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orphemustelos · 3 months ago

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Am drunk enough to ramble about idea. So, I love timeloops and more specifically I love NG+ timeloops. Persona 3, NG+ timeloop. It's occurring b/c the Abyss of Time and just running on idea that Yukari and Mitsuru keep winning the fight to go back in time.

Except, no one but Minato remembers, mostly b/c he'd be fucked over by the whole not knowing why time is looping thing.

And I want a fix-it (it's just what I do) and more specifically I want more unethical science experiments to be the solution. (It's just not something that's done often from what I could glean and I think it'd be an interesting way of going about trying to do a Everyone Lives scenario for P3.) That's the jist of it, under read-more will be current thoughts.

It begins with Minato being, rightfully, confused. With it having him slowly try to work through figuring out why the loop is occurring. Eventually remembering how the whole goal of the initial experiments by the Kirjio Group was time manipulation, he goes to find the old research.

With a lot of looking he learns about the abyss, but still doesn't know how to stop it. Only thing he manages on his own is figuring out how to get other people to remember. I'm thinking there should be limits like has to be able to be aware during the Dark Hour ofc, but also a very mean one of: cannot have been present when time goes back. Meaning only two people he can get to help is Ryoji and Shinjiro. Also means, still no one knows why exactly time is looping. However, with Ryoji present, Minato can get the confirmation that it isn't b/c he fucked making The Seal somehow.

So, progress.

I think it'd be Shinjiro who'd suggest trying something else to stop Nyx. Like yeah, okay, The Seal isn't fucked up. But clearly it's caused some other problem, so maybe try something else. Except what to do instead? Because all they really have is information about experiments with shadows to work with. So unless they want to try fighting fire with fire, it's not very helpful.

They try fighting fire with fire. OR well, actually consider it. Problem is none of them are scientists who spent a large amount of time researching shadows, so now they got learn the science behind that. (This au is all in the name of seeing these three interacting. I hadn't originally intended it to be a ship-focused au, but here we are. (What would be the ship name for these three anyway? Guess I'm gonna invent one for the tags later, lmao.)) (Their time together in the timeloop creates an unshakable trust that the others are their ride or dies. It's the mad science which is where the inherent homoeroticism comes from.)

They ofc know there's no killing Nyx permanently, so what are the options? Idea, balancing it out with life. Life and death are meant to exist in cycles, but by having only Nyx and Erebus for death and no one for life, the balance is thrown off and the cycle grinds to a halt. Mind you, Nyx and Erebus are the personifications of night and darkness respectively in Greek mythology. In it they have counterparts for the day and (well kind of but not fully) light in Hemera and Aether. So, why not simply counteract them.

It's not the most reasonable solution ever. However, I think it's an interesting one to consider. Made more tense by the time crunch they'd be under to get that done before needing to just do The Seal anyway in order to ensure the loop continues so that they would have another chance at it.

I have some dubious considerations for how involved with the unethical science the rest of SEES will be. B/c on one hand, Dead Boys Club. On the other, that's gonna be a fuck ton of work for them to do. There's zero shot no one notices that they're doing things. So very much, hmmmmmmm for the role the rest of SEES will play. (Tbh rest of the entire game's cast really.)

But yes, NG+ timeloop au, now with 86% unethical science.

Sober edits to expand upon details added. Primarily after this point (Though one joke addition in brackets above.)

Re:Shinjiro never sticking around long enough to learn about the rest of SEES getting stuck in the Abyss of Time. There's just no world where he doesn't agree to Ken's request and tries to save him. Sure he could try to talk to Ken before that, but this is Shinjiro and man has guilt carved into his bones that the timeloop starting from after Ken's mother's death isn't helping.

But also that requires him knowing what the fuck to say in that situation while he's not dying. And I don't think he'd know. I think part of what gave his words so much meaning before was that he had the action of him protecting Ken to back it up. But without that, he would look like he's all talk. Which wouldn't help either one of them in trying to move on from what happened.

Additionally, even if it did work out he'd just forget that loop entirely bc the cant remember if present when the decision to go back was made. So, him living would not help matters and he'd only become more inclined to let himself die so that he would be able to remember all of the loops and not start forgetting the progress they made. (The alternative I just briefly considered is him forgetting everything but it made me sad, so it's only him forgetting the loop if he makes it to the abyss of time in the end.)

Also the more I think about a ship with the 3 of them, the more insane I get. The 3 people who (want to) die for the sake of others. The way it would bring only them any degree of peace but emotionally devastates everyone else who cares for them. But also then, 3 boys who were happy to give their lives for others now having to learn how to live and look towards a future they never thought they'd get to see, let alone have.

But also how in all versions of the game, in the male route these 3 are the ones who no matter what choices you make, you can never save. (I know there's also Akinari but his situation is one where there is no universe where any choice could be made to save him. Only advancements in medical science would. Meanwhile, the other 3 could technically be saved, but only really by basically abandoning the story playing out and acting as an outside party to it. Or by being someone other than themselves. And i mean you can see it happen in canon even with the femc route. So, while I love him, his death is an outlier among these 3 even if he also is someone who can't be saved in canon.)

And all I can think about is the post about love in tragedies and how it doesn't save anyone, but it was still there and that matters. It was still important even if it never helped. Which I think does a good job at like emphasizing the messages of the game. And I really love relationships that end up embodying the work they're from. (Also means interestingly I don't care as much for Shinjiro and the femc's relationship bc in that case love does succeed. Which while nice isn't quite as thematically satisfying even though it is narratively satisfying.)

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orphemustelos · 1 year ago

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ivan as joker (i couldn't think of a bg so i didn't bother) (i can't even remember why i started it in the first place)

> time taken: 10 hours 36 minutes

> layers: 35