle of sweat down his back.  Astride the doors is the welcoming committee: the team’s Clubhouse manager, assorted assistants and one extremely starry-eyed ball boy.  He shakes hands and greets them all, tryies not to notice the crescendo of clicking automatic flash.  

The press hounds gathered in a less welcome contingent are making him nervous to say anything.

“Please call me Stephanie,” says the fresh-faced young woman in Dodger blue holding the days jam packed schedule. “I am helping LA today.  And don’t mind them Captain.  They aren’t allowed in the locker room.” She points a stylus toward to the blue tinted glass doors. “Come into the club house and we can get you suited up.”

Steve follows the ticking of her high heels into a hushed and new smelling corridor and then through one-way glass doors to arrive in a brightly lit but utterly unmodern room.

“What the?”

He stands speechless; stock still in the open central space, and his mouth is open and catching flies.

The LA locker room has been transformed.  Instead of high tech monitors and computer feeds and OLED TVs, the room is hung with old style Dodger pennants.  Pictures of 40’s Brooklyn.  Advertisements for the ‘Subway Series’; the  ’41 and ’47 World Series played by two New York teams: the Yankees and his ‘Dem Bums’. The lockers are mostly empty, a few hung with wooden hangers and old-style jerseys, baggy knickers and long blue socks.  Before each cubbie is a wooden stool.  And on the few laden shelves are blue caps and helmets with the familiar ‘B’.

Exactly as the Brooklyn clubhouse would have been almost 80 years ago.  

“We thought this might be your size,” says Stephanie, leading him by the elbow to a spot with pride of place beside the onfield door.  The white cotton of the home uniform is soft, stitched with exactly the swooping letters of yesteryear and about two size larger any other that he’s seen.  

“You did this…?”  

She nods and smiles as he gingerly takes the deep blue helmet down. “The whole team and management. I know Brooklyn didn’t used to wear helmets back in your day but the League insisted.  This is a regulation game and the bats are rather stronger now.”  

And so am I, Steve thinks, settling the heavy plastic down over his head.  It’s snug, fits so exactly he suspects Tony has been involved.  Only the cheek-guard feels odd.  He rolls his neck a little, trying to get a feel of the slightly lop-sided weight.

“Miss Y/N figured you are used to wearing helmets.”

“Yeah,“ he blushes, looking down and amazed to find a familiar pair of dark all leather cleats.  “Do you do this every year?”

Stephanie’s lips twitch as she barely conceals a grin. “No sir.  Just this one.”

All this for him?   Incredible.  Steve’s throat closes up.  “Uh.. uhm.  Thank you.”  

“Don’t thank me,” the blond ponytail gives a shake, “thank Miss Y/N. It was her idea.   I’ll leave you to dress and then you can exit through that door and meet her at the gate.”

Soon enough, Steve is left to dress all by himself.  He shrugs out of his shirt and chinos, pulls on the kit and fumbles with the knickers’ blue belt and loops.  What a time for butterflies.  He’s nervous, he really is, caught between wanting to help a team and just take in the wonder of it.  There’s a number 41 on the jersey’s back--Harry Taylor’s number musn’t be retired.   Will they play him in left field like the big Irish slugger?  If he was coach he would.  Steve doesn’t know the plays, the cutoff points, or the signs.  

He finishes tying the (perfectly fitting) cleats and stuffs white batting gloves into his back pocket feeling mostly set.  A quick few strides takes him through the home team tunnel.  It’s weird-there’s no one hanging round, no one snapping pics or asking for photographs.  He hustles a little more and then stops short just where the sunny square of outside light blinds him momentarily.

The clubhouse was a dream but this is something else.

Dodger stadium is dressed up like Ebbets Field.  Low swagged banners for advertisements on the bleachers.  Vendors in vintage dress.   Pennants for a World Series win in1955 and six for National League championships.  An organ’s live music is playing over the speakers and not a recording system.     

And on the first and third base lines the ‘home’ and ‘visiting’ teams are all lined up.  Twenty-five guys in Brooklyn white and blue, twenty-five in LA grey.  Some of the current team and veterans of many ages.

They stand at attention with caps over their hearts.

Wow.  

“Number 41, playing for Brooklyn, Steve Rogers!!”

The announcer’s words are drowned by the roar of the swelling crowd.   Steve starts forward, intending to take his place at the end of the home team line, but he makes it only to near home plate before his feet become glued again.  The audience is on its feet.  Stamping.  Shouting. Cheering on not Captain America but a man who’s had this dream.

Forever.  

It can’t be real.  It can’t, but he looks up to the owner’s box and there are the Avengers assembled in Brooklyn Blue.  Whistling and clapping.  Waving flags of oldtime Dodger blue just like the crowd.  As thrilled for him as he is.

He doffs his cap and turns around, slowly, carefully; waving it to acknowledge the entire park.      

“Captain? Steve?”

He shakes himself out of a daze and turns to look down at Miss Y/N who stands just at his elbow. She is smiling, pretty and perfect in a Brooklyn ball cap and summery light dress.  Her long dark hair is glossy and flowing down her back and incongruously he wants to tuck away a stray strand that floats in the wind.  

“Fine Miss.  Just shocked.  Amazed.”  His tongue can’t manage anymore.  His heart is pounding and his chest is tight and he know it isn’t asthma but isn’t sure quite what. A hearattack? Impossible?  Anxiety? No, he’s happy not upset.  Happiness?!  Most likely. It seems to be that her hand is warm on his. 

She’s moving to pull him over to the teams, set to introduce him but they stop a moment.   He’s having trouble not tearing up.  Her brow furrows worriedly.  “Are you ok?”

Not really but then none of this seems real.  “Fine, fine Miss Y/N.” 

“Call me Y/N, please.” 

“Thank you. Y/N.  Tell me..” he asks quietly.

Her cap tilts up and she has to shield her eyes from the sun. “What?”

“Why?  Why did you do all this?  You didn’t have to. You….”  could have hated my guts forever, he wants to say but manages to keep it in.    

Y/N gives a quiet sigh. “I thought about it. What I said and what you said and I realize that I was wrong.  Our situations are totally different.  When my team was traded I was furious for months.. years honestly, but I had that last game at Olympic Stadium.  I got Gary Carter’s autograph and Pedro Martinez’ too.  Said goodbye.  Kept a souvenir ball.   You didn’t have that time to grieve.  When you woke up they were gone and that was a cruel surprise.  I can’t turn back time, but I can take you a little of the way there.  Let America’s hero have the chance to play.  And give your Dodgers’ the proper send-off you deserve.”

Steve is gobsmacked. This incredible, amazing, baseball crazy woman has changed this game just for him.  He stands staring down at her, wondering how he got so lucky.  He ticked her off and she’s still coming back.

Like Peggy.  

He stands a moment, stunned by his own realization and watching her rummage in her purse.   She shoves a scoresheet and binoculars aside and pulls out something that looks suspiciously like a ball.  

“Steve I wanted to apologize.  And the game is that, but also I got you this.”  She puts the scuffed up, flaky old leather of a Brooklyn ball into his upturned palm.  

“It’s…”

The home run ball he caught on May 26, 1941.  

The game that Shield played on the oldtime radio as he was waking up in another world.

The blue ink of the date and name were faded but unmistakeable. The poor agent greeting him could have never known.  Of all the games to pick..one burned into his memory.  The Brooklyn Eagle had run a picture of him and Pete Reiser on the center of the sports page: the skinny ‘local kid’ giving back to the Rookie of the Year his very first home run ball.  That dinger had tied the game, launched Pistol Pete onto a year of league-leading runs.  

Of course Steve could never forget it.  It was, he’d once assumed, his fifteen minutes of fame.  

“How?”  Did you know?

Y’N laughs.  It wrinkles her freckled nose adorably. “If you thought baseball was good for stats, just see the MLB now! It wasn’t hard to find.  A Steve Rogers in the forties catching Pete Reiser’s first home run ball.”

He supposes not. But… he scans her face.  She can’t know that that was the game he woke up too?  Or can she?  Did Fury get involved?  Was this another way for him to apologize for his little trick?  

And does it really matter anymore. He scuffs a cleat against the astroturf.  “Look I’ve been an…”

“Ass?”  Y/N grins as she can’t help but tease.  “I am not the one known as ‘America’s Ass.’”

He laughs.  “Not in these baggy things.”

“I don’t know they aren’t so bad.”  

Are they flirting?!  Oh god they are and he hasn’t blundered yet.

He throws the ball nervously from hand to hand.  “It’s too much..it’s….”

“Just what you deserve.”

After that they go down the lines; shaking hands with every coach and player new and old.   The day is to honour old timers and Steve is delighted to find it includes six players still alive from before the team was moved: Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Cody Bellinger,  Branch Rickey who he remembers enlisted in the Army in ’42, and Tommy Lasorda, player and then winning coach.  They are wrinkled and grey-haired but still hold their gloves with ease, josh with him about being the perfect designated hitter for a team, cat call the ‘vistors’ who are mostly LA alumni.  

Soon it will be time to take the field.  One last handshake to go.  Y/N directs him along to the next in line and he looks over to find the young LA short stop who had been there is gone.  

Replaced by a white-haired, thin bearded man in uniform and wheelchair.  

“Would you like me to autograph that for you son?”

This time Steve’s jaw hits the floor.  “Pete…?”

“Reiser..yup.”  The old man taps his head.  “So lucky to be here.  96 years young. 1 year younger than you are.. though I’ll allow it you look a little better.”

Steve laughs and shakes his head. “I can’t believe it.”

“Yeah, well somedays neither can I,” Pete chuckles.  “Got all my faculties if not my legs. Dodgers in LA. Who would have credited it, but sometimes change is good.  These bums keep winning championships.” 

Steve smiles. Perhaps he’s right, but Pete was the guy that won them a pennant after twenty years of drought. “You almost turned them round, Sir.”

“Now quite how I remember it. But I do remember a scrawny kid who volunteered to give me my ball back.”

Of course he had.  It was what a good fan does.  Steve flushes.  “I am so honoured.”

“That makes two of us, son.”

Steve looks up to cheering friends and then back at Y/N.  She’s held her official boardroom style composure for an hour under the sun; introduced with pride every player new and old, but this time it’s she that can’t speak.  Wipes tears from off her cheeks; smiling freely and quite unconcerned that Fox Sports is televising this live.  

No way she doesn’t understand how important this moment is.  And Reiser. Who’s had to give up his ball.

Fury’s so going to hear from him.  Later.

There’s a faintly impatient ‘Cap’ and Steve turns quickly back.  Pete’s gesturing, beckoning him down and so he drops down on his haunches. The old Dodger leans forward and taps a gnarled finger on the ball.

“Super serum or whatever, lad let me give you some advice.  You see that one?”  He points over Steve’s shoulder to Y/N who is distracted, joking with A.J. Ellis who will the catch the game.  The sun is bringing out red highlights in her hair. 

 “Take it from me, I can tell.  She’s sweet on you.” A pair of watery blue eyes twinkle.  “And Lordy she’s a keeper.”

“Yes sir.”

Steve rises and on Tommy Lasorda’s signal jogs out into centre-field.  Once there he punches his hand in his glove, plays a few rounds of long toss, and stands, not quite able to take it in.

The noise.  The smell.  The sheer huge expanse of field.  

I am so lucky to be here.  So blessed.  So hoping I don’t drop the ball.  

He doesn’t realize he murmurs the last out loud until Bucky’s voice breaks into his earpiece.

It is the one concession to Stark’s vigilance.  “Of course you will.”  

“Punk.”

“Jerk.”  

Steve laughs.  His and Bucky’s friendship, unlike the Dodgers, will never change.  As he waits, nervous and excited, for Clayton Kershaw’s windup,  he looks up to the owner’s box and reflects that, after all, Pete Reiser may be right.  

Sometimes change is good.  

--------------------

@nomadicpixel; @theycallmebecca; @pegasusdragontiger; @mycapt-ohcapt; @patzammit; @neutralchaos1; @arizonapoppy; @weirdlet; 

[zippdementia]

Part 74 Alignment May Vary: The Big Secret

Welcome to our ongoing blog for our long long epic long adventure! The latest scenario is that the players just completed a huge air race on a planet inspired by the elemental plane of air. Now they need to collect their prize from the criminal organization, The Whispering Wind, whom they have asked to locate a crystal for them which can power their ship and bring them ever closer to home on Toril.

For the last several days, Carrick has been having a vision, a memory, of himself as a young child. It is a reoccuring nightmare: he is exploring the woods outside his home when he falls into a cave and breaks his leg. Stuck down there he... but no, he cannot remember...

The aftermath of the race is a rush of audience adulation and a proclamation from the Genie that the races are going to be shut down and reopened as arena battles (inspired by the bloodbath in the Tornado). Knick Knack also approaches the players and raises his hands to the sky as shackles suddenly appear there and are shattered, the result of them beating him fairly (or mostly fairly) in the race.

The players are also given gold, lots of it, something like 60,000 gold pieces in total, for winning both first and third place. There is a lot of hugging from Star, who jubilantly embraces all the party members (Carrick seems awkward, Aldric likes it, Imoaza despises it).

Aldric also shares a sad moment with the elementals, whom he asks to join his crew. They tell him that when he defeated their summoner, he cut their time short. Now they must return to the air, but they thank him for allowing them to ride with him and, for a brief moment, to be the wind. As a tribute to them, he empties some of his winnings out into the open sky, watching the coins fall and turn and glitter as they catch the sunlight.

And speaking of sunlight, as he does this, sun returns to the grey skies and a bright day breaks as far as the eye can see. Carrick thinks it is because of his gesture to the air elementals, and tells him so, but Aldric suspects otherwise and, watching him closely from the crowd, Imoaza does as well.

Aldric finds Immerstal from within the crowd and shares his idea: that the rod of storms has changed in his hands, no longer forcing dark clouds upon him but now directly reflecting his mood. Immerstal invites the group back to his brothel to celebrate their win and there examines the artifact. He tells Aldric that the rod has definitely bonded to him and has changed. It has taken a piece of this planet, an elder tempest, and is carrying its power within it. It has reached its true potential and could be devastating in the wrong hands.

“You are now its guardian,” Immerstal tells him. “You may never let it fall into the hands of those who would seek to gain power or authority with this.”

It is a solemn moment, broken when Immerstal curses and starts waving his hands in the air. Magic springs from them and he holds out a pocket of his robe, where pieces of furniture go flying into it from the brothel. The place empties out before the eyes of the companions, girls being pulled away from customers (and some of the customers being pulled with them), beer being yanked out of hands and people being shoved out of the door magically until the place is empty except for Star, Immerstal, Aldric, Carrick, Alyss, Jacobs, and Imoaza.

“I’m coming with you,” Immerstal announces. “The rod is too important to let just one pair of eyes watch it. I am officially requesting to join the Green Company.”

Aldric is overjoyed to bring his friend, and a powerful wizard to boot, into the company. Alyss says she and Jacobs will return to the ship and prepare it for departure and says the rest of them should go gather their prize from the Whispering Wind.

Indeed, as they leave the now defunct brothel (”best days of my life, running that place!” Immerstal says, wiping away a tear) they are approached by a silent genasi who alerts Imoaza to her presence by blowing softly on the Yuan Ti’s ear. Imoaza’s reaction is immediate, drawing Drosselgreymer and spinning to get ready for an attack. Star intervenes and explains the use of any breath by an initiate (who is sworn to silence for a period of time) is considered a great honor and an invitation to the Whispering Wind’s palace. “We’ll be there,” she tells the Genasi, who nods and leaves.

The Prize

It’s back to the palace of The Whispering Wind to meet with Lakosa, the leader of the Whispering Wind. Here, all of the players receive a prize that befits their story--in addition to the information that the crystal is being kept by a strange old man who lives alone on an island out in the sky, running a farm of Chi Chus (we’ll explain that in a moment). Perhaps biggest of all, Lakosa pardons Star and tells her she is welcome to call this planet her home again.

Aldric and Lakosa have taken a liking to each other and the sexually charged mercenary finally meets his match in her, the two pleasuring each other for a few hours while the Rod of Storms responds to their lovemaking by creating a sky full of sunshine, light rain, and eventually beautiful rainbows.

While all this is going on, Immerstal takes Imoaza and Carrick on a tour of the city’s finest bakeries, having learned of Imoaza’s recent discovery of sugar and total lack of knowledge of baked goods. Carrick satisfies himself with a single macaroon and tags along as Immerstal and Imoaza engage on a decadent and semi-crazed sugar fueled romp through the city, becoming food-drunk on such delicacies as only magical beings can make. The journey leaves Imoaza almost literally out of her mind as she has a transcendental experience due to the sheer amount of magic infused sugar she ingests. She amazingly manages not to throw up, though! Also, they spend 13,000 gold pieces on the trip, which makes Carrick throw up. There are some special items purchased as well, most notably Ink that can convince anyone that anything written in it is real, for a short time, and with a failed save.

As they travel, Carrick finds himself preoccupied with another thought. He is thinking on Star and the Aether Craw, Cookie, which used to belong to her lover, Fesserania. Both he and Imoaza bonded with the bird during the race, but now he feels that it is only right that Star be given a chance to claim the bird.

Still, it is Aldric who ends up talking to Star first. When the group comes back together, they all listen to Carrick’s stories about Imoaza’s and Immerstal’s sugar binge...

"It was horrible,” Carrick said. “There was this one place we went, where these little pastries had sugar spun legs and they walked around, all over Immerstal’s, uh, body, while Imoaza ate them off of him. Then they started using whipped cream... I don’t... I can’t... unsee it...”

While the group keeps listening to this, Aldric realizes Star is not with them. He walks away from the group, through a beautiful garden, and out to a ledge that stretches over the sky abyss. Here Star sits, swinging her legs over the edge, her tail wrapped up next to her. Beyond her the horizon is beautiful, filled with the light of two suns and over a dozen rainbows.

Aldric takes a seat next to her and she greets him with a sad smile.

“I wonder if Fesserenia ever got a chance to just sit and look out at a beautiful day and just appreciate it. I hope when I died, I didn’t take that from her.”

“I spent my life, my whole life,” she continues, “trying to get away from this place. I thought I had to escape to be happy. And then I spent the next century trying to come back. I realized too late it wasn’t where I was that would make me happy, but rather who I was spending my life with. Wherever she was, I could have been happy there. By the time I realized it, life was over.”

“You’re staying,” Aldric says. It isn’t quite a question, but Star nods.

“I’ve been thinking about it all day. Everyone on the ship, they are trying to go home. For me, this is home. It won’t be the same without Fesserania, but I feel like being here at least keeps me close to her memory. I’d like to work with the Aether Craw more. Not for racing this time, but just to care for them. Bond with them, not to use them, but just to have that connection.”

Star looks at Aldric. “You could stay too, you know. Lakosa would let you. You could make each other happy, for a time. You could help me with the birds, or do whatever you like.”

Aldric paused, trying not to let her see how stunned and moved he was by the offer. “I can’t,” he says at last. “I have things I still have to do. I have a task that was set on me.”

“The Green Company? Someone else could build it in your stead. Captain Krisp would take it on, and he’d probably do a good job of it.”

“No. It wouldn’t feel right to give it to someone else. My journey isn’t done yet. Maybe someday it will be, maybe someday I could be happy here, but not now.”

“You sound like I did. Just be careful that someday doesn’t come too late. Don’t make the mistake I did. Don’t spend your life thinking that happiness is just around the corner and miss it standing right in front of you.”

She smiles at him again, less sad this time. “Goodbye Aldric. For what it’s worth, I would have been happy to join the Green Company.”

The Old Man and the Sky

Presently the companions gather themselves and head off into the sky onboard Percy (they leave Cookie with Star, as a going away/homecoming present). They find the island that Lakosa told them about and land on it. It is an idyllic farm, though its main inhabitants, floating yellow puff balls with legs and beaks called “Chi Chus” are utterly foreign to them.

They come to an old, well kept farm house and knock on the door. An old man answers and, after they tell him that they are looking for a crystal, he invites them in. He strikes Aldric as seeming very familiar, but he can’t place a finger on it, not until they are all sitting at a table, the old man sipping at tea, Aldric drinking a glass of delicious Chi Chu milk, and Imoaza munching on a fresh cookie. Then it strikes him.

This man looks exactly like an aged Carrick.

“You’re him,” Aldric says. “You’re the surveyor.”

It turns out it is a little more complicated than that...

Long ago, before time began, there were two forces fighting over the fabric of reality like a wife and husband over bed sheets on a wintry night. Primus, being of pure order and balance, and the Abyss, the embodiment of everything that was disorder and chaos.

The two fought endlessly. Primus created the universe so that there would be order out of the endless chaos. The Abyss breathed life into the Universe, an immeasurable ever changing mess. Primus created time and death so that life had restraints. The Abyss split the timelines and created multiple planes and universes. Primus created Devils to walk all of the universes and gather lost souls. The Abyss created desire and many Devils came to embrace the Abyss fully and became Demons, so Primus directed the remaining Devils to fight them in an endless Blood War. Even then, Chaos was always one step ahead: it spawned the drive for power. Seeking power, some of the oldest beings became gods and soon Primus was forgotten, though his creations still wandered the planes, among them the Inevitables (like the Inevitable of Justice that eventually Abenthy finds and usurps).

But he did not stop fighting Chaos. He retreated for a time, and for a time the world was thrown into chaos, with many races and planets coming into existence and many others, now forgotten, ending forever. It was during this time that the Elemental Princes of Evil emerged, and the Mindflayers, and on Faerun, the Yuan Ti ruled as the supreme beings. But Primus was not idle. He was contemplating, meditating on the nature of the universe, and in his meditations he came to realize that hidden deep within even Chaos itself was a pattern, an order. Primus then saw that the way to defeat Chaos was not from without, but from within. So he built a new being, a being who would be called the Iskth’cya (Iskaya) but who would eventually become known to other races as the Surveyor.

The Surveyor had a singular purpose. His role (though it looked roughly manlike, it was in fact genderless) was to shape the being that would eventually contain Chaos. To do this, they had the help of a powerful energy device, filled directly with a piece of Primus’  own essence in the shape of a crystal. This crystal would be the Surveyor’s tool to shape reality, but also their own lifeline. Inevitably, the Surveyor’s timeline would run out, the crystal’s power nearly spent, and then it would be up to them to build the next Surveyor, transfer all of their knowledge and discoverings into that new shell, and then expire. In death, their essence would repower the crystal, fill it again with Primus’ directive and energy, and continue the journey of discovery.

Many centuries of experimentation would pass before the Surveyors would eventually create humans. And is that so surprising? Humans are a mess of chaos: individuals pursuing their own desires and whims, and yet always on whatever planet they appear on, humans also create society, laws, and on the largest scale, move as one being towards order. Thus did Primus envision order out of Chaos.

But even here, Chaos had some reign. For the Surveyors themselves were not perfect. Nearing completion of the task, one Surveyor determined that he should be allowed to see the end result of his work. So he cheated his mission and decided not to die, keeping the primary crystal for himself and breaking off only a piece of it, pouring some of his lifeforce into it and leaving the next surveyor with an incomplete power source. The process took its toll: the cheater aged significantly, but he stayed alive, leaving his spaceship to the next Surveyor and dropping himself off on the planet of air, where he remains today with the original crystal.

The next surveyor was not privy to the full glory of Primus’ plan, denied had he been of this connection by his proginator. He came out... strange. His pursuit of the final goal was erratic, plagued with visions and prophecies and filled with a quest not for discovery but for recognition. He found a way to mimic the energy of his own shard of crystal and put this energy into other vessels. These he placed around various planets, mostly to force life to spark into existence. But some of them had other purposes. He was constantly trying to “have children” and spawn more of himself, but the experiment never worked.

In his efforts, he captured a dark spawn of Cthulu in a Jade crystal, a crystal that would end up becoming split into many pieces over the course of history, one of them being made into a Jade Statue which would cause no end of trouble for a group of adventurers. In the course of his work he did manage to create humanity, but when he brought them them to life on Toril, he angered the Yuan Ti, who had come to revere him as a god. Now, believing he meant to supplant them as rulers of the planet, they turned on him and when he fled Toril, they used their magic to release the Dark Spawn of Cthulu, who crashed his ship back down to Toril and killed him before sinking back into hibernation to heal the damage done in the fight. The Yuan Ti fled their broken empire and the age of humans truly began. But the Surveyor was dead, the vision could not be completed, and all that remained to tell of its final form was a prophecy left behind by the Surveyor: a triad of creatures, an Angel, a Devil, and a Dragonborn, connected somehow.

So how did Carrick get wrapped up in all this? Close proximity to the first crystal has been awakening his memories and the dreams he has been having of the cave tell the true story: as a child, he fell into a cave and broke his leg. Trying to get out, he crawled through the cave and came across one of the Surveyor’s crystals, specifically one of the ones he had used to try and clone himself and had discarded when it didn’t work. For whatever reason, it works now, imprinting the Surveyor’s identity and soul on top of Carrick’s, forever changing him. 

The immediate effects are to heal his broken leg and wipe his memory of what happened. But soon he begins to physically change, his body reshaping itself to look like Primus’ vision for the Surveyor. He is young enough that his parents write off the changes as due to him growing into himself. And he is a half elf: sometimes they take on the appearances of the elvish soul within him. His mother even takes to calling him an old soul, thinking these changes represent the old elvish soul inhabiting his body. She’s almost right.

But the combination of two souls has other effects on Carrick’s life. Chances are, it led to his dark past as he sought power and killed in the name of a pure kind of justice. Psychologically, Carrick must now question everything he has felt and believed in his life. Which pieces of this were his true nature and which parts were due to the Surveyor inside of him? Now, as he becomes more aware of the truth, he can even begin to hear a second voice inside his head, urging him towards tendencies he has long thought were his own inclination.

Carrick tells the old man he will try to fulfill his purpose, he will try to finish Primus’ vision, but the old man tells him it is impossible. Carrick may hold onto a piece of the Surveyor’s soul and memory, but his body is not of Primus’ creation. His body is still half elven, half human. It is not designed to channel the energy necessary to create life. He cannot finish the vision.

At this, the companions grow angry. They now see this sad old man as not a victim, but as an instigator of horrors: a selfish being whose acts not only hurt Carrick directly, but also the death of empires and possibly the ending of all things in a victory for the forces of Chaos. Carrick feels his own pain most directly, of course, accusing the man of stealing both his future and his past. Without even a hope of fulfilling the Surveyor’s mission, what else does Carrick have?

The old man gives them the crystal and tells them that this means his time will soon come to a close. He also tries to give Carrick some kind words, though he is not a being who was made to feel empathy or sympathy.

“You must choose what to do with whatever time you have left,” the old man tells him, but it is of little consolation. “I am sorry, for what it’s worth. I wanted to see the end of Primus’ vision. It did not seem fair that I should work so hard towards it and have nothing to show for it, not even be able to see the work for myself.”

“You do have something to show for it,” Carrick answers. “You have me.”

But the words are not meant to be gracious or consoling. Carrick is angry, and in anger, the companions leave the farm. All except Imoaza, who decides to revenge Carrick, whom she is coming to think of as an actual friend. She summons Drosselgreymer and cuts the old man down, who dies with a smile on his lips...

... until Carrick brings him back with a spell.

“Why?” the old man begs. “Why did you not let me die?”

Imoaza is also confused and upset. “Do you wish me to kill him again? Make him suffer a dozen times? I can do that.”

“No. He doesn’t get to leave that easily. He needs to live. He wanted to see the end result of the work, now he has to. You hear me? Don’t you dare die until this is all over. You need to live and know what you have done. You don’t get to hide from it anymore.”

For the first time, the old man shows emotion, his face filling with despair as he sobs uncontrollably and is left behind by the companions. Imoaza isn’t very happy about it, this doesn’t fit her definition of revenge. So she takes a Chi Chu from his farm as a final payment for their troubles.

Meanwhile, through Carrick’s anger, he is able to realize that Imoaza cut down an unarmed man, however deserving, and the thought makes him wary and anxious, afraid that this is a hint of darker things to come.

The Rod of Storms amplifies the group’s dark mood, and they take off into a sky filling with heavy clouds and hard rain.

[sinnhelmingrmoved]

@destinysthralls said: 📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜📜 ravioli ravioli give me the formuoli

:)))

Hel and Fang are both polearm fighters. Why not have some sparring with a bet riding on it? A lil fun a lil flirty mostly getting a good sweat going. Get up close and personal trying to take your opponent down and get your way.

One more day until Vanille has to go out and find her new purpose. Time to spend it doing everything they can together until she has to go. Hel not wanting tears, but a happy memory to bookend Vanille’s time with her.

Hel doesn’t know shit about men and here comes Snow crashing in on the squad and giving her a crash course on the human male. Odd friendship ensues once they learn to get along with each other.

The chocobros gain something of a guardian angel, a false friend and ally who merely ensures parts are played and that Noctis is poised to do what her lover requires of him. During all of the subterfuge, two devoted servants to a royal start to bond.

‘I’m being held hostage by this small child and I don’t even mind please introduce me to Chocolina because I hear she is the best thing in the world next to you’ ; or, how Dajh is really good at this friend making thing.

Gladio got his ass beat by the divine once and is not over it, why won’t you face me in battle again you coward? And quoth the Messenger, boy, you would literally die if I came at you again.

Hel has been a part of Aerith’s life, never constant but coming and going as she can. She knew a daughter imprisoned, a girl in a church, and only at the end does Aerith come to realize what was truly hanging over her head -- and how it pains higher powers.

Everyone is on high alert that someone broke into a base and stole Ardyn’s car because it cannot be located. Hel rolls up two hours later in custody with smoothies and a lot of explaining to do because she just wanted to drive the car you monsters.

Cloud and Hel are both traveling worlds looking for people who are important to them in some ways. Hel could use his strength if he could use her connections as they move between KH worlds seeking the lost.

Axel and Saix are itching for a throne to throw as Hel struggles to run her own games behind the scenes. They soon become players in a cat and mouse scenario to obscure their exact motivations while forced to play along with Xehanort’s own ideas.

Hel becomes very intrigued by Barrett’s goals and ultimate success. What do you even do with weird goth chicks that know too much and are a little too happy to see you? What does she mean by she has a message from a friend?

She promises Zack will live on, but he’s not too pleased with the reality of that statement back on Earth. If Aerith is bad about bartering to go back I just imagine Zack is that but on crack. And now Hel is Suffering.

Hel becomes a north star to Xemnas across whatever time he finds himself in, always ready to welcome him back, always ready to listen. So what happens in a time when she cannot be found?

Even gets ‘adopted’ because Hel is just in love with him and his brain. Featuring Even actually having to answer to someone older than him and them talking lore and science for hours as their schedules allow.

Get your contract buddy ATW doesn’t deserve you and I’m taking all of you back to my realm where y’all will get some RESPECT. Yes, Aeleus, you are included in this staff breakout. No she won’t explain herself.

What better way to protect the future than gaining some divine backup? Hel would be happy to help Hope with his goals if she can stop asking who let a child run an organization on his own. No ma’am he is in fact an adult--

‘I don’t know if I kidnapped your moogle or if your moogle kidnapped me but apparently you needed something and I’m sorry for distracting the creature, how can I possibly make it up to you Serah?’

Rude is supposed to be keeping tabs on some kind of creature sighted in certain regions. Hel is less than thrilled with the surveillance, and starts playing games with Rude that leave him questioning if he has been compromised or not.

A Queen of Darkness and a Princess of Light come together in a sort of mentor-student arrangement where Hel can help Kairi grow stronger if Kairi will help get her up to speed on what the fuck the plot outside of the Organization even is to her.

Two immortals spot each other from across the castle despite the bodies they wear, recognize each other’s hearts, and start to roast the shit out of each other: A Hel and Xigbar story.

Local Guado Wants To Crack The Code Of How Lulu ‘Does That’ With Her Puppets, Starts Staying Almost Up Her Ass, Romance Ensues as They Discuss The Journey, Craft, and General Gayness.

A young Guado smells something Hinky on a not so local Guardian. No, Jecht, she will not be so easily put aside. She has the good booze and she will get answers, even if they are all fake.

Hel reunites with a Guardian she met in passing some years ago, and He Reeks of the Farplane. Not that it’s her place to judge. She’s just as curious as ever and willing to listen if he ever wants to talk about what he is.

Two outsiders to the Human majority of Spira band together and will not be separated. Hel is willing to share her spiritualism with Rikku if she will repay in kind with talk of Machina and her native tongue.

Hel actually hearing Dona out and seeing past her antagonism to the fact she’s still willing to undertake a Pilgrimage to try and save the world. Someone actually treats Dona politely. That means the world to me.

SHIPPING! (not necessarily our muses shipping together just shipping as a component of our muses interacting)

Hel discovers that Fang’s breaking point is softness and non-sexual PDA in public. So she continues to press this killswitch for her own amusement on a date night, letting Fang be both loved and mortified the entire evening.

Hel and Vanille get a pet, and then run through conversations they can have to convince Fang this is clearly the best idea ever and not trouble waiting to happen. Just a small domestic fluff about adding to their little family.

When your wives are very important and busy so you get to stay in all night and brag about how much you love them to another work widow(er), or how Snow and Hel don’t worry and just accept they are bonded to actual goddesses.

Hel tries to discern the exact relationship dynamics of the Chocobros and is chided for having ‘shipping goggles’ on. So she goes to Ignis to clear up any confusion. Shenanigans ensue as she either holds the crew dead to rights or is hilariously off the mark.

‘What does ‘If I Had To Pick a Dude’ even mean?’ ‘That you are overthinking a party game and making it weirder than it has to be.’ Or, did she actually mean anything by that or was Sazh just the most tolerable man present?

‘STOP LOOKING AT MY BONER WHEN WE FIGHT’ Or, does Gladio actually mean anything by that or is getting the blood pumping simply messing with his body in ways he cannot control?

Hel calls it Aerith’s Girlhood, a place set aside, a bed in a field of flowers, a sky sheltering and painted with false stars. She makes it soft for her. This is the way of courtship, isn’t it? I read a lot of Gluck and I need a ‘Myth of Devotion’ plot for them.

For ten years, she is the Night’s Queen, though he will not call her that. She is a consort, wearing the crown of an ancient queen, wandering broken hallways, watching him slowly come undone. And she loves him still. Ten years is nothing next to two thousand.

‘So what does Aerith mean to you?’ ‘A lot.’ ‘Oh. What does Zack mean to you?’ And she understands perfectly what his exhaustion with questions means. Road trips and the inevitable embarrassing romantic questions.

Axel and Hel both understanding what it is to watch the one you love battle with themselves, to become a stranger at their cruelest. Share a smoke. Waste the night playing ‘Yes, But’ with someone that understands.

Barrett’s very handsome, and she is very lonely, and she thinks he is a wonderful person. Does he have any plans, now that the Apocalypse is over? Or, she keeps getting weirder and keeps haunting his door.

‘So, you and Aerith, is that going to make things awkward?’ Hel thought she was tired before she started a relationship with both her Persephone and her Knight. Hel is, of course, entitled to be wrong. And exhausted. So very exhausted.

Hel presents Xemnas with an offering that must mean something to him, in what he knows of the old man’s life. She will have him always, if permitted. The question is, will he agree to sharing the Paopu to seal the deal?

‘Isn’t it slightly unethical to date your boss?’ Even is a grown man but Hel cannot help but tease his long term ‘thing’ with aforementioned Boss. But it’s also nice to hear of another side of the Sage King.

‘I will give you many munnies if you will escort me to this fancy dinner because your partner in crime is already spoken for. No, Aeleus, I did not say as my body guard. I said as my escort.’

‘You know, people really like that vulnerable, sensitive thing you have going on.’ ‘This is the last conversation I ever want to be having.’ Or words to that effect. Hel ribs The Baby for being a bit of A Babe when grown.

Please explain to Hel how your relationship works because she is fascinated by the fact someone looks at Snow and said yes, this is where I have chosen to lay my affections for life.

Surveillance Creeper happens to crash an anniversary dinner Rude arranged by sitting a few tables away, observing but never interfering, apparently minding her own business but she’s just THERE SHE’S RIGHT THERE.

Mombie talks to baby about relationships and girls and boys and just has a nice heart to heart about it all. Based on that one Kairi-As-Ansem’s-Daughter idea that I’m still so pumped about.

.Hel and Xigbar make a bet about the relationship status of two of the Foretellers. Both try to doctor the narrative to suit their own take on the pair, obscuring fact, fiction, history, and near fanfiction.

The morning after a ‘There Is Only One Bed’ trope, and how both actually feel comfortable and at ease after so long alone. Can be before relationship or their first night alone together in the same bed, but consider it, won’t you?

Hel has a discussion with someone that Summoners getting involved with their Guardians is completely natural. She talks like she has experience. Well, yeah, not personal experience but -- and someone’s brain breaks at what she is implying.

Hel feels sad about Auron being the only one left, having lost two people he loved. Two people who have lost a lot in different contexts just have a comforting moment together to not be alone. Not romo but more based on lost romo.

‘So tell me about this Paine I’ve heard so much about :))))’ or, Rikku comes to realize she has been adopted and her Guado Mom wants to meet the GF. Chaos can completely ensue coming off of this.

Dona’s pretty and Hel is gay, that’s all I got. Literally anything could happen up to and including Hel making a complete ass of herself trying to either avoid Dona or interact with her without throwing off pheromones.

AUS!

Hel is some kind of figure in the spotlight -- a socialite, a performer, someone of note. Fang is her bodyguard here to keep her safe. No one would ever guess at what happens behind closed doors, the tension that runs between the two of them in spite of contracts and official relationships.

Breakfast club college AU. Just a couple of girls trying to get their shit together and honest to God looking like a modern take on the eponymous movie. They love each other and are here to do kegstands.

Hel is snow’s weirdo neighbor in their apartment complex but damn if he doesn’t know ho to bring the community together. Sometimes in the worst ways, but hey, anything to kick goth chick out of her shell.

Ignis and Hel are rival spies. They play long games and pursue the same leads, each trying to end the stalemate between their respective countries. Both are also far closer to the ruling class than they allow the other to believe.

Hel is just a simple pediatrician. Dajh is a very adventurous boy with a very invested father. At this point Sazh is on her Yule card list, and the two strike up a sort of friendship after hours.

Gym bro/personal trainer Gladio gets a knew client that is too tiny too delicate for this world. That is exactly what she is here to work on. Time to get swole little chronically ill stick woman.

Local witch swears that Aerith’s is the best place to get ritual plants and flowers despite ribbing claiming that she has a crush on the owner, but that crush theory really starts to hold water when the plant Hel really really really needs once is a... succulent.

Ardyn’s the beautiful but chronically ill next best thing in art, fashion, or film. Hel is his nurse and constant companion, the only one that gets to see the man behind the glamour when he is at his worst. Romance ensues.

There’s only one thing above an Angel, and she has come to offer herself to Cloud in his world-saving pursuits. If a covenant can be forged, then who knows what he will become, but at least this ghost will be real.

Yeah it’s awkward for our partners that we moved in next door to each other, but that’s really Isa and Xemnas’ baggage. I, on the other hand, like you and want to be friends. Or, Lea and Hel are goblins.

Hel as the relative to one of ShinRa’s high rollers, selling out her uncle’s secrets and business dealings to AVALANCHE without a second’s hesitation. She’s the inside woman, and one of Barrett’s biggest supporters, even if only in silence.

The feather that fell on the Colosseum did not belong to a certain Angel. What happens when Hel interferes in the life of one mortal who wants only to be a hero, one willing to work hard to get there?

Xemnas is the new literary hotness trying his hand at a play. Hel is the actress that fought tooth and nail for the lead roll. Problem: She has more chemistry with the creator than her fellow lead.

Hel is what was dragged into the lab twelve years ago. For freedom from this castle, she can whisper eldritch knowledge in Even’s ear, slippery as poison. What, precisely, have they pulled from the Darkness, and what threat does she present?

Similar to the above, but Hel knows not how to reason with this guard. He is meant to protect, to defend. All she can do is study him with those cold, sad eyes, try to stir his heart while he still has it.

We Are All Just God’s Abandoned Children. That’s one way to welcome a young foster kid to the house, but Hel is going to look out for this younger kid Hope anyway. Found family ensues.

Mog the Dog is in love with Garmr the Dog. We have to stop meeting like this. People will talk. They’re on texting terms just to say ‘Your dog’s here, he’s fine. Either he’ll find his way home or you can come get him whenever.’

Why would ShinRa have her trailed by the TURKS if they didn’t suspect her of her involvement with AVALANCHE? Tiem for Hel to pull out all the stops to try and throw Rude off her scent.

Reuniting with your family is hard. Harder when you have no memory of said family and Dad has a new love interest. Despite all of that, Hel comes to dote on Kairi, giving them a chance to bond and Kairi get a mom.

A Hel and Xigbar idea: Politician’s daughter and Assassin. MB he’s assigned to keep an eye on her when shit gets real in some of her father’s business dealings. Whether he’s for or against her family would be fun to plot.

Local Goth Summons The Goddess of the Dead, Intentionally or Otherwise ; Death Thinks She’s Kind of Cute. Lulu gains a patron and Hel gains a crush.  Everyone goes home happy.

Hel’s the nerdy shy kid in gym class and Jecht is the zealous coach that she despises. Except then she needs an athletic extracurricular to round out her college application. Teeth clenched teamwork for personal and team success.

High fantasy AU where Auron is the black knight who presses on, with a rider all in black hounding his every step. She appears every night to share his company, a little wine, and remind him of their bargain. She’s not reaped him yet, but once his business on earth is settled... He will return to her embrace.

Hel finds a new community once kicked out of Guado society. Or, in which Hel follows after the Al-Bhed and becomes a part of Rikku’s life from a young age, thus securing Momability.

Hel becomes one of Dona’s guardians along the way, and the two fight viciously over who gets to use the brain cell while being harmonious in most other aspects of traveling together. Romance may or may not ensue.

Other muses!

Eraqus: Please stop wrecking shit this is getting out of hand-- Fang: FcuK YUO-- And then they gotta fight and cause further property damage.

I don’t know whose verse we base it in but I need Vanille and Gwynevere to team up, maximize slay, and generally be absolute icons with soft spots for their legendary badass partners.

Kokoro and Snow interacting would be amazing and you know it. I don’t know who would crack first. Kokoro’s realism or Snow’s optimism.

Aqua, Ignis, and discussing how you have to be the strong one holding up the ones you love, no matter the cost. I feel like we could really break our hearts with this one.

Eraqus and Sazh could get frustrated at the kids for having gone a little nuts while they were out on a date, but y’know what? They’re in a good mood. Just cuddle and let the kids sleep and deal with it in the morning.

Eraqus, formerly of the Kingsguard before he got too old to serve, and the esteem of one young Amacitia mb. That or Gladio befriends Eraqus just to piss Kokoro off if we wanna play it that way.

Kokoro being uselessly gay for Aerith FOR TEN YEARS in Traverse Town and having no brain cells to actually convey that to her, then they meet again in Radiant Garden and well fuck she’s still crushing hard.

Every night, the Kingsguard’s daughter storms the city, makes her way towards the Citadel, and means to slay the Dragon. He has not killed her yet. Ardyn and Kokoro have a particular dance, and they cannot say why.

Aerith and Cloud getting soft comrade moments because they have both been through so much please. Please let them catch one break and get to act their actual ages and have a moment for life before it’s all gone for one of them.

Aria and Axel would be fantastic because they’re both a very controlled flame, they both just sort of are casually dangerous. I just want to play them off of each other and see if they end up allies or rivals.

Eraqus and Barrett working together in the field in our FF7 AU. Looking out for each other. Timing their attacks perfectly for the opportunity to fuck ShinRa up as much as possible.

Eraqus has to deal with this kid that is infatuated with his student. Does that kid have a boombox. What the fuck. This shit keeps happening.

Roleswap Xemkoro. Eraqus having become too zealous and thrown off the balance of light and darkness, seeking Kingdom Hearts to wash the world in light and begin again. Xemnas as the echo of an old friend who will see this ended before it goes that far. Kokoro the dutiful daughter who runs things in her father’s absence, who is drawn to this familiar stranger even as they oppose one another at every turn.

Even’s adopting Kokoro. Your father forbid you from pursuing certain knowledge? Terrible, he doesn’t deserve to be a father. I am your father now. We’re going to the opera. You have so much to learn. Meet your brother Ienzo.

We don’t know why Mads has imprinted on this guard in particular, she just has and she will not leave him alone.

I just want Aerith and hope to interact and her to try and cheer him up please. please.

Just throw Serah at anyone via time travel and all of that I can just imagine her falling into anyone’s life tbh. Try and dance around who you are and where in the hell you came from.

Aria is a TURK in training and guess who she gets to shadow for a day? Teach Her Rude!

Aqua and Kairi need to bond! Aqua and Kairi need to have a mentor-student dynamic! They need to catch up! They need to be friends! I will not be silenced!

Eraqus as a descendant of Brain, who fought to oppose MoM and Luxu, meeting with Luxu in some body before Braig. Can you even imagine the tension and sins of the father in that room? Sweet Jesus.

Braska mb interacting with Lulu once or twice because he wants to know about the other children his daughter is so fond of, the ones who... will be there for her, when he is not. Let’s all have a cry about it.

Long Dad Talk ‘Come To Yevon’ meetings between Braska and Jecht where Braska offers no judgment, only support for Jecht to get better. BC growth is important. And so is being a good dad, Braska knows.

Auron’s Bi Awakening for this church pretty boy.

Flower girl meets machine girl. IDK how. Aerith and Rikku rights.

Kokoro and Dona are implicitly to the public confirmed behind closed doors sapphic summoners. cuteness ensues.

Other Muse AUs!

I still want the Xemkoro Penny Dreadful AU. Our haunted and hell-touched protagonist with the werefox lady lead far from home. With Kokoro still trying to figure out how the hell Satan thought appearing as ATW was going to make Xem drop his pants. And then gets baffled that it worked.

Younger Eraqus ends up in Radiant Gardens and runs into Even. Has to play it cool about not being from this world. This world he knows nothing about. Even smells a rat.

Ok hear me out AU where ATW cannot and does not return. Mads goes from heiress apparent to a girl-queen to a world she cannot remember. Kokoro stays on as her regent, arguing that though she is an outsider, she is a blue blood, a noble, the descendant of royalty in her own homeland. But both she and the young queen will need a defender. And for that, she turns to a certain guard...

The Xemrith Hades and Persephone AU. Let’s do it. Let’s go all out. I wanna see it come to fruition.

Also, Xemqua Deathless AU. A deathless king spirits away a clever young fairytale maiden, and all the tears and horror that comes with such a story.

Braska is not the one to defeat Sin. He and his party have to go home and face themselves and figure out ‘What Now?’ as we go fully AU.

Single Dad muses in a modern AU forming a friend group. They all hang out once or twice a month and do fun things together. It’s great. It’s soothing. Nobody goes it alone.

Aerith and Zack getting a happily ever after??? In an AU???

Modern AU Braska, Jecht, and Auron navigating a relationship like the Fooles they are. Braska’s a simple youth pastor with a lot of love to give and incalculable migraines from his babes.

Mads and Rikku as friends burning the whole ass world to the ground. Because come on. Come on.

Anything with my Eraqus and your Aqua please I am dying here. I need some good family interactions.

Kokoro and Fang as sparring partners in some form or fashion. I need to see my queens just battle for dominance. I am very gay please have mercy.

KH AU Gwynevere as a pinnacle of a land of light having to come face to face with Xemnas and all the darkness that follows him.

Kokoro continues to bully Gladio no matter the verse. Because we know she does. Gladio has no rights.

AU where Kairi and Mads are like roommates or neighbors or online pals and get to be sunshine girls and nobody is hurt and no one has any loss of worlds to forget.

Aria as an AVALANCHE agent who infiltrated the TURKs and all that implies for your muses. Good for any of the rebels or even for Rude as far as plotting goes.

A whole ass pantheon AU. Get all our muses in it. Go absolutely balls to the wall nuts.

Mads playing matchmaker to Kokoro and Xemnas in some modern verse. Maybe playing Cyrano and leaving them little clues and letters allegedly from each other.

Sami we are simple gays. And we need DnD AUs. And we can divide our muses into parties and just have at it in some setting. Pwease.

Braska being a supportive dad to pop star Yuna and Rikku is along for the ride and so now he has a whole other kid to be taking care of.

AUs where ships were just a moment off of canon. Where someone walked away, where they just missed each other, where love did not conquer, where love did not last, where someone died, where someone lived, just. The what if of a life without each other.

Fuck me sideways can you imagine Braska Auron and Jecht in a college AU because I don’t think Jecht’s liver will survive.

Kokoro actually embraces her adolescent feelings for a childhood friend and pursues Aqua, only for RP canon to still happen as outlined.

Kokoro mainverse where she is a high born lady of Scala and Aqua arrives to explain what has been going down in the last twelve years and ‘oh no I’m gay.’

And, of course, that one Xemkoro idea we have involving the story never truly ending ;)

And because I still owe you two, here are two generals:

A time traveler’s wife au, any ship u want bb.

Family stuff. Found families, adoption, siblings, parent and child, ship babies, the pet is basically our kid, we have each other and that makes our family, anything I just need some familial relationships to water my crops.

[invokingbees]

Demon’s Souls: A Personal Retrospective

Well shit, they actually killed it. A very small part of me believed that the uptick in activity last night might make the parties involved ‘forget’ to shut down to online for a day or two. Maybe that activity had a positive effect somewhere. Ireland’s falling to shit with all this snow, so I’m gonna sit here and wax lyrical about one of my favourite games, in honour of the online passing.

Beware of spoilers and also a really really fucking long post.

The world presented to us in Demon’s Souls is one where a primal being, the Old One, has awoken due to the re-discovery of the magical and powerful Soul Arts. The northern land of Boletaria is covered by a Deep Fog which brings soul-devouring demons with it. It is dominated by the Boletarian Palace, wherein dwells Old King Allant, with additional regions spread out from it, such as the Stonefang mines where workers uncovered something ancient in the deep tunnels. There’s the Tower of Latria, whose ruler returned from a journey with a strange yellow robe and turned Latria into a nightmarish prison where he made his own demons. The 4th (or 6th, as fans call it) land is the Northern Limit, shut off to halt the spreading scourge of demons. The Shrine of Storms is a remote island inhabited by barbarians who worship the wind and storms and death. Lastly, there is the Valley of Defilement, a place where all that is unclean is cast, and festers.

The lands are divided into Archstones, for as the fog spreads, reality becomes more and more unstable. The Nexus is a temple built and maintained by the Monumentals, who keep everything running as smoothly as possible. The Archstones connect the different lands together through the Nexus. It is tended to by mysterious but kindly Maiden in Black, a woman wrapped in black, her eyes covered in wax. She is the first, and possibly best, Patented FromSoftware Level Up Waifu™, she provides the ability to level your stats and not much else but look adorable kicking her heels on the stairs. She’s a good kid. Maybe.

The story of Demon’s Souls concerns you, the player, the Slayer of Demons, your soul trapped by the Nexus. It is your quest to slay the powerful demons roaming the land to be called upon by the Old One. What happens next is up to you. Do you lull it to slumber, or take the power of Demon souls for yourself? The central themes to DeS are the loss of human identity, hubris and forbidden power. There is much talk of becoming a demon yourself, succumbing to the power. Characters reference it, such as the Crestfallen Warrior, who tells you after you’ve killed your first demon, that you’ve ‘fallen for their trap’. Stockpile Thomas reminds you almost constantly that ‘You’ve got a heart of gold, don’t let them take it from you’. The risk of becoming a demon is always there, if you’re not careful. He who fights monsters kind of deal. Sage Freke talks of the power of demon souls being able to ascend humanity to a higher plane. If all this sounds at all familiar, then you’ve played Bloodborne, arguably a spiritual successor to Demon’s Souls, which contains many of the same themes, albeit in a more overtly Lovecraftian sense.

Demon’s Souls true strength, to me, lies not just in its seamless multiplayer, strategic and tense combat or ingenious level design, but in its atmosphere. DeS draws you into its world flawlessly. The colour, the sound, the sheer emptiness of it. Some areas are stronger than others, and those stronger areas are, to this day, I believe unmatched.

Boletarian Palace resembles most its successor games, and has the atmosphere of decaying age like so much of Dark Souls. It’s a vast, mighty palace below a mountainous arch of stone. It would seem that at one time Boletaria was prosperous and powerful, but since the advent of the fog, it is abandoned all but for the soul-starved slave soldiers and mad warriors prowling the halls and ramparts. Two massive dragons, the king’s pets, circle the skies burning down anything at all. It is inhabited by four powerful Demons: the Phalanx, a mass of dark slime covered in shields and protruding spears, the Tower Knight, a colossal armoured behemoth armed with a magic lance and vast slab of steel that gives it its name, the Penetrator, an agile and powerful, looming warrior covered head to toe in armour, armed with a devastating longsword. Lastly, there is King Allant himself, or more correctly, his demon. Boletaria is a wonderful place to explore, with all sorts of secondary paths, hidden areas and ledges to get to. Its shortcuts feel great to unlock, too, the level design here is fantastic.

Stonefang, I have to be honest, I’m not terribly fond of. I would rank it lowest in a tier list of lands. While the first section is mostly fine, it’s really in its second area that loses much of its fun. It’s a maze of tunnels I’ve found myself lost in more than once for a while. But luckily, if you know what you’re doing, you straight up just skip the entire level! Stonefang is inhabited by the mindless remnants of its mining population, shortish, what would almost be Dwarf-like people were they not covered in reptilian scales. It would seem that close proximity to the thing found buried within the deep dragon graveyard has caused this metamorphosis. Large, explosive ‘bearbugs’ and rock worms can be found here. Three demons take residence in Stonefang: the Armor Spider, a massive metallic arachnid, the Flamelurker, a fiery humanoid demon and lastly, the titanic Dragon God. Stonefang is also home to the advanced blacksmith who can upgrade weapons in a bunch of ways, as well as use boss souls to create unique weapons.

The Tower of Latria is the game’s crowning achievement in atmosphere, and is not only oppressive, but genuinely unsettling. From the get go you are greeted by an eerie stillness broken only by the moans of suffering issuing from somewhere far off and the sinister chime of bells. The bulk of the prison complex is inhabited by mindless dreglings imprisoned in the cells, left to some unspeakable fate. Patrolling the halls are monstrous guards resembling, slightly, Mind Flayers from D&D (indeed, the fanbase refers to them as such), but they also resemble not just in aspect but action, the Brainsuckers from Bloodborne, one of many callbacks BB makes to its great grandaddy. There are, too, gangly gargoyles crouching atop pillars, waiting to strike. After the first boss, you enter the perilous heights of Latria - thin walkways looking out over drops into pitch darkness, roaring winds, broken arches and vast towers. The area is dominated by a central pinnacle, in which hangs suspended by mindless worshipers, a huge beating heart, which drones and pulses. You descend to the depths of the towers, too, to the blood swamp beneath, where strange red tentacles lazily waver and hideous human-faced insects skitter about. Latria has three demons, first the Fool’s Idol, a fake god made in the image of Latria’s imprisoned queen, used to subdue to inhabitants. There are the two Maneaters, chimerical gargoyles utilizing strong tackles, pummels and sonic blasts to kill. Lastly, atop the dizzying zenith of Latria, is the Old Monk, a withered corpse barely alive, the body of Latria’s former ruler used as a medium by golden yellow robe, now seeking a new vessel. The Old Monk battle is unique in that it is an online experience (sadly now unattainable) where the robe summons an invader to fight you, or a nondescript NPC if offline. Unfortunately, the unique head gear, Old Monk Head Wraps, was only available if you were summoned as the Old Monk and defeated the host. The head piece provided additional magic damage at the cost of lowered magic defense.

Next, there is the Shrine of Storms. A bleak, weathered land of ruined fortifications, inhabited by undead skeleton warriors (gnarly skeletons, too, bones wearing bone armours!), a wandering Vanguard demon and the iconic Storm Beasts. Further within you encouter powerful Grim Reapers who summon strange, shadow creatures, slow but powerful. Even stronger versions with powerful lasers exist further into the tomb-riddled island. Invisible, stalking, giggling shadow creatures deliver fatal blows from behind of you take their bait. Explosive spirits and iridescent slugs also dwell within the Shrine of Storms. The Shrine’s three demons are the Adjudicator, a mythical figure brought to life by the deep fog, the Old Hero, a towering, agile, but blind humanoid demon and lastly, the epic Storm King, a vast version of the Storm Beasts which flies in the thick clouds around the stark monolith forest. One can fight the Storm King normally, with bows or spells, or you can venture into the monolith forest, dodging the Storm Beast spikes, and take the Storm Ruler ruler, and conquer the maelstrom... Shrine of Storms is probably my favourite area for its general aesthetic. It and Latria represent just how immersive Demon’s could get. Every area in the game has a cohesive, consistent theme and feel, but Shrine and Latria totally dominate the rest.

Lastly, there is the Valley of Defilement, a deep, dark crack in the earth where all the filth of the world ends up. You first traverse the shanty town of rotting wooden planks, built into the sides of valley, which eventually widens and descends into a gaping mire of poisonous swamp. The level of toxicity grows the deeper you get, and ends in a cave where the worst corruption lies. The valley is inhabited almost exclusively by its goblinoid residents, outcasts and exiles, who grow to great sizes and strength, surprising the unwary. There are also, to be found, some blood-swollen tics and flies as well as a mass of giant slugs latched onto the FromSoft mascot weapon, the Moonlight Sword. The valley’s three demons are the Leechmonger, a monstrous mass of swamp leeches brought into cohesive existence. There is the Dirty Colossus, a shambling form full of bloated flies. And there is the Maiden Astraea, guarded by her loyal knight, Garl Vinland. If I’m to be honest, I kind of hate the Valley of Defilement. For me, it’s the least fun to play in, Stonefang may be boring, but the Valley is frustrating. Then why do I rank Stonefang lower? Because valley has Maiden Astraea.

Astraea is the point in the game where the player is really confronted with the reality of what they’re doing. It asks them do they really know what they’re doing? Astraea implores you to leave, that there’s nothing here for you to pillage or plunder. Her guardian, Garl Vinland, stands firm between you and her. You are greeted not by towering demons or creeping monsters, you’re met with people. Garl Vinland, giant mace aside, is a man in armour. Astraea is a woman in robes. Nothing more. She came here to ease the suffering of the residents and Garl came with her, to protect her from the likes of you. But you need that demon soul, to save the world...or claim the power for yourself. Regardless, Garl and Astraea do not make it, and you’re left with a particularly sour taste in your mouth after she says ‘Take your precious demon soul’ and dies right before you. All the whole, the best theme in the game plays.

Demon’s Souls is somewhat famous for its gimmick boss fights, something that occurred less and less in Dark Souls games, although DaS3 had a few more unique battles than ‘large creature’ and ‘armoured humanoid’ or ‘Artorias clone #15′. Bloodborne matched DeS in this regard with bosses like Micolash, One Reborne (a straight Tower Knight callback) and Witch of Hemwick. I personally like the boss fights over later Souls games because each one is unique and brings a lot of flavour to the proceedings. The levels are the real challenge, the strange bosses simply top of the experience with something memorable. But a lot of people don’t seem to like the gimmick bosses, which is a shame, because From has made a good few memorable ones. There’s nothing like Demon’s bosses: the fierceness of Flamelurker, the cinematic marvel of Storm King, the heart-wrenching dialogue from Maiden Astraea, the sheer mortal terror of Allant’s level drain attack, the level of dread seeing a second Maneater health bar pop up or the excellent HA HA-HA HA HAA theme of Tower Knight and Penetrator.

I don’t know what else to say about Demon’s Souls, I’ve said way too much already. In the short time I’ve known it (I only bought this game sometime last October I think), it’ quickly become one of my favourite games. It’s a raw game, that’s for sure, experimental and this is why it’s so good. Dark Souls may have been more fleshed out in some areas, but Demon’s Souls captured an idea unrefined and it’s interesting to experience that vision. It has unparalleled immersion and atmosphere and a uniquely horror-tinged fantasy world. It’s also a great game! Honestly, genuinely it still holds up. If you’ve played Dark Souls or Bloodborne, you’re right at home and I earnestly believe it deserves to be played. The online may be dead, sadly and the custard tornado forever out of reach, but it’s still perfectly playable and needs to be played.

I hope this awful, awful torrent of words spurred you into digging out your PS3, or maybe even buying a cheap one, and giving the grandaddy of Souls a shot.

Until the Old One awakens from its slumber once again.

Umbasa.

[tiw-rpg]

Basics

↳ Age: 142 27 ↳ Species: Vampire (Bloodline up to player) ↳ Face Claim: Michael Malarchy ↳ Currently U N A V A I L A B L E

Description

Sometimes Enzo questions why he even stuck around the French Quarter once things started to go downhill. He had never been one for all the politics to begin with and now he finds himself increasingly tired of the ongoing conflict that holds them all hostage in this city. Alliance this and loyalty that. Even without Klaus, the city still remains divided. What’s worse is now even the humans want to get involved and have a say in the supernatural events plaguing their city. Enzo has no investment in one side or the other, remaining neutral in almost every conflict that comes along in New Orleans. It hasn’t changed in the past four years but his own personal investments are starting to pull him into the middle of a new brewing war. He has to ask himself now if the people he cares about are worth the trouble and danger he’d be putting on himself if he were to get involved. 

Biography

Enzo didn’t remember coming from a loving family. His father died at an early age and his mother followed only a few years later, leaving Enzo to the mercy of a work house. He survived, managed to keep his head down and not stand out, until he was convinced he could get by alone and ran away. He did indeed manage to survive for a few years on small jobs here and there, until he got sick of consumption. His last hope was a doctor on a ship, but he got thrown off because he was a risk to the rest of the passengers. Someone who seemed like an angels got pity on him and got him on board, only to find out the doctor was a fake. The angel fed him her blood, just before he died, and when he woke up, he woke up in a nightmare of blood and death. He was left all alone and had to learn what it meant to be a vampire all by himself.

A soldier and a fighter through and through, Enzo managed to conquer his bloodlust. He found his true calling to be fighting for his country in the second World War, much like many other young men at the time. He fought hard, and he fought well, until he came across the wrong fellow soldier on the battlefield, Dr. Whitmore. This doctor found out Enzo was a vampire, , lured him to Whitmore just after the war and imprisoned him there for research.

Despite being based on a university campus, the Augustine Society were highly secretive and were only known by the members within it. They collected vampires to experiment upon, to one day hopefully use their blood for humanity to cure fatal illnesses. Enzo spent seventy years as an Augustine vampire, spending his days either in his cell or on the operation table being experimented upon for hours. But every cloud has a silver lining, and with his imprisonment, he found love. The young vampire and the nurse responsible for the study of his behaviour soon found themselves falling in love with each other, and Maggie even asked Enzo to turn her so they could spend eternity together. But he was far too motivated by his need to protect her, and compelled her to leave and forget about him because the idea of her being found and experiencing the same fate as he had was too much of a risk.

With the loss of love, he also found friendship in Damon Salvatore. Being the only two vampires imprisoned, they found company in each other and bonded on what they would do upon escaping. They only had each other to talk to and became incredibly close over the time spent together in the cells, and Enzo rationed his blood to Damon as an escape plan to the two concocted. Damon seized his opportunity and broke free of his chains and in the process caused a fire to spread. But Enzo was still locked in his cage covered in vervain, and after several attempts, Damon realised he couldn’t free his friend and so he turned off his humanity, abandoning Enzo in his cage to burn in the fire. It was believed that Enzo died in that fire, but he was continuously tormented for years afterwards.

After seventy years of capture, Enzo managed to get free of his torturers and went looking for the only friend he had had in those long years, not sure if he wanted to rekindle the friendship or kill the one person he had put his trust in and who had betrayed him in return. He eventually chose for rekindling the friendship because he had been alone for long enough. He would try to build up his life again, maybe even find love. Which he did, in the young wolf Gabriel.

Building up a new life wasn’t as easy as it sounded after being in captivity for seventy years, so Enzo did let go of his caution, killing humans and feeding off them as he wanted to. This did get him in trouble more than once, because it was against the rules of the Quarter, it even brought him to the brink of death when a werewolf decided to take his revenge on the vampire for using a friend of that wolf as a human blood bag. Slowly, Enzo found his peace and settled down for an easier life, trying to keep himself out of trouble, not involving himself in any battles between the different factions. He wondered why he hadn’t left the Quarter yet, but he constantly realized that it was the only place he could call home.

Connections

Damon Salvatore - These two have been friends since before Enzo emergence in the French Quarter, having both been stuck and experimented on by the Augustines in Mystic Falls. Rekindling their friendship was a rocky road due to personal vendettas, but their bond has since been mended. Enzo knows that Damon needs a friend now more than ever after a tragic loss. But as truths are revealed, Damon might need not just as a friend but on his side as he takes on a newfound enemy.

Gabriel Labonair - Their rocky on again and off again relationship has always caused some drama in Enzo’s life, but none more so than now. When Klaus took over, a very defined line was drawn and while the vampire stood on that line, the werewolf had clearly chosen his own side. And it’s that side, that loyalty that had yet to falter, that’s put Gabriel in danger and might pull Enzo into the war against Marcel.

Bonnie Bennett - Due to his friendship with the elder Salvatore brother, Enzo constantly finds himself around those who migrated from Mystic Falls and this witch draws his attention more than most of the others. She’s feisty, beautiful, talented and he can’t help but be drawn to her. 

Marcel Gerard - Enzo was never a huge fan of Klaus and bears no vendetta against Marcel for his actions against the hybrid. However, his other personal connections cause him to worry he may become a target of the vampire.

Alexander Xu - Neutrality in it’s truest form, Alexander reflects Enzo’s lack of care in the supernatural hierarchy. It’s in the other vampire’s company that Enzo isn’t constantly reminded of all the overly dramatic problems in the Quarter.

[withabackpackandcamera]

March 27th, 2017

Day 8: The Staircase To Hell… On Dead Legs

Day 3 of 4 on the Inca Trail. And today was supposed to be the day of downhills. We woke up with the usual wake-up (just a little later in the afternoon due to the relatively short day we had scheduled) by the porters with coca tea and were out to breakfast after actually waking up. Breakfast today was omelettes, cooked banana and yams with bread. A luxury to start the morning like this in the middle of the mountains on the Inca Trail.

The weather this morning was just spectacular! After our first clear night yesterday, we woke up to a sunny sky with few clouds in the sky. It was nice and warm and something we definitely appreciated seeing how we hadn’t had sun or dryness for a couple of days. With the sunny skies, we started our hike from base camp. The first part wasn’t as flat and downhill as I was told it would be. There was a slight incline but nothing compared to what we had endured yesterday. But still, it was slightly tiring with the sun beating on us and with sore legs underneath our bodies. Very sore calves (at least for me).

With the pleasant weather, people had their cameras and GoPros out, and that definitely included me. I went snapping here and snapping there to make up for all of the photos I missed yesterday due to the rainy weather. So I tailed behind the group for most the morning, just taking my time shooting photos knowing that I wouldn’t be too far behind every time I stopped. And there were definitely photos to shoot this beautiful morning. With gorgeous views of the mountains and valleys all around, I just kept clicking and it was great! To be able to take photos and not get wet or worry about too much...

The group and I hiked slightly uphill and on flat rock paths all the way to a cool viewpoint where we stopped to take a group photo with the porters. We spent a good chunk of time here just going around, taking fun photos and seeing the views before taking the group photo and continuing our journey.

As we continued, the weather kept switching between light drizzle and cloudy non-rainy skies. Nothing nearly as bad as what we’d been experiencing. A little after taking our group photo, we stopped at the Incan ruins Phuyupatamarca. It was at this sight that we took a break to go through a detailed walkthrough of the ruins, of Machu Picchu, and of Incan history. After about 30 minutes or more of explanations by our guide Marco, we finally warmed up our muscles again in preparation for the huge descent awaiting us: a 1km descent down 3000+ wet, slick stone steps on pained and tired legs.

The descent took about 3 hours to do and was pretty hard, seeing how nonideal the conditions were. With my pride on the line, I kept my walking stick in my bag and kept my bag on my shoulders and just grinded through it, making sure that I didn’t fall or slip… And man, did I come close to doing that a handful of times. After a while of hiking down, we finally reached Intipata, a terraced Incan ruin built on the side of a mountain. Crazy! And it was pretty big too! At Intipata, we just chilled and enjoyed the view of the river winding through the valley below. It was nice to just sit and enjoy that scene… that is, until the mosquitoes started to swarm in the moist air and hunt my legs. Ugh.

At this point, the drizzle also started to come down again and we took this opportunity to continue our journey down. The guides had originally told us to go down first and that they’d be right behind us… but we soon found out later that they took a nice little shortcut and made us go the long way. What horrible guides! Cheating us out of all the energy-saving tips they had accumulated over the years. After we reunited with the guides, we walked just a bit further and finally reached camp for the evening, even though it was still pretty early in the afternoon.

With all this time still left, we had a lunch of tuna with veggies and egg, rice, veggies and chicken, lomo saltado, and dishes with decorated animals from veggies. What a treat! And so beautifully arranged! After our last lunch of the trip, we had a lot of extra time so we were given about 1.5 hours to take a break before visiting the Inca ruins Winay Wayna. So we all took that to mean nap time since it was raining outside. And nap we did.

After what felt like just 20 minutes but was really 90 minutes, we were up again to go see Winay Wayna. The nap was relaxing but I woke up with extremely bad calf pain in both calves. And just really sore legs in general. Stretching after the nap helped just a tad but the thing that helped most was being able to hike to Winay Wayna without my bag and only for 5 minutes, as the ruins were just a little further down the path.

The hike to Winay Wayna was muddy and wet from the rain earlier but luckily for us, the rain calmed down just slightly enough that we all decided to go see the ruins. And the ruins were pretty cool. A gigantic one built on the side of a cliff! After a brief explanation in the rain by Michael Kenedy, our tour guide, we all hiked around to see the ruins. As I walked around, I noticed through one of the windows that part of Winay Wayna was destroyed by landslides, probably from all the rain that Peru has been receiving this rainy season. And it was a shame that that had happened to such a beautiful structure. Imagine what those conditions could do to other the other ruins we had seen or what would happen to Machu Picchu. While walking around Winay Wayna, the rain continued to come down and after a while, we all decided that the rain was enough and that we were soaked enough and that we would head back to camp for the evening.

So that we did. We got back, had a quick happy hour before having our epic last supper on the trail. And the chef did not disappoint! Chicken kebabs, sweet pasta, pizza, and roast beef. Yum! And the chef even surprised us with a beautiful chocolate cake with some jello or gelatin in it! Delicious! We ate whatever we could but before long, everyone was filled and ready for the last sleep of the trip.

We ended the evening by, first, voting on the plans for the last morning on the trek. We had the option of getting to the Sun Gate early and being the first ones there or waking up a little later and getting more rest. Of course, with how far we’d come, we all decided on getting up at 2:50am and trying to be the first ones to the Sun Gate. With that decision made, we then took time to thank and tip the porters who had worked so hard to make our trip unforgettable. So thankful for them and for the great work they did. It’s just amazing what they do and how often they do it. It’s crazy that they make those tasks humanly possible because when you see it in real life, you actually wonder if it is?

With all of that done, we were finally free for the evening and ready for our short nighttime nap before starting the epic last day of the Inca Trail. Machu Picchu, here we come!  

5 Things I Learned Today:

1. According to history, about 165 Spaniards came to Inca country and recruited others to help fight the Incas. But it wasn’t just those 165 Spaniards that destroyed the Incan civilization.

2. Many of the Inca people died from diseases brought over by the Spaniards, like smallpox. It wasn’t actually from battle-related wounds or anything.

3. Ayahuasca is an plant mixture that allowed people to hallucinate and talk to spirits of all sorts. It allowed spiritual leaders to connect with the spirits. It was also mixed with coca leaves and other ingredients to make an anesthetic for skull trepidation and other surgeries.

4. The most important food in the Incan culture was the coca leaf. Supposedly this leaf was a big factor in keeping cultures together during those times and was a major player in trades walks between other civilizations..

5. Winay Wayna means “forever young.” And it was a place where terraces served as a place for agriculture to occur.

[sydneyinwonderland-blog1]

Basketball is the one the Touchdowns, Right?

Well my basketball team lost miserably tonight so I thought something good should come out of it. 

Show: Supergirl

Couple: Sanvers, of course!

Alex doesn’t know anything about sports.

She had always been more interested in books and science. And Kara wasn’t allowed to play because Eliza was scared Kara would accidentally hulk out on the other kids.

But Alex loved Maggie and Maggie loved basketball.

So when their two month anniversary came around, Alex decided to get Maggie tickets for the National City Lions game. Well, actually Winn got them for her because Alex didn’t even know what a good seat would be.

“I was able to get two rows back from the sideline,” Winn said as he handed them to Alex at work one day. He had a huge, accomplished smile on his face so Alex guessed that was good.

That night, Alex let herself into Maggie’s apartment and began cooking dinner before Maggie got home from work. She was making steak and potatoes, Maggie’s favorite.

When Maggie walked in, the first thing she noticed was her sexy girlfriend (of course), turned around at the stove, a giant, goofy smile on her face. Then she noticed the giant bouquet of flowers placed neatly into a glass vase in the middle of her island counter.

“What’s this?” Maggie asked, filled with so much happiness, she thought her heart might explode. She could get used to walking in on this.

Maggie walked over to Alex and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend’s neck, a wide, dimpled smile on her face.

Alex loved the way that Maggie showed all her emotion through her eyes. They were like reading deep into Maggie’s soul and Alex could get lost in the pages forever.

“Happy two month anniversary!” Alex said, waving her arms up in the air in excitement.

“Oh, Danvers, you never cease to amaze me,” Maggie said, giving her girlfriend a gentle kiss.

“You should read the card on the flowers,” Alex hinted.

One eyebrow raised in curiosity, Maggie walked over to the flowers and plucked the little envelope off the stand in the middle of the bouquet. She opened the envelope, but instead of a card, two folded pieces of paper came out and landed on the table. Maggie picked them up and opened them and when she saw what they said, her eyes opened wide in excitement.

“Are you serious?!” Maggie was elated. She had never gotten such a thoughtful and incredible present. “Do you know how good these seats are? Alex, please tell me you didn’t spend a fortune on these!”

It filled Alex to know she could make Maggie that happy. She would pay anything to see her girlfriend this excited. “Winn knows computer things and got them discounted. I don’t really know how,” she chuckled.

Maggie ran to her girlfriend and jumped into her arms, wrapping her legs around Alex. Alex caught her girlfriend and they immediately connected lips, tongues dueling in a fervent battle as Alex stumbled backward until she was against the kitchen table. She reached backward and knocked off the table places she had set. She let Maggie fall down against her until they were both lying on the table. And needless to say, the steak was very well done that night.

Alex thought about lying to Maggie, and telling her she had been to plenty of basketball games before and that she knew what she was talking about. And even though Alex was an excellent liar, she just didn’t think she could pull it off.

So as Alex and Maggie walked into the game together, the two decked out in their new Lions shirts and Maggie was wearing an adorable beanie that looked like a lion, Alex confessed that she knew nothing about basketball. “But I’m a quick learner!” Alex said.

“Now that I know,” Maggie said, smirking. Alex’s cheeks turned a soft shade of pink.

Maggie was bursting with enthusiasm when they got to their seats. She wouldn’t even sit down for ten minutes, she just bounced around and pointed out to Alex how close everything was. “The closest I’ve sat in one of these games is up there,” Maggie said, pointing to the nosebleed section, practically up in the clouds.

Alex made a mental note that she owed Winn big time. Like really big time.

“Before the game starts we have to get nachos,” Maggie said, “My treat!” She pulled Alex out into the isle and they walked to one of the overpriced vendors.

“Nachos with jalapenos and a medium Coke, please,” Maggie said. She paid for the food and grabbed it from the vending lady.

Alex made a face at Maggie. “Those aren’t nachos. That’s just tortilla chips on one side and melted, sketchy looking cheese on the other.”

“They’re stadium nachos, Alex. A tradition!”

Alex wasn’t sure about that processed cheese but she was sure she loved how happy it made Maggie so when they sat and watched the players warm, Alex tried some of Maggie’s “nachos” and had to admit they were surprisingly good.

Maggie tried to explain some of the rules to Alex as the players were warming up. She told her about different shots and how they were worth different amounts of points. And there was something called a “free throw”; except it wasn’t really free at all because you still had to make it to get the point. Alex’s head was spinning.

The game started and man was it fast. How did anyone keep track of where the ball was? Running back and forth from one side of the court to the other and the players were constantly passing the ball back and forth.

Maggie spent the majority of the first half explaining to Alex what was going on. “So that’s a foul?” Alex had asked when someone had stepped without dribbling.

“No babe, it’s a walk,” Maggie said, shaking her head at Alex with an amused grin. Alex huffed. Why were there so many rules?

Alex’s favorite part was when there were breaks. Because they played music and Maggie would stand up and pull Alex up beside her and dance. Not sexy dancing, like when they went to the club, but just goofy, fun moves that made Alex picture the dance floor on their wedding night. Maggie just getting down, so happy that she didn’t even care what she looked like.

Alex’s stomach tingled at the thought.

At halftime the dance team performed and Alex had to admit that they were hot and fit and could move like no one’s business, but she also knew she would rather watch Maggie dance like a dork any day.

After halftime Alex stopped asking questions because she wanted Maggie to enjoy focusing on the game. While Alex focused on Maggie. She watched the way Maggie’s brow furrowed when the other team shot the ball and the way Maggie held her breath when someone was shooting a free throw. She watched Maggie’s eyes light up when the Lions scored and the way she always clapped for them, even when they did something wrong.

And every once in a while Maggie would turn to Alex and say things like “Did you see that play babe?” or “Threeee!” and Alex would nod like she did, even though the game was just background to her.

The end of the game was close and Maggie was covering her eyes, saying she couldn’t watch. But then she would open her fingers and sneak a peek through. And when, in the last ten seconds, the Lions made two baskets to win the game, Maggie jumped in the air so high she almost seemed like a cat. She clapped and cheered and screamed and hugged Alex so tight, Alex felt like her whole life was meant for moments like this. Moments of pure joy and bliss with the most wonderful woman in the world.

And that night, as Maggie made love to Alex with every bit of enthusiasm and fervor as she had at the game, Alex couldn’t help but think her mind had changed. She officially loved sports.

[kadobeclothing]

15 Ads That Prove Nostalgia Is a Powerful Marketing Tactic

Nostalgia marketing is the advertising equivalent of comfort food. In a time when most marketing focuses heavily on the future, it transports us back to a simpler place where our current problems don’t matter and the hustle and bustle of modernity just melts away. Instead of anticipating the next great thing, nostalgia marketing urges us to focus on the things we already know are great. We know at a gut level that nostalgia gives our lives a feeling of meaning and continuity, but you may be surprised to learn it can also make us looser with our wallets. A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that nostalgic feelings made participants more willing to spend money on consumer goods and services. It would appear that advertisers have caught on. Over the past five years, nostalgic ads have been popping up left and right — with millennials as their main target.

Although these ads are getting more common, marketers have known that millennials would be a nostalgia-fueled generation for some time now. Even in 2015, when many millennials were still young adults, nostalgia was a hot topic in publications like Digiday. “Millennials are coming of age in an age of economic turmoil — a difficult job market,” Cassandra McIntosh, a senior insights analyst at Exponential, told Digiday. “Therefore, they end up romanticizing simpler times much more — even those times they weren’t around for.” To give you inspiration for your own nostalgic campaigns, we selected 15 examples of advertisements that use nostalgia marketing. Watch them and see if you get the telltale bittersweet pangs associated with nostalgic feelings. Examples of Nostalgic Ads 1. Motorola Razr In the early 2000s, prior to smartphones, one of Motorola’s most popular cellphones was a tiny, flat flip phone called the Razr. Despite its number-based keyboard and a small screen, people loved it for it’s design and simplicity. In 2019, Motorola gained buzz when it re-introduced a new and improved Razr which featured a folding touchscreen when opened.  In the commercial announcement, you see an old-school Razr lifting off of a table and flying through the air as its old layers peel off to reveal a new design. The phone then opens to reveal the Android-like touch screen. 

2. Nintendo Many children of the ’80s and ’90s remember playing Nintendo-based video games with their siblings. But, for the children growing up with siblings, many also remember the sad feelings related to growing apart or drifting away from a relative. This commercial highlights both of those memories by telling the story of two Nintendo-loving brothers who grow apart, argue as teenagers, and then happily reunite as adults to play the new Nintendo Switch together.

This commercial not only reminds people of what it was like to grow up with siblings, but it also reminds you of the great fun you had playing video games as a child. Then, because the brothers connect and chat virtually as the play Switch games at the end, it shows how Nintendo’s technology has evolved to connect old friends and relatives all around the world. 3. Australia Tourism Board Instead of promoting a traditional ad that simply showed off Australia’s most beautiful destinations, Australia decided to disguise a tourism ad as a star-studded trailer for a fictional reboot to the ’80s film, Crocodile Dundee. 

As those who watched the original Dundee series get excited by clips from the film, starring Chris Hemsworth and Jason Sudeikis, its revealed that Hemsworth tricked Sudeikis into a tourism ad. Despite the trickery, Hemsworth and Sudeikis still both agree that their trip to Australia was still the best vacation they’d ever taken.  This was a clever way to embrace the television and movie reboot trend of 2018 and 2019, while still highlighting the best Australia has to offer for tourism. Because it features actors who are popular in the present day, it’s also hilarious for both people who followed the Dundee films or either of the main characters in the fake reboot. 4. Spotify In 2016, music-streaming service Spotify unveiled a new spokesperson — er, spokes-dragon — in a 30-second ad produced by Wieden + Kennedy New York. Falkor and his boy companion Atreyu (now a heavily bearded 44-year-old man) are both characters from the beloved 1984 fantasy film The NeverEnding Story. W+K even got the original actors to reprise their roles (Noah Hathaway as Atreyu and Alan Oppenheimer as the voice of Falkor). The pair appear just as the film left them over 20 years ago: gliding through the clouds while the movie’s dramatic theme song plays in the background. “I can’t believe people still listen to this song!” Atreyu exclaims. His dragon agrees, they share a laugh, and the two speed off into a grainy, ’80s quality CG sky.

5. Freia The tagline of Freia, a Norweigan chocolate company, is “Et lite stykke Norge” (A little piece of Norway). This spot for the company produced by SMFB Oslo fully encapsulates the sentiment in a simple, joyful way. The plot follows a Norweigan expat in New York navigating a hectic life as a fashion stylist. When he returns home to his apartment one evening, he finds a half-eaten bar of Freia chocolate in his otherwise empty fridge. After just one bite, he’s inspired to hop on a plane back to Norway to visit his father and soak up the majestic landscape of his homeland. The ad ends with the stylist discovering a modest hair salon for sale in what is presumably his hometown.  The message is clear: A taste of Freia chocolate is inherently connected to Norway, no matter where in the world you may be. 

6. Adobe Bob Ross — the beloved ’80s painting guru who passed away in 1995 — experienced an unexpected resurgence in popularity in 2016. After Netflix added his classic TV show, The Joy of Painting, to its streaming lineup, Ross became a trending topic on Instagram. Adobe took notice, and decided to pay homage to the late painter in a series of tutorial videos promoting their new Adobe Photoshop Sketch for the iPad Pro. Authenticity was central to this nostalgic campaign. Adobe and agency Lekker Media collaborated with Bob Ross Inc. to make sure every detail was accurate, right down to the brand of clothing Ross wore on his show. Children’s book illustrator Chad Cameron, who plays Ross in the series, channels the artist’s relaxed, unpretentious demeanor perfectly. “Bob’s wish was to inspire as many people as possible to be creative and to share it with others,” Joan Kowalski, media director at Bob Ross Inc., told Adweek. “Adobe’s ‘Joy of Sketching’ series reminds us that a company as big as Adobe shares in that hope.”

7. Oikos Although it originally aired from 1987-1995, Full House has become a nostalgic childhood symbol to multiple generations thanks to syndication. But before Netflix revived the show with a 2016 reboot, Dannon reunited a few of the show’s stars in an ad for Oikos, the company’s line of Greek yogurts. John Stamos is joined by his former cast members Bob Saget and Dave Coulier in this Y&R Vinizius-produced spot. The trio doesn’t explicitly reprise their Full House roles, but the dynamic is undeniably reminiscent of their days on the sitcom.

8. Nike In 1973, Billie Jean King won a tennis match against male player Bobby Riggs, which was coined “The Battle of the Sexes.” The historic tennis game was the first time a female tennis player was matched against a male. In and before the late 1950s, men were seen as superior athletes and breadwinners in society. Prior to the tennis match with King, who was only 25, even Riggs said that he could beat a woman at his age of 55. King’s tennis match win proved Riggs wrong. It also proved that men and women could compete equally on the tennis field and in other sports. On a bigger scale, it further empowered women, who were often stereotyped as wives, homemakers, or secretaries at the time. With King’s win, it became harder to ignore that gender stereotypes were false and that women could win and even lead amongst men. During the match, King wore an iconic pair of blue Adidas tennis shoes. Years later, to celebrate the 45th anniversary of King’s win, Adidas launched a limited edition line of BJK shoes with the female tennis legend’s face and initials on each pair. To announce the shoe line, Adidas launched a series of simple commercials showing Billie Jean King spray-painting piles of shoes blue. Here’s an example of one of the ads:

To further promote the line, Adidas also had booths at the U.S. Open tennis match where fans could bring any brand of shoes and have an artist paint them blue with Adidas’ special BJK logo. According to Adidas, the overall campaign led to a 20% boost in tennis shoe sales. And, now that the campaign is over, people are auctioning off these limited edition shoes on eBay for upwards of $1,000. 9. Tesco Nothing screams nostalgia like old home movies. In this extended holiday ad from British grocery chain Tesco, we watch a family grow and age over the years through the lens of their Christmas home videos. Set to a poignant theme, the ad is intended to stir up fond holiday memories for viewers. “We wanted to show what a real Christmas is all about — not a perfect, airbrushed one — but the ones we recognize from our own lives,” David Wood, Tesco’s U.K. marketing director, told Adweek. The ad was produced by Wieden + Kennedy, London.

10. Microsoft Although Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is no more, this 2013 spot for the web browser earned viral recognition and a Webby Award nomination. “You might not remember us,” the ad’s narrator begins, “but we met in the ’90s.” The commercial goes on to highlight all things ’90s — fanny packs, Tamagotchi, bowl haircuts — even the Oregon Trail PC game makes an appearance. Column Five Media, the creative agency behind the ad, set out to create a nostalgia-driven viral ad that would reintroduce Internet Explorer to ’90s kids. “The idea of a brand like Internet Explorer being forward-thinking enough to make such a story-focused, Gen Y-centered commercial was pretty newsworthy,” the agency wrote in a behind-the-scenes blog post. “Focusing that story on ’90s nostalgia, which we knew was popular with Gen Y and not yet fully realized in video form, is what made [the ad] shareworthy.”

11. Chili’s Chili’s ads are usually characterized by close-up shots of glistening hamburgers, sizzling bacon, and french fries still glowing with fryer oil. So this 2016 ad produced by Boston-based agency Hill Holliday was a departure from the casual dining chain’s typical go-to formula. The commercial depicts the Chili’s origin story through a series of retro vignettes. We see the laid-back founders playing ring toss, lounging on the hood of their car, and — of course — flipping classic Chili’s burgers in their first restaurant. The ad taps into traditional Americana — a form of nostalgia for small town American life, middle class values, and neighborhood restaurants where everyone knows your name.

12. Apple Apple regularly features celebrities in their advertising, but they made a notably nostalgic casting decision for this iPhone 6s spot. Everyone’s favorite sweet-toothed Muppet, Cookie Monster, might have switched to a more balanced diet, but he appears whipping up a batch of his favorite chocolate chip cookies in this ad. TBWA/Media Arts Lab is the agency behind the ad, and they even released a series of “bloopers” featuring the beloved childhood character.

13. Target The nostalgic force is strong in this Target video promoting Star Wars: The Force Awakens merchandise. As part of a larger campaign to encourage fans to share their Star Wars memories online, Deutsch LA produced this two-minute compilation of Star Wars fans’ home movies. In the video, young fans dressed as little Princess Leias, Luke Skywalkers, and Han Solos brandish lightsabers and give their best Chewbacca impressions, all while the classic Star Wars theme plays in the background. The result is an endearing campaign that’s sure to resonate with longtime fans and new converts alike.

14. Bacardi For their 150th anniversary back in 2012, Bacardi released a series of print and television ads showcasing the brand’s party-starting heritage. The trip down memory lane was intended to give the company a shot of authenticity, reminding consumers that Bacardi has stood the test of time. The goal according to Leo Premutico, co-founder of WPP agency Johannes Leonardo, the agency behind the ad, was “to depict a moment in time that lives in history” and offer “an eye to what’s next, an exciting future.”

15. McDonald’s When McDonald’s removed antibiotics and artificial preservatives from their chicken this year, they wanted an ad campaign that not only informed consumers about these changes, but also tapped into nostalgia surrounding their famous nuggets. “There’s an undeniable level of nostalgia tied to the McDonald’s brand and its food,” Britt Nolan, Leo Burnett USA’s chief creative officer, told Adweek. “We set out to capture that relationship in a sincere, simple way that today’s parents can relate to and feel good about sharing with their own kids.”

How to Nail Nostalgia The key to nailing nostalgia is to understand what motivates your audiences, how they were raised, and where their deepest interests lie. To do this, do a little research or develop buyer persona’s that grew up in certain generations to learn what makes them think. To learn more about building and analyzing your buyer persona, check out this helpful guide. For more great advertising inspiration, here’s a roster of 2019 Clio Gold-winning ads. Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published in September 2016, but was updated for comprehensiveness and freshness in February 2020.

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