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my-current-obsession · 8 months ago

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To be fair, the whole, “I’ll come back to you even if you don’t promise to wait,” is a line pulled directly from OG FFVII. It’s mentioned late game by Cid (who hilariously went to see a showing of loveless in Midgar but fell asleep then woke up just in time to view this ending scene 😂). But if you wanna deep dive on the meaning of this line, it’s worth noting that a version of the line is used in FFVIII in reference to the main ship of that installment — Rinoa and Squall — who also happen to be another mage/swordsman pair. And if you wanna go big brain square enix energy, there’s also the famous, “I’ll come back to you; I promise…I know you will,” between Sora and Kairi in Kingdom Hearts when he goes off on another journey while she awaits his return. If you go down those rabbit holes, it seems square really has a type for their main pairs, no?

I don't remember that line in OG FF7, but it's been years since I played it so I'll take your word for it. But you're right that similar lines/sentiments pop up frequently in other FF and KH games, so yeah, Square has a type. I still think the conversation between Cloud and Aerith in KH2 is the quickest and easiest parallel to make here though, considering the same pair can have basically the same interaction, in an entirely different game. Yes, Cloud could also have this conversation in the play with T or Y. But only Aerith's would have the added depth of being a potential callback/reference to another moment the pair shared.

And considering this game liked to callback to several moments between Cloud and Aerith in the previous game (him remembering their first meeting being what snaps him out of Sephiroth's control, the "will you be okay getting back", "if I said I wasn't" in the ending...) I think it's totally reasonable to assume that Square might have subtly referenced at least one Clerith moment from outside the compilation.

#clerith #final fantasy #final fantasy vii #i had to restrain myself from going on about how clearly aerith is meant to be rosa and she's absolutely the canon date #which. is true but is a bit of an unrelated tangent is this case and also i don't want to get dragged into ship wars #i'll just say that even beyond the surface level of rosa being a magic/staff user... there are lots of little things in aerith's favor #(specifically certain lines and physical gestures)#and those things add up. anyone paying attention (& knows the OG 7 plot) should know. it's OBVIOUS she's meant to be rosa #which is a huge contributing factor to why she's canon. just from a narrative perspective...#it makes WAY more sense to have the plot focus on aerith from just before the date (the battle square convo with dio. her writing NPTK)...#and STAY on her for the literal rest of the game... than it does to focus heavily on her before & after a sudden interlude with someone ELS #(hell and DURING. considering she ALWAYS sings after the play. and cloud ALWAYS gets a closeup looking enamored)#especially if half of that interlude - the play - has that someone else playing a role CLEARLY meant for aerith

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mejomonster · 6 days ago

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This rant on Enterprise turns into Trip/T'Pol (implied /Archer) about halfway through ToT

I'm in general so mixed on Enterprise. On the one hand I think it does some stuff very well, on the other it falls so short of its potential and often self-censors to refuse to actually tackle moral issues or just goes with the still-fucked-up status quo (made even MORE irritating by the fact they write Archer SO kind and good usually - they'll write him say "we dont believe in one person owning another you're free to do as you wish" after helping a slave run away from their master, which makes sense, then fucking write him condoning slavery and returning a slave and saying they shouldn't have tried to help... which is so out of character And Anti Star Trek's goal of working for a better future its painful). I want to love it but there's just too many shortcomings in it that... I would expect of a 90s show being censored by networks and higher ups, but not of a 2000s show when other shows were pushing the limits farther. I want Star Trek to aspire for a better future, it hurts when its actively avoiding that. (However: im not saying i dislike the crew attitudes, them being immature and intolerant and impulsive and human-centric makes sense given its their first time interacting with the bigger world, and they grow, and its all very in character and makes sense. What doesn't make sense is whenever writing tries to do something brave, then backpedals and contradicts itself so weirdly you know someone was told "do NOT write that, write that the slave needs to to back to their master NOW" or "i know we just made a metaphor for AIDS but you shouldnt have and its too late to change the whole episode i guess, so make sure the gay metaphor people lose their jobs." Its just frustrating as fuck. I can TELL some writers were trying hard to tell meaningful and brave stories, and got told midway through or at the end "NO, undo the point your script is making NOW"

And then on the shallow side? I can see some surface level decisions they made (perhaps as a result of playing it safer rather than braver but whatever the reason). Like Archer/Trip/T'Pol having some key similarities to Kirk/McCoy/Spock in terms of their main traits being a balanced leader taking into account emotion and logic as he embodies passion, a more emotionally expressive and motivated leader, a more logically motivated leader. I can see Archer/TPol as a romantic relationship explored is so much (at least initially) what if we did spirk again, but theyre a guy and girl so we can just SAY theyre sexually attracted on screen. (What couldve been? Imagine a world where all 3 were women, and they pursued a spirk type lesbian couple explicitly, that couldve been something no show before did. Or if TPol was explored as explicitly trans more, and it never affected Archer or Trips attraction to her - her being a vulcan being the only thing they're even debating handling - how that couldve done something new and brave TOS didnt do and TNG didnt do, both having interspecies friendships, and straight romances). Then the show goes: okay what if we try emotional/logical romantic pairing? With Trip/TPol.

Which while not brave (many a logical/emotional pair on star trek shows platonic and romantic, many an interspecies straight relationship on star trek at this point), is a dynamic that TOS didnt make explicitly romantic. Like making a straight spirk equivalent, making a straight spones equivalent is... interesting, can be explicit (since the show clearly didnt want to do an explicit queer relationship), and Trip and TPol are really secondary main characters so thats interesting. Whereas DeAnna and Riker... TNG bounced between the crew enough they maybe had less focus, perhaps. And... one one level (as nonstop with Enterprise) I'm a bit frustrated they didnt try for braver writing choices.

But on another I'm like: okay. Fine. You want to try to see how a straight spones like romantic relationship plays out. Then DO it. The show decides fine, its going to constantly imply TPol might get romantically involved with Archer or Trip (even into season 3 implying she got romantic with Archer when she caretaked him for 12 years in the alternate future with rhe parasites, having her kiss Sim with Trips memories). While I'd like a woman lead whos not constantly involved in ships... if thats what the show wants to do, I can invest in it. I can believe she might like them both. (I think the poly Archer/Trip/TPol shippers are imagining a better alternative that would make more sense if the romances were Committed to). The show then... toys with both ideas. Slowly. Like it doesnt want to commit to one (but despite acknowledging polyamory with Phlox's wife and Trip, does not want to write actual polyamory on the crew relationships), so it makes TPol seem to like both men. It writes both mens feelings very fleetingly, so the audience doesnt get too much hope ONE of the men will try to start a relationship, and then places all three of them in this weird schrodingers cat situation.

(And oh, can you imagine a more bravely written Enterprise? Where TPol tells Phlox she likes Archer and Trip, Phlox suggests just having 2 husbands - "sorry, boyfriends, subcommander, you don't need to decide to bond long term right away"

and she silently mulls over that discussion, they continue the holding pattern of the men saying almost nothing about their crushes, until one neuropressure session TPol asks "have you and the captain ever been intimate?" And Trip is baffled, thinks TPol means just a massage like this... but might mean sex or kissing. So he asks what she means. She says "in a romantic sense..." Trip goes "No, why? Did you hear gossip from the crew... because that would be wild. Them talking about us, and him." TPol responding with "I have heard a partocularly crude comment once. About the three of us having dinner alone." Trip: "From who. I'll straighten them out, that kind of talk shouldn't be happening. It's beyond disrespectful- does the captain know a crewmember said-" TPol: "It was a long time ago. It hasn't happened since. I simply ask now about you and the captain, in case it had some basis in prior real activity." And so Trip says, "Well. No. It's an odd thing for people to say. I think they were just being disrespectful... I'm sorry you were dragged into it." TPol nods. Then decides, after minutes of silence, to ask: "Would you be opposed to intimate contact with the captain?" Trip: "Well no... of course I'd massage him if he- what kind of contact do you mean, TPol?" TPol simply shrugs and says she was just asking, its fine if he doesnt answer. Then finally she mutters, stil torn about how far she wants to inform him: "I have reason to believe the captain may... wish sometimes, that I was closer to him."

Trip jumps up, as if worried she's being harassed by Archer, but her steady gaze stops him and he doesn't spill out all the things he was going to say. TPol: "I am not sure if anything will come of it. I suppose, only if I pursued the matter." Trip blinks, sitting close to her since he jumped up, face to face, his expression shocked then falling before he can control it. He suddenly realizes, she might be telling him she wants Archer. He didn't realize- he didn't think so far ahead, he supposes he wants her to be happy, so he shouldnt feel crushed he has no chance with her, he didnt even realize he wanted the opportunity to see if she'd want him until now- now that it's clear there will never be that opportunity. "Well, what do you-" he starts. She cuts him off, her gaze still steady and direct, "I am uncertain if you would be amenable to us persuing...further intimacy."

Trip is unable to compute what he's hearing, so he just stares back, not ready to open his mouth until his brain catches up with him. She can't be saying what she said, it makes no sense-

She leans forward and presses her lips to his, when the silence stretches out and he does not appear to understand her question. She wants to know, if this is something he wants too. Or an assumption on her part which is beyond reality, which was fed into by Phlox and his very unvulcan-and unhuman-views on such matters. She should not have taken advice from someone who didn't grasp her or those she cares about's feelings. Norms. Desires to act or not act.

Trip only starts to kiss back when she's pulling away. He stops when she's apart, the two of them looking at each other, both seeing more unknowns than they did before.

"You like me?"

Trip sees TPol's subtle eye squint, might as well be an eye roll on her, and immediately whatever he was worried about melts away. Because she's clearly comfortable, she's just irritated he isn't already caught up to her own thoughts, and is relaxed enough to show it. God help him in figuring out how far she wants his mind to jump.

"Course. You did. We did-"

"We did." She repeats, the slightest tone of humor at waiting for him to catch up with the obvious.

"Well. I'm flattered." He's probably blushing. Her eyelashes flutter, but refuse to hide her gaze away, and he figures she's equally flustered right about now. "I like you too, obviously."

The tightness spreading in her expression indicates, no, that was abdolutely not obvious to her- and she thinks she took a damn big risk just now, and he should recognize that.

"I like you too," he says, putting more weight on the words, leaning forward to grab her hand and holding it. To try and impress how much he realizes this is a big deal.

He has no idea what his gesture means, to her, the way he's radiating just how much he cares, how hard that is to ignore-even when she's extremely practiced in ignoring any signs of it when they're in proximity, when they're often touching in these sessions. This touch is different. Even if she blocks out everything, except for her own tumultous insides, his touch is so gentle. Resolute as the expression directed at her.

"That is fortunate," she finally replies.

He thinks that's an understatement, still holding her hand. Unsure what to do next, what T'Pol would want.

After a while, to break the tension- to give himself a break from the open uncertainty in the air, or maybe give T'Pol a moment without unmitigated emotion to wade through. "Wait. Why did you bring up the captain, anyway?"

"As I said, I have reason to believe he desires... further intimacy as well."

A million things he could say: are you sure? Did the captain act disrespectfully? What can I do so that you feel better? Who's gossiping and do you want me to demote then (even though you could and probably already have if you wanted that)? Instead he asks: "Is that something you want?"

T'Pol considers, taking in Trip's expression- not hurt, but certainly vulnerable, open. Clinging to her hand still as if it will kill him if their connection were to break, and yet his mouth falls open to wonder if she'd like him to withdraw. The way his eyebrows shift, the way his expression betrays that it would agonize his heart to do so, but he would slip away in a heartbeat if it would please her. Hopefully, he would say something as he did- so she could piece together his own desires on the matter- but regardless, he would try his best to accomodate her needs first. Perhaps only, if she doesn't push him to confide in her.

"I'm not sure," she answers honestly. "But. I would prefer an arrangement where... you are happy."

Trip laughs. "Well that's not exactly fair," he smiles, in contradiction to his words. "That's what I was going to say."

#star trek enterprise #st enterprise #trip x t'pol #trip x t'pol x archer #rant #lb #i mean half my point is unrelated lol #and im only in season 3 #i just... i can imagine the Version where TPol is written more PROACTIVE #instead of sexily objectified sometimes the way she is for plot :/#(and trans while we are at it!)#and i think in a better version the command trio are in a polycule #that archer half participates in while half insisting as Captain he should not focus on romance and concerned itd infere with giving comman #but still part of the polycule dinners and occassional intimate times sjsje

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