#the whole nonary game bullshit

[hecksupremechips]

We talk about the potential of aoilight but never the chaotic potential of akane x clover...

[colourful-void]

alright good morning. Ive had some time to sleep. review. and ill be booting up vlr in a few moments to hopefully finally finish the game.

before i do here's my summary of thoughts as we stand

im not actually clear on what the resonant event was that allowed akane to know to recreate the whole of the ambidex game

speaking of akane, uh 999 characters! we heard from clover about snake, who is presumably dead as the ambidex game takes place, (thats why she couldn't contact him) as is assumably Lotus and Seven. Hopefully Ace too. Junpei, Akane, and Clover are all accounted for. Which just leaves Aoi? Like... Clover made it clear they were running together. And Aoi's still an esper so like. Where'd he go. if Akane was doing all this shit then where's Aoi

Phi. just. all of her really. but in paticular like I know us being on the moon justifies her stunts but like. does no one else jump.

i kind of wish tenmyouji had a bigger reaction to seeing akane when she came out of k's suit. just a bit.

Also, with everyone having had Radical-6 the whole time i call bullshit. I mean like. in theory and a lot of the explanation its a really good explanation and it works quite well. EXCEPT FOR ONE THING. two things actually! Alice and Quark. Who both. get Radical-6 during the game depending on the route. Neither of them would be lying about it or what they were experiencing. And if it was just the mania part, then i could see it as progressing in them faster than everyone else, but NO. Alice specfically says in her route that it felt like everything around her sped up like it was being fast forwarded. If her processing is already slowed down to the root of one sixth or whatever the math is then how does it get slowed down to the root of one sixth of the root of one sixth??? or what??? huh?? and then the cure works on her like. is she DOUBLE infected?? same for quark!! Explain!

Luna's necklace remains a mystery. Who gave it to her.

Time paradoxes. Lets talk about time paradoxes okay cause first off. in vlr as we play it clearly the plan did not succeed. and if it does work (which. whats the plan anyway beyond 'we're going to brain slingshot phi and sigma to the past'. like even if we get old sigma to the past what's he gonna do. but putting that aside, the goal would be to change the world so that hings dont explode and i think stopping radical 6 from getting out as well. which. yes this is a good idea. and if we do it: at minimum 3 characters from vlr die? in some capacity. Luna and K just. Cease to exist. Because Sigma will never create them if he doesn't need to use them to make the nonary game. Quark also likely ceases to exist, or if he is born his life is so different he's essentially a different person. Sigma himself will probably be fine, but he'll be himself as he remembers at the beginning of the game (22 yr old sigma), God knows about Phi, Clover and Alice will probably be better off, Jury is out on Tenmyouji. like even if we like. time teleport luna's brain on a flashdrive or something, the rest are screwed.

fuuuunding. just in general.

but i think in the end theres just like. one question that really matters to me. Even if nothing else gets solved I just wanna know Is there really any world where everyone can make it out alive?

we continue playing.

[echonk3]

999 Week 2022 - Clover

longest one yet. ended up making a bit of a conversation between Clover, Junpei and Lotus

The room you’re in reminds you of a waiting room, which it may as well be.

You came out of questioning a few minutes ago because apparently, Alice is an agent like in the movies. Well, maybe not exactly like in the movies but whatever.

Lotus was already there, looking at the old magazines from what you think was the late 2010s based on the fashion on the cover. And you ended up doing the same as her. It reminded you of when you were younger honestly, before so many magazines had gone digital.

That was until Junpei entered the room.

A lot about him had changed. Maybe the others hadn’t noticed it, but you did. A bit more fidgety, looking like he’s about to bolt whenever he enters a room, a bit more burdened. 

You stare at him just standing in front of the door, looking around for just less than a second before moving. You’re not exactly surprised. All of you have been doing that. You had 81 seconds back then, or at least you thought you did.

The man takes a seat, hunched over and staring into the floor's abyss.

This went on for another few minutes until you decided to break the silence.

“So… Junpei… What was your questioning like?”

It was probably the worst question you could think of but it was the only question to ask that came to mind.

“...Normal. Just asked me about the game and…”

He trailed off but it was obvious who he was talking about.

June and Santa. Akane and Aoi.

Part of you is angry at them. Angry for putting you through this all over again. Angry for bringing other people into it. Angry at them for everything.

But…

But you can’t exactly blame them.

If Light was the one who was going to die and the only way to save him was to run a Nonary Game, you’d do it. You can’t imagine a world without your brother.

You want to hate them but you can’t.

Lotus practically slams her magazine closed, taking a look at Junpei.

“I still don’t fully know what went down and what the hell a ‘morphogenetic field’ is, but I can’t stop thinking about what happened in the incinerator. Junpei, how did you know what to put in the machine?”

You didn’t want to admit it, but you were curious too. You did have an idea, but you really wanted to know what happened.

“...You know how the people who are… connected to each other through the field can, like, send messages to each other?”

“Yeah.”

You nod. You know what it’s like, though you weren’t able to use the ability in the game for some reason. You’ve only been able to use it rarely in the nine years between the 2018 and 2027 games.

“It was like that, but we were having a conversation, trying to figure out the answer to save her life. The whole game had to be recreated to save her from dying in the incinerator and I had to follow what she did. And that meant we had to risk dying in the incinerator.”

It felt like he was only touching upon the bare bones of what truly happened. But it’s not like you wanted to remember what happened there either. And you don’t think Lotus does either.

“So, you have a connection to the field now?”

“...maybe. We’re not sure.”

He probably does, you theorize in your mind. He managed to connect to it after all. Apparently, everybody has some form of connection to it but the ones who can do it consciously have stronger connections.

And if he does…

“Junpei… did you ever feel funny or something around an axe?” 

You can’t help but ask that. You remember finding that old dude’s body, killed by an axe and you felt so weird about it. The feeling stayed with you even after you left, and you can’t let go of it.

You don’t miss the way he immediately tenses up, head shooting up to look at you with wide eyes before he immediately looks away.

“...No.”

Part of you wants to yell “Bullshit!” because he’s clearly lying, but the majority part of you let it go. Tells you to ask about it on a later day when things are happier.

Silence returns to the room.

You hope Light will be able to join you in this room soon. Maybe it’ll make things a bit livelier. 

[kuipernebula]

I was talking about this last night with someone but, here’s how I would fix Zero Time Dilemma

Carlos is getting booted from what was once Team C. In his place, the leader of the 999 team with Junpei and Akane is Ennea Kashiwabara, one of Lotus/Hazuki’s daughters. (For this reason, it’s now called Team E) She never met Junpei or Akane, having been in the other building and her mom probably not saying much about the Second Nonary Game to her. As an agent of SOIS, she’s been assigned to infiltrate and observe DCOM, based on a tip they received about the site. Unfortunately, this lands her in the Third Nonary Game, alongside Akane, who recognizes her because of Nona, and Junpei, who gets told who she is by Akane.

Junpei doesn’t get much of a change to his character - his change in perspective is important to bridging the gap between Junpei and Tenmyouji. Instead, Akane’s writing gets a big push - we finally get to see her drop her facade from 999, closer to what we saw of her in VLR and in only a few endings of ZTD. Analytical, observant, intelligent, and cold, she’s not the girl Junpei loved - but he still cares too much about her to let her self destruct here. The tension this brings them as they’ve both changed so much is brought to the forefront, alongside the shared secret they’re hiding from Ennea - that is, what happened in the Second Nonary Game.

Team D receives no lineup changes. Diana has a whole lot of potential, and makes perfect sense on the VLR team - she’s here to bridge the gaps surrounding Luna and Phi. The main changes to this team’s writing are the specifics of Diana and Phi’s relationship - God I hated that ending, and literally everything involving the alien machines - and bringing Diana’s writing to be more specific.

Also important to this team is the realization that, in at least one route, it’s not Sigma inside Sigma - it’s Kyle. At least one route, probably the one leading to the True Ending, we get the payoff for the Another Time ending of VLR, with Kyle being an unknown factor in DCOM, and Phi having to deal with being the only one who knows what she’s doing. Which... isn’t that different from usual, honestly, but a problem nonetheless.

Also we gotta hold off on Diana’s reveal of being Phi’s mom, if that even still is her Deal. Like, this is something that was kinda set up back in VLR, sorta? But we can make it less obvious from the get-go, and maybe even add more nuance to that relationship given how Weird it ended up being, especially with the Alien Bullshit.

Team Q is, to the shock of no one, getting the biggest changes. Eric, Sean, and Delta are all getting written out - Eric has no reason to be here, Sean made literally no fucking sense from any in-narrative perspective, and Delta... was a cool twist executed poorly. (”My motives are complex.” et. al.) Mira is still here, though - the serial killer that inadvertently lead to Everything because of Akane’s Dad’s false imprisonment? That actually ties her Perfectly to both the rest of the cast, but also to being invited here by Brother/Delta/Zero. She’s here because she’s perfect for a killing game.

Carlos is, instead, getting added to Team Q. He’s here because he’s perfect for DCOM - he’s a fire fighter, heroic to a fault. Give him some personal tie to DCOM and its actual, original mission, and he becomes the opposite of Mira - he’s here for the actual, original mission, and possibly the only person other than Diana who was. His sister’s deal can also stay, though I dunno if he personally should still be a Shifter. (If this is the case, his Shift X-Pass would become Space, Ideal, or something relevant to his personal connection DCOM) Also before you ask, he’s not the leader of this team, now.

The leader of Team Q is a character simply named Q, wearing a body suit not dissimilar to K’s. This suit looks similar to a Space Suit, rather than the futuristic robot suit of K, and they don’t answer questions to why they’re wearing it. Like Sean, they aren’t trusted by the team and act as the leader and protagonist of Team Q. Unlike Sean, they have their own X-Passes, even stealing some from Q/Delta - Clone, Self, Quest, Mark, Bro, Doll...

In actuality, Q is, depending on the route, either one of Brother/Delta’s clones, using the suit to hide their identity from Sigma, Phi, Akane, and possibly Ennea (we don’t know how much SOIS knows about Free the Soul at that point), or ??? from the Another Time ending.

Basically, the Floating Timeline from the original game is not because of Memory Drugs, but rather a function of how ??? (i.e. We) are perceiving the timeline. Whenever we’re in Q, our personality overrides theirs far more than should be possible, possibly because it’s a very early/young clone. Or possibly because they’re the first one we enter, in the prologue. (I.e. what replaces the coin flip) Whenever we’re watching E and D routes, we’re doing the same background semi-Mind Hacking as is typical for the game - we’re watching them, pushing them towards one or another timeline for information, trying and failing to save them, etc. This is also the explanation for how E and D know things they shouldn’t, sometimes - Us.

In the other routes, Q is simply the clone, as a way to keep a hand on the game should there be a need for direct intervention. Delta doesn’t want to get his hands dirty, or have a chance of actual death. This personality is very quiet and noncommital, which is pointed out as jarring when ??? takes over in the escape rooms.

In the True End Route, where we’re Q, is when we find out that that route’s Sigma is actually K - both of the wrenches in the plan have been played for that route.

As for Zero/Delta’s actual new plan... I dunno. I agree it needs a double-bluff on the explanation we heard from Dio, that’s kinda how things work, especially ideologies that evolve over time. And I like that he’s obsessed with chance and the butterfly effect - it would perfectly tie into him inviting Mira to the game, and the way this game doesn’t have fail safes like Akane’s games. But we’re taking out the alien bullshit and honestly his “kill a terrorist with a horrible biological weapon” plan doesn’t make any sense no matter how you spin it to me. Maybe go the social darwinism route - this is a small scale of his actual plan, to see who survives and who doesn’t, as way to figure out how plans for a large-scale purge of society. That this is highly uncomfortable is, in fact, the point - no one thinks he’s right or has a point, but he’s got them trapped so they have to deal with it.

[zecretsanta]

[Bonus!] Fic: life preserver

To: @therealhousewivesofhyrule

From: @kiichu

Surprise! A bonus fic from your prompt: Santa falling for Clover during the Nonary Game. It’s not quite a happy fic, but I hope it at least gave you some idea of a bittersweet outcome. ;) Happy Holidays, once again! <3

—

Ao3 Link

Aoi knows from the moment he’s sentenced to Door [4] that he is, in some capacity, going to die. 

Oh, there’s still a chance he’ll walk out of the game alive, of course - provided Snake goes batshit in the incinerator and takes Ace down with him - but Akane still dies. And if Akane dies, Aoi might as well be dead, too. 

So when Junpei asserts himself and chooses Door [5], Aoi feels a pang in his stomach. There’s not much he can do, though, apart from give a scoff or glare that lines up with his ‘punk’ persona. 

Junpei is so goddamn insistent on going through that door, and for what? Is the guy that interested in seeing a dead body or something? If that’s the case, he should just look into Akane’s many envisioned outcomes; would he still be curious to see the dead corpses of everyone in the room sprawled out in a lifeless heap, including Junpei himself? 

Somehow, Aoi doubts it. Knowing the truth about them, about Akane and Zero and the whole Nonary Game, will only destroy Junpei’s future - if he even has one in this timeline. Then again, Junpei’s trauma is Akane’s survival, so Aoi can’t give too much of a shit about it.

As Junpei makes his decision, Akane protests immediately, wanting to go with him. Aoi has to admit, she plays up the theatrics quite well; in another life, his sister might have been a movie star or something. She plays her role as ‘childhood friend returned/girl-next-door who still holds romantic feelings for the protagonist’ quite well… though Aoi isn’t sure how much of that role is fabricated for her. 

Anyway, Akane tries her best to subtly discourage him, but Junpei still insists. Aoi huffs, crossing his arms, and forces himself to go along with it. There’s nothing he can do, and has to accept that this simply isn’t the future he and Akane are chasing. 

But this time, things feel a little different, and Aoi finds himself drawn to details he hasn’t been advised about before. Akane hasn’t mentioned anything like this, so he is almost positive he doesn’t do this in other outcomes.

This time, he notes Clover’s reaction to being separated from Snake, sees the sheer pain and panic settle into her green gaze, and it actually physically affects him. His heart pounds a little faster, palms get a little clammier, eyes a little wider; for some reason, he’s eerily aware of her distress, and it bothers him.

And he actually thinks, consciously, I understand what it’s like to worry about a sibling - I wish she didn’t look like that. 

For someone whose only concern was his sister up until this very point in time, the reality strikes Aoi to his very core; the mere thought that someone else could potentially be more than a disposable pawn in Akane’s plans was startling.

But Clover’s arm goes to wrap around Snake’s, begging him not to leave her alone in this scary situation, and Aoi’s chest twinges. 

—

“Snake’s pretty smart,” he admits to Clover once they’re past Door [4] and he’s searching idly through a puzzle he helped design. “You’ll see him again, no worries.”

Clover sits quietly on the bed in the room, taking a breather; her hands ball into tiny fists in her lap, her shoulders shaking as she tries to collect herself. He watches her teeth sink into her bottom lip to try to force her emotions back. No doubt she’s reliving her past experiences with games like this, her mind racing with potential perpetrators as she tries desperately to determine who would want to kidnap her and her brother again. 

Aoi almost takes a second to sit with her, to once more remind her that Snake will definitely be fine (he can’t tell her, but fuck, he dragged Hongou to Hell in one outcome!), but reminds himself Akane needs to be his top priority. He has to stay diligent, no matter how much his heart may soften at the sight of Clover’s held-back tears, or the way he wants to say something to stop her from trembling so badly. 

He considers, just briefly, giving her the bookmark and seeing if that would change the outcome - but Akane was very strict on when he had to give it to Junpei, and which paths would bring that opportunity. 

Clover’s sniffling breaks his thoughts for the moment. “Shut up, you don’t even know him,” she snaps, shooting him a glare. “But… you’re right, he’ll keep it together. I trust him.”

Giving a lopsided smirk, Aoi nods. “Dude seems like a badass - I wouldn’t want to get on his bad side.” That’s an understatement, trust me.

“You’re not wrong,” Clover replies, surrendering a hint of a smile. Her gaze flickers down to her hands for a moment before looking back up at Aoi. “I’ll do whatever I can to protect him, as well.”

Believe me, I know that, too. Aoi already knows all-too-well what happens when Clover has to avenge her brother. He can’t say so, however, and just responds with a snarky, “I’ll bet.”

She rolls her eyes. “It’s a sibling thing. You know what I mean?”

He can read in between the lines here, can see she’s gently prodding him for personal information. Or maybe he’s being paranoid and she genuinely wants to know more about him - but he can’t take that chance. There’s too much at stake.

“Nope. Only child,” he replies, his voice clipped. 

“Oh.” Her face falls slightly; she draws her legs close to her chest and settles her head on her knees, looking almost disappointed. “Then I guess, in a weird way, you’re sorta lucky then.”

Aoi barks out bitter laughter at that. If only she knew - if only she understood how unlucky he really is, how much shit he’s had to go through just to secure the only other person he has in his life. If only he could tell Clover, could let her bear the weight of his hatred and his sins and his grief –

He stops laughing, and leaves the room without gracing her with a response.

—

It’s unfortunate, Aoi laments as he slings Snake’s unconscious body over his shoulder, that Akane saw it this way. He doesn’t understand why he’s suddenly so considerate of Clover’s feelings in all this, but it really puts a fucking damper on the whole thing. He has to constantly remind himself that this is all for Akane, that Akane is the most important person in his life, and that thinking about anyone else may as well be betrayal. 

Akane’s his little sister, it’s his job to protect her. He can’t afford to… 

Quickly, Aoi banishes the thought and finishes the switch-off with Snake and Nijisaki. It’s strange, but looking at the unconscious man slated to die leaves him no remorse. 

“Your boss’ll be the one killin’ you, dude. Sorry,” Aoi mutters to him, knowing he won’t get a response. It’s true, though - if Hongou didn’t get any stupid ideas like pushing people through doorways with active bombs in their stomachs, then Akane would have never had to add this part to the plan. If the asshole had just confessed from the beginning, no one would’ve had to die.

But it’s too late now. Aoi doesn’t feel regret, but at the same time, he feels no pleasure at this, either - he’s just numb to it all. Nijisaki will die, though, so that Snake doesn’t have to. 

(And that’s better for Clover.)

—

After Snake’s disappearance, Clover’s quiet suffering grinds into Aoi’s heart even further, like the tip of a boot digging into the ground. His breath catches in his throat and for a moment, he can only focus on the tears glistening behind her eyes, and how she seems to refuse to let them fall. 

He only half-listens to Ace’s insistence at ‘sacrificing himself’ - Akane’s told him about it a million times, and it’s honestly so bad, Aoi can practically taste the bullshit in his mouth. Nothing about the man looks or sounds trustworthy, but Aoi can at least recognize his own bias. There’s probably nothing suspicious about him to, say, Junpei - but most of the players should know better.

‘Should’ being the key word, but…

Aoi glances at Clover for a moment, then back to Ace and his theatrics. There’s several timelines where the old bastard kills her, isn’t there? Briefly, he lets his mind wander into the possibility of preventing it…

If he can’t save Akane this timeline, or even himself - can he save Clover?

But why would he even bother? What makes her so special in this timeline? Is there something specific that happens here, in this particular path, that sets her apart from the others? Does he get a better look at her tears, her worries, her grief, and that makes him want to protect her? 

Should he protect her, even if there’s no change of fate for anyone else?

“Clover, uh,” he murmurs, approaching her quietly. She sits in a manner similar to how she had in Door [4] - all silent, hands in her lap, gaze looking dead and unfocused. In some timelines, this anxiety churns into a murderous rage - but hopefully, that won’t end up happening here. “How’re you holdin’ up?”

She glares at him, snapping her head in his direction and hissing, “How do you think?!” 

Aoi knows it’s fear driving her actions and words - he’s so familiar with this brand of worry and pain that he immediately feels sickly comforted by its nostalgia. He stiffens, unsure how to respond (because he sure as fuck knows he wouldn’t want to be messed with in this situation). 

So instead of saying anything, he just gives her a nod and leaves her alone, turning back to the others just in time to see Ace dramatically fall to the floor in his drug-induced act. 

—

Much later on, Junpei chooses Door [2] with Seven and Lotus, and Aoi becomes aware of what fate he’ll have. Granted, his choices from the beginning were fucked, so he should’ve expected this, but the tingling of the knife in his back already begins to spread across his shoulder blades.

(And of course, Ace is none the wiser - probably cooking up his stupid scheme on the spot.)

The plan is for ‘Santa’ and ‘June’ to go with Ace through Door [1], much to their secret dismay. Clover will wait for everyone to come back around to the main area after their respective puzzles. And it sucks, but no one but Ace will survive this part of the game - at least, that’s what’s supposed to happen. 

Akane had gone over what she’d called ‘main’ timelines she’d seen - probably the ones she knew had the most chances of happening. This part’s recurring, according to her: Ace grabs Aoi when his back is turned, ruthlessly stabs him, then grabs Clover. Then Akane runs, Ace corners and kills her in another room, and the asshole returns to the staircase with Aoi and Clover’s bodies and plays dead. It’s disgusting, it’s deceiving, it’s evil - but Aoi doesn’t think he can fight it. 

There’s no happy ending this time.

“This way,” Ace directs kindly, as if he’s not about to slaughter them all. Akane exchanges a brief glance with Aoi and gives a small, almost imperceptible nod. It’s going to happen just as she foresaw, then.

Well, Aoi isn’t going to make it easy for him.

“Comin’ grandpa, sheesh. Who put you in charge?” he scoffs, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Tryin’ to sacrifice yourself earlier gets some brownie points, but it still doesn’t make you our leader or anythin’.” 

Ace’s eyes narrow, and Aoi can tell he wants to break character so very badly. Go on, dickhead, Aoi thinks, Show your true colors.

“I think it was very brave, albeit a bit reckless,” Akane chimes in, breaking the tension in the air a little. “I’m glad you’re alright, though, Ace. Don’t you agree, Clover?” She turns her head to the quiet girl.

Clover doesn’t respond, and continues to tremble as they grow closer to the staircase that will be their grave. Aoi reminds himself that she still doesn’t know whether Snake is alive or dead - and she’ll die never knowing. It feels like a pinch in his heart, a dull jabbing every time he looks and notes how sad she is. 

And it’s his fault she’s this way.

He wishes he could come clean right here, warn her about Ace’s attack, but finds himself bound by the promise he made Akane. He’d sworn never to break character and tell the truth until the very end - and only on the ‘right’ path. But this sucks, it sucks so much that he can’t do anything to save her, or Akane and himself for that matter, that it physically pains him.

“Santa.” Clover’s whisper breaks him of any thoughts. 

He shifts his gaze to her as they walk, silently prompting her to continue - and she does.

“I’m scared for my brother. I want to see him again.” The agony in her voice is so raw, it tears him up that she won’t get her wish. “I know you said you were an only child, but… I feel like you understand, somehow. Or that you care. So… I just wanted to say thank you.” Through her pained expression, she curls her lips into a shaky smile, meeting his eyes.

And goddammit, something once more stabs into Aoi’s heart - figuratively, for now. 

“No biggie,” he replies, probably a bit softer than appropriate for his role. Oh well - they’re both about to die, what the fuck does it matter? 

The two of them start to speed up a little, creating a pretty convenient setup: Akane and Ace walk behind, Aoi and Clover ahead; besides being able to privately talk with Clover, Aoi has a step ahead of his sister and her would-be murderer. He has to glance back to see what the old man is doing, but also recognizes nothing will probably happen until they reach the staircase. 

He also trusts his sister with everything he has - including his life - and if there’s nothing else true about Akane, it’s that she’s strong enough to take care of herself.

So Aoi takes the opportunity to enjoy this last walk with Clover, his eyes settling on her pretty face. A touch of heat hits his cheeks and he reminds himself of the kind of character he’s playing - it won’t be very tough or punk if he starts blushing, will it? 

But his main focus is to keep the girl calm, so he continues their talk quietly. “If it means anything, I was serious about what I said before,” he says. “Snake seems tough enough. He won’t die that easily.”

He doesn’t miss the way Clover flinches at the word ‘die’ - and it definitely feels like a punch in the gut to him - but she does find the courage to nod and stammer out, “Y-you’re right. H-he’s fine, I’m sure of it.”

“There you go.” Aoi gives a smirk and dares to nudge her shoulder. “Now stop worrying ‘bout it. As soon as we’re out of this next door, we’ll all regroup to look for him again.” 

Clover gives him a playful shove back. “Okay, sounds good. You promise?”

Before he realizes it, Aoi gets too caught up in his role, in keeping the pink-haired girl calm and positive - enough so that he completely forgets their fate. He opens his mouth to actually promise Clover they’ll all look for Snake - but something stops the words from leaving.

They’ve reached the staircase - Aoi didn’t even realize he’d taken the first step already with Clover. Behind them, Ace and Akane have come to a halt, and the room settles into deathly still silence.

Aoi bites his lip and, understanding what’s about to happen, lets his instincts kick in.

Whatever the Aois of other timelines do, he dares to follow his own heart in this very moment. Whatever role he plays elsewhere, steps he isn’t taking, outcome he’s creating – none of that fucking matters right now. 

He looks to the girl beside him - as well as the one behind him - and realizes he doesn’t want anyone to die here.

“June, RUN!” He yells, turning around just in time to see Ace bring out the knife. Aoi’s leg kicks back into the old man’s shin as hard as he can, almost losing his balance on the staircase in the process. 

A lot of things happen at the same time: Clover cries out in surprise, Ace yelps (yelps!) in pain, the knife clatters to the floor, and Akane bolts back the way they came. Aoi has to fight the urge to run after her, remembering that this isn’t the right timeline - that Akane will die regardless, and she knows that. He can’t pretend to understand his sister at this very moment, but he hopes she isn’t too upset at him for trying to fight fate itself, hopes she understands why he’s so compelled to do this. 

It isn’t fair for them to cause Clover so much pain, is it?

Ace staggers back, trying to regain his own balance, and Aoi wastes no time: he clutches Clover’s hand and attempts to run the only way they can: up the staircase. The girl has some crazy stupid heels on, so she almost trips a few times. But together, they manage to get a few rows up ahead of Ace. 

“Santa – Santa, what are you doing!?” Clover shrieks, glancing back and trying to process what’s happening. 

There’s no time to explain, and it isn’t like he can explain everything, anyway - so Aoi opts to just shout, “He’s gonna kill us unless we fucking run!” 

“K-Kill!?” Clover exclaims, once again looking back. “Crap! He’s coming!” 

Aoi glances over his shoulder, seeing the murderous glint in Hongou’s eyes. Damn it, that kick only seemed to piss him off further - is he going to stab them twice as hard now? In trying to prevent the bad outcome, did Aoi actually make it worse?

It wouldn’t be the first time something like that’s happened, at least.

“Come on, you old fucker,” Aoi goads, trying to calm his racing heart. There’s not much at stake for himself here, but…

But he’s decided: he wants to save Clover, this time.

“I’m a bit surprised you predicted my move, Santa,” Ace rumbles, his voice as dangerous as ever. “It’s a pity you won’t be lasting for much longer.”

Yeah? We’ll see about that. Aoi keeps running up the stairs with Clover at his side, practically dragging her. Both of them are panting heavily, clearly not used to this much adrenaline use at once, but Ace takes his time walking up behind them. 

It’s as though he isn’t even worried about catching up to them - shit, he’s waiting for their energy to be spent, isn’t he? Like a wolf hunting rabbits, he’s waiting for them to be cornered or stop from exhaustion, and then he’ll strike.

Fuck, why did Aoi think this was possible?

It feels like there’s a million stairs as they travel upwards, panting and gasping for air once they finally reach the top - and a familiar dark laugh echoes very close behind. 

“Stupid children. There’s nowhere you can possibly run that I won’t be able to find you.” His low growl is intimidating, sends Aoi’s mind momentarily back in time - back to that same voice giving instructions over a loudspeaker in a deathtrap. Back to this same psychopath taunting a child behind the glass door of an incinerator, to the feeling of helplessness as Aoi gathers up his little sister’s ashes. 

Without thinking too much about it, Aoi grabs Clover’s shoulders and shuffles her ahead of him. “You have to go,” he murmurs quickly to her, “he’s lying - there’s a way out, and you’ll find it.”

The girl stumbles forward, turning around to protest, but her face goes pale before she can. A large shadow looms over Aoi, and it becomes very clear that it’s all over for him. Hongou must’ve gained some speed at the last moment, or was just very calculated with his movements, for he’s suddenly deathly close before Aoi can even think of a proper reaction. 

A large hand knots around Aoi’s scarf, yanking him backwards. As he’s spun around, the sharp end of a knife meets his abdomen, sliding in smoothly. Pain erupts in his stomach, his limbs trembling and twitching uncontrollably – but Aoi dares to meet his attacker’s eyes. Hongou’s brown pupils are thinned in his crazed state, his lips stretched open to a wide smile with bared teeth. A dark chuckle rumbles in his throat as he twists the blade, and Aoi’s world briefly explodes into white. 

Aoi tries to speak, but liquid fills his mouth and he’s choking, suddenly all he can think is that he needs air but there’s no air, there’s only his own blood. Then, the very next moment, it spews out through his mouth down his chin, onto Hongou’s coat (good), and unfortunately onto those awesome shoes Aoi does genuinely love.

He looks for Clover, hopes she managed to scramble up the rest of the stairs and is running for her life - but she stands nearby in shock, a hand outstretched in his direction. Why doesn’t she understand - he’s as good as dead anyway (and has been since Door [5]), but she still has a chance.

So why isn’t she taking it?!

“Gg… g—o,” he gurgles, trying to get the sounds past the bubbling copper taste in his throat. “Snn- sn-… ake…. off..offin.” 

Please, Clover. Please understand what I’m fucking saying! He begs her mentally, his eyes growing dull as his vision starts to fade at the edges. But he does catch her lips mouthing the word ‘coffin?’ and he gives a trembling nod in affirmation. 

Yes! Find the coffin. Snake’s in there. Please - find him, and survive.

The next moment, he hears the clicking of her heels as she runs away, her quiet cries fading off into the distance. He gives a brief smile, pleased that he was able to give her an ounce of hope in this nightmare he helped set up.

Aoi can’t have his sibling after all this is over, but at least Clover can.

But a cold realization hits Aoi once the knife’s finally wrenched out of him: She’ll know. Red soaks through the white of his shirt, pooling freely onto the floor below him; the pain is unbearable, unspeakable, unstoppable - but he can’t help but focus on that one blinding thought echoing through his mind. 

Clover will know the truth when she gets to the coffin.

Once she reaches that coffin and finds her brother alive, she’ll connect the dots. She’ll realize that Aoi knew where Snake was because he was the one who put him there. It’ll all come so clearly to her, and Aoi can only hope that his gesture of letting her know holds some amount of an apology, somewhere. 

He isn’t sure if he’s truly sorry for doing what Akane said had to happen, but he is sorry for getting people like Clover wrapped up in all of it. 

All sounds drown out and the world grows darker and darker, his limbs feeling heavy and numb. Before he can register what’s happening, his knees have hit the ground, and his torso soon after. Staring at Ace’s boots, Aoi gathers up the last of his strength to spit forward a wad of blood, smirking in triumph as he hits his mark. 

Hongou hisses something angrily, but Aoi can’t even be bothered to process the words in his brain. It isn’t worth it - whatever this monster has to say to him, it can wait until they’re both in Hell. 

As one of his last breaths leave him, Aoi at least has the clarity to wish Clover’s far enough away now, that she’s going to be safe and make it out okay.

It’s stupid to think, but maybe this timeline, this path, this outcome… maybe he actually managed to do something right. He’ll never know for certain, but perhaps he was finally able to keep a pair of siblings together?

And although it’s one of the four things he hates more than anything in this world, he finds himself attached to that hope for Clover’s safety - like he’s actually aboard a sinking ship, and someone’s finally tossed him a life preserver. Sure, the preserver’s crumbling and slippery - maybe it’s been used too many times, or taken advantage of by others - but he holds on with all he has, and will continue to desperately cling to it, even as he drowns.

[unovatrainer]

My URL!

My Opinion on;

@notevenjupiter​

Character in general: I think Diana is super cute–I have a soft spot for characters who love and help everybody else, yet struggle with self-love and helping themselves. I really like Phi, I think she’s my favorite because from what I understand, she can be really blunt, and a little cold/seemingly curt, but this isn’t without reason–she’s quick-witted, don’t try to get one over on her. She’s built walls for reasons. Sigma’s a pretty crazy and (actually, not just passively) random dude who inherently doesn’t make a lot of sense–just because so much shit has happened to him (and his little spoiler secret kind of gives this away) but he’s…a pretty deep dude, even if it may not seem that way–he seems typical upon first glance.How they play them: As you know, I was only familiar with 999 by name–this led to a lot of unfamiliarity with the characters and their bond with one another/how the characters connect/correlate, which left me misunderstanding a whole lot, initially (which is totally on me, you’ve no power over that–I didn’t know what I was getting into, Diana looked so cute). In order to grasp the three, fully, imo, one has to 1) understand what the game even is and what the different games are (Nonary, Ambidex) and what’s kind of involved, even loosely. and 2) understand how the characters are related (I had NO idea about the connection of the three until I spoiled some parts of 999 to get to know your characters a little) and that helped A LOT once I did even a little research on my own. As you state in their descriptions it’s really hard to not spoil much, with these three, because there’s some shit you just can’t know/won’t get unless you just know what happens to the three. So I get the position you’re in–roleplaying three characters with SUCH thick, dynamic, and plot-intensive information behind them. So initially I was like “??????” But I gradually kept dash-watching and Googled when I’ve had questions (I tend to do that with people/their characters I follow anyway), I saw how well you portray them and how much depth each character really requires (there would be no half-ass roleplaying with these three, or any, really, in 999) and I think you do an amazing job of delivering these three with the essence that’s needed for them–as a family, and individually, tbh. I think it can be hard RPing a familial unit by yourself (It can be a pain in the ass to be like, ‘He’s a father. How would a father who’s gone through this much respond to this?’ or ‘As a mother with this personality type, what would her reaction be?’ etc.) and you do an amazing job of that.The Mun: Tev, you are actually really chill, and you’ve reassured me that in spite of the above, I don’t have to be intimidated to RP with you. I can most definitely tell that you’ve got the experience behind your writing and I enjoy seeing your threads pop up because your writing is refreshing–I also like hearing from you otherwise because you send me stuff/inboxes (anon or not) and I REALLY appreciate that so much more than you know. I get a lot of negativity in my inbox and in spite of that you sometimes really brighten up my activity, you’re such a positive influence. I’ve generally had a good feeling about you since we first spoke, and I’m grateful to you for that. I’d like to see your other blogs, too, if I could be so lucky, because I’m sure you do equally as well with those.

Do I:

RP with them: No!! BaaahWant to RP with them: I would like to! I just don’t know where to start, and I’m so sorry for that, I’m really the reason we haven’t. I get real blocked and I turn into a stupid stalemate when I’m unsure and don’t wanna seem silly/inadequate due to not knowing something/maybe messing something up, and this is entirely on me, has nothing to do with you (the worst that would happen is you tell me what I did wrong and I fix it lol)–I’m an unfortunate perfectionist and if I wanna be perfect, sometimes, this leads to me not starting at all, and that’s an AWFUL flaw of mine. I apologize for this and do truly hope we can roleplay sometime, because like you said, Ellis and Phi would get along. I think Ellis needs someone like Phi to help his confidence, because right now he’s in a real funk. Someone who can help him…desensitize? Someone who can help him to realize it’s OKAY for him to be combative and say, “I’m over your bullshit” and compartmentalize emotions.

What is my;

Overall Opinion: Really positive! Mutimuse blogs can be hard to run, and Tev mun does it so well. These characters are like advanced-mode--but if you’re into 9/9/9 Doors or enjoy complex characters (if you haven’t played the game, it’s really hard to get where the characters are coming from--I’m not in the fandom and I’m just too curious for my own good so I spoiled some of the game for me to research them a bit--not required at all, but still). I highly recommend you follow them if you’re down for the ride, and I would like to RP some time! X_X If I can stop being a dumb, at least

[keycrash]

Is there any way you'd compare Junpei and Santa, and the differences between them?

RUUUUUUUBS HANDS TOGETHER

SO. they’re actually pretty similar in a lot of ways! ESPECIALLY in regards to personality typing. both are slytherin. aoi is a 7w8 for enneagram, and junpei’s an 8w7. aoi’s an ESFP in a Se-Te loop, and junpei’s a plain old ESFP. personally i’m not an expert on all of these personality typing systems-- most of it is from my friend’s analyses-- but here’s some specific insight into aoi’s looping:

Se-Te loop dynamics: impatient and strongly driven to seek continuous positive environmental feedback, often through blindly chasing “success” as measured by external standards -> but continues to suffer low self-esteem and lack of meaningful direction because of failing/refusing to reflect upon and stay true to personal moral values (i.e. does not have a clear understanding of what one really needs from life or contributes to the world)

defensive loop tendencies: excessively stubborn; buries personal problems or inner turmoil behind cold “rational” competent action; prone to projecting personal inadequacies onto others; lacks moral integrity and displays poor understanding of other people’s suffering or difficulties; tendency to repress personal feelings or brush aside internal warnings of danger; prone to being argumentative, domineering, arrogant, caustic, jealous, envious, or territorial; tendency to demand agreement/approval from others or streamroll people who disagree; prone to unfairly judging others as unsupportive, weak, oversensitive, incompetent, or inferior; takes aggressive but hasty actions with the unconscious intent to repress feelings of insecurity, unhappiness, or low self-esteem

i’m just getting the personality typing similarities out of the way first because... frankly i don’t know a lot about them! but i do know that these two are similar in that way, but the way their personalities come out externally is a lot different

aoi’s personality has very much been molded from his experiences, and he has to twist it to be useful for what he has to do-- for example, he has pretty defined morals, but he has to shove that all in a garbage can in order to accomplish what he needs to with akane. he doesn’t often get the opportunity to act like his “natural state,” because a lot of his actions are out of pure necessity. meanwhile, junpei’s had a pretty normal life up until 999! he hasn’t been in these extreme moral conditions. he’s naive, he’s idealistic, but he’s willing to fight for what he believes in. when it comes to these intense moments like in 999, he’s not a strictly selfish person, but he knows where his priorities are; he’s not going to fuck people over just to get himself and akane out, but she’s always first on his mind. (once he hits vlr, he’s pushed that to a bit more of an extreme; he’s not going to fuck the group over for the fun of it, but he’ll take any opportunity he can to push quark ahead because he’s weathered and tired and just wants his kid out alive) 

junpei and aoi are both extroverts, but they’re rather picky extroverts; junpei likes being around people, but he doesn’t have a lot of close friends at all. aoi likes hanging around his crew, but “his crew” can consist of anywhere from “just akane” to “akane nona ennea clover light phi et cetera” depending on what point he’s at. most of aoi’s relationships are either “distant acquaintances” or “close as fuck” for a lot of his life, so he has to build a middle ground of plain old friends

and yknow how i mentioned junpei is naive, at least before 999? that really stands out next to aoi, and it’s not a trait aoi likes. aoi’s seen so much shit in his life, seriously, that some deep part of him just doesn’t have a whole lot of patience for someone like junpei who doesn’t “get it.” in fact, aoi hates junpei on some level for how much power he has despite his naivete-- this kid who hasn’t seen shit, who has no idea what the fuck he’s doing is the one in control of whether akane lives or dies! he hates it! 

of course, junpei sees a lot of shit in 999, and he sees a lot of shit before ztd, and he sees a lot of shit before vlr. he kinda sums it up in one quote in ztd: "Humans aren't as beautiful as I thought.” while reality hit young aoi pretty gradually, from his parents’ death to finding out about their wrongful conviction to their poverty to akane’s death to the second nonary game, life’s hit him hard, but it’s been over time. for junpei, he gets smacked with a ton of bullshit in the span of a year and hits his low point, and it doesn’t get much higher from there for decades. but honestly, the way he gets into it is still naive in a way; aoi’s spent so long seeing the awful shit humanity has to offer, but he’s not exactly a pessimist-- rather, a realist. meanwhile, junpei’s seen a lot-- and it’s bad shit, it really is! he saw so much death and destruction!-- but it’s pushed him from idealism/optimism to an unfounded pessimism for a while, and he hasn’t truly found his balance. by vlr, he is a bit more balanced; he’s grown, he’s matured, fighting for humanity and raising quark has restored some faith in him

hmm... another thing is that junpei’s a bit more risky than aoi. now, don’t get me wrong, aoi isn’t a weenie or anything at all, but he doesn’t wanna be unprepared when shit hits the fan and there’s a lot at stake. in his normal state, i don’t think he’d stick to plans too rigidly, but after 10 years with akane he’s learned to plan, backup plan, backup backup plan, because with their line of work, everything matters. and, yeah, he wouldn’t be like this if he didn’t have these duties-- but he does have these duties, so... yeah. meanwhile, junpei is fighting for his own causes, usually just for himself and people close to him. although there’s things on the line for him, the sense of duty isn’t as strong, and he’s willing to be cunning and take risks to get what he needs-- for example with the confrontation in safe end. (compare both of them to akane, who operates under very strict plans whenever possible for her, but who doesn’t stress out too much if they fall through and is capable of doing quick, calculated thinking on her feet in a stressful situation and even taking huge risks for big payoffs-- for example, detonating a reactor in ztd just to force C team to shift)

i asked my friend for more pointers and we also discussed how aoi’s got a LOT more self control than junpei. junpei isn’t like super out of control or something but aoi just has that shit on lockdown-- aoi reacts fast to things and doesn’t hesitate but his instincts are so trained and exact that he doesn’t end up doing ridiculous things and making shitty mistakes or saying the wrong thing. meanwhile, junpei? he has a lot under his belt with cunning plans-- the hongou confrontation, the voting paper switch, etc-- he’s GOOD at manipulation like that. but he never has a backup plan, he just bets everything on that one shot! and sometimes that backfires! badly! like when he got the bomb detonator from dio and caused all the bombs to be activated! aoi goes into things with backup plans, and it’s very much a learned behavior-- ever since he was a kid he had to keep track of expenses, balance everything, eventually learned stockbroking where he had to keep track of more and then had to help plan the nonary game which is ALL ABOUT plans. i don’t think he’d be like that if he hadn’t been through all his trauma, but he was, so he is.

(speaking of trauma that’s literally their main difference. they’d be a lot similar to each other if aoi hadn’t been through so much, but what he went through affected him so much that they’ve just... completely diverged)

hmmm. i can’t think of anything else at the moment?? that was just a train of thought dump but it was interesting to write so thank u

[morisninethlion]

Nihilism

Rating: M Pairings: none Warnings: description of death, alcoholism, suicidal thoughts, depression

999 spoilers (more implied)

AO3 link

post true end Junpei returning alone to an empty apartment, with nothing but his own thoughts to keep him company- as much as he wished otherwise.

By the time Junpei made it back to his apartment, he was already a mess. To say the day’s work had gone poorly was a massive understatement- he’d started off the day simple enough, but by the time night had rolled around, he’d seen one co-worker pushed off a roof, another take a bullet in the center of his head, and a third decided to jump after them, unable to take the stress of their work anymore. It wasn’t unusual for people to die, considering the line of work, but three in one day? It had shaken Junpei far more than he wanted to admit.

His steps were uneven, but he forced himself to go to the kitchen- more than anything, he needed alcohol. Being sober meant that he was lucid enough to understand what had happened, and acknowledge that his life was a train wreck. He didn’t want to be awake. If it wasn’t for Akane, he probably would have jumped too…

No, now wasn’t the time for that. Junpei had a reason to live, and it was Akane. Once he found her, then things would be normal again. Once he found her, then he could leave everything behind. He could leave the detective job, leave behind the death, the blood, the scent that clung to his body with every waking minute, no matter how hard he tried to scrub it off- he could leave it all behind.

No, he was bullshitting himself, and he knew it.

Even if he found her, he would never be clean again. He could never be ‘Jumpy’ again, not the way that Akane remembered him. He couldn’t be who she wanted him to be anymore. He knew that, he knew that so much that it hurt, and so he drank. He sat the floor beside the fridge, not even bothering to make it to his bathroom like he usually did. Who cared if the blood stained his clothes, or matted his hair? He wore black for that exact reason anyways.

He finished off the first beer, and let the bottle roll across the floor. It didn’t get too far, clinking against the glass of nearby bottles that’d shared the same fate.

“I’m in a damn sorry state, aren’t I…”

He was pathetic. A pathetic, disgusting excuse for a human being. Really, could he even be classified as human anymore? The only reason he was alive was for Akane Kurashiki, and even then it was just the thinnest of threads that kept him grounded enough to prevent him from driving one of his kitchen knives into his heart. He’d decided a long time ago that if he was going to kill himself, he’d rather it be from a knife. Junpei had died countless times by now, and after some time he’d remembered them all. The deaths from building Q were the nicest, he’d decided. Sure, he hated Hongou with all of his being, but at least a knife was a kind way to go. Perhaps not always the fastest, but it was gentle, and it was peaceful.

He’d been pushed himself, once, and he’d decided that falling from a building was a terrible way to kill yourself. You have too much time to think before you hit the ground, and all you can do is regret. He didn’t want that. Poison was off the table as well- he’d had his fair share of them, and all were excruciating. Maybe his enemies just wanted him to suffer, but he doubted there was any type of painless poison to die by. Plus, if he was unlucky, then someone would hear his screams and call an ambulance. The last thing he would want was to be saved.

Of the conventional methods left, all there really was available was hanging himself, or a gun. He supposed suffocation wasn’t horrible, but he’d much rather something fast, and there were too many things that could go wrong. Similarily, guns were far too noisy, and far too messy. A bullet to the head was quick and painless, he’d determined, but his landlord would curse his eternal soul if he got that much blood on the walls. Sure, the apartment was a shithole, but it was still liveable. Junpei had to have a tiny bit of respect for his ‘home’.

Now, that wasn’t to say Junpei hadn’t died in other ways as well- it was just that none of them were really effective for suicide. Being pushed in front of a train or other vehicle was decently effective, but that just caused an annoyance for everyone who got delayed, and there was always a chance of kids being around and seeing his bloody corpse. Incineration was painful and impractical- unless he found his way back to Building Q, he doubted he’d get to enjoy that feeling of failing Sudoku again. Starvation would impede his ability to work, and torture required him to be captured first, so they were also off the table. In the end, a knife was the best way to kill himself.

He kept them out of sight in his kitchen, but he was always painfully aware of where they were. His mind had wandered again, drifting to vague memories from the timeline where he’d been stabbed then pushed into the water beside the submarine- shit, he needed another drink. He was still too sober if he was able to think about things like that.

And so, he drank. Somewhere along the way, he lost count of how many bottles he’d opened. At the very least, it was more than was safe- who knew? If he was lucky, he might get alcohol poisoning and die. But no, he couldn’t die. He needed to find Akane.

Akane…

It was the same every time he drank, night after night. Get completely wasted, think about her, and then climb into the bathtub with the shower running and cry himself to sleep. He knew he was pathetic, and he hated himself all the more for it. It truly was amazing how in less than a year, Junpei Tenmyouji had changed from a relatively idealistic man with decently realistic goals, to a nihilist who only cared about one thing. Finding Akane Kurashiki.

He was certain if he met any of the other nonary game participants, they’d be appalled by what he’d become. Hell, he’d met with Seven for a mission once, and Seven had hardly recognized him at first. He’d tried to convince Junpei to talk, or at least meet once outside of work, but Junpei had refused. There was nothing to talk about. Seven couldn’t help him find Akane, so the second their working relationship was over, so was everything else. Junpei had discovered that was good at dropping off the map; maybe even as good as Akane was. After all, nobody had been able to find him yet…

“Kanny… Kanny, I promise… I promise I’ll find you…”

He was crying, a silent sob that shook his body and blurred his vision with tears. Everything… everything was too much for him. Life had been simple until the nonary game, but now he was here at twenty-two, with a million memories of death that nobody his age should have pressing on their mind. Akane was his anchor, the reason he kept going, and she was his curse. She gave him a reason to live, and she’d stolen all his will to live. His angel and his demon, he’d kill for her, and be killed for her. He knew he was a broken man, probably far beyond fixing, and it was all thanks to Akane. Still, he also knew that she could fix him. She could make him whole again, if they were together… it was an endless paradox, one that Junpei let consume him every night.

By the time Junpei finally passed out, he had no more tears to shed. He hadn’t even managed to drag himself to the shower, instead falling asleep propped up against the fridge, which was still half open and shedding a soft yellow light. Maybe in his dreams, he could at least have a fleeting chance at happiness? No, that was unlikely. Dreams were just more of the same from when he was awake, but worse. The memories that were held back while waking attacked full force, nightmares of his death on endless loop, a screening of his own torture that would never end.

In the end, there was no real ‘good’ place for Junpei. From the depths of his subconscious, he wondered if maybe the world had never intended for him to be happy at all.

[hecksupremechips]

I’m gonna have a nerdy rant about video games please excuse me (zero escape spoilers)

K so my fave game series I’ve become obsessed with is zero escape, aka a weird bullshit series where the fandom is both small and dead as shit. Yay. And I just finished the last game, zero time dilemma. I wasn’t initially gonna play this game just cuz I heard it was kinda bad, but the ending to vlr had me curious. Plus it had Junpei in it and, well, I think he’s neat :)

But aaaaaaa

Yeah it was bad. Ill go over the good things though. I thought the escape rooms were like challenging without being toooo challenging. They were a good medium between the 999 and vlr puzzles. I liked them. I also really liked the D team a lot. Luna was one of my favorite vlr characters so it’s kinda natural I liked Diana a lot too. I also thought Sigma and Phi were really good in this game. I wasn’t to crazy about either of them in the second game but like. They’re cute in this game. And even though they’re "getting together" situation was kinda iffy, I think Sigma and Diana were cute together. The only valid het couple in this series. I’m kinda indifferent about the whole twist where Phi is their daughter. I don’t hate it, and I think it was cool how it was foreshadowed in vlr, but I think it makes some dynamics weird. Personally, I think Sigma and Phi would have a better siblings relationship but eh

Now let’s get into the bad, even though there’s so much that I physically cannot go over all of it. Idk where to even start. First off, the art style and designs had like no heart. Like everyone has interesting designs (one might even say too interesting) in the first two games. In ztd though, everyone was boring as shit. Junpei went from cool Marty McFly trans king to emo middle schooler. HE WAS LITERALLY IN JUST A BLACK SHIRT AND BLACK JEANS GOD. I’m gonna save him for later though. I’m just disappointed. Also the art style was bleh. I thought it looked nice on the cover, and I was also really excited cuz I read that there were "animated cutscenes". Y’all. Ugh. The cutscenes ended up being like the whole game. I was just watching it all go by and I couldn’t skip any dialogue without accidentally skipping important stuff. Not only that, there was no heart in it at all. I’d argue that the 3D models looked better in this game than in vlr (I’m personally not into how they changed to 3D but that’s a rant for another day), but the models in vlr had GREAT emotions! They had zero emotion in this game. I hated it. Thankfully the voice actors were able to add emotion but damn

Next is the characters. Needle to say, I didn’t enjoy most of them. I liked everyone on D team, the end. First of all, freaking Carlos. Talk about boring. Like god maybe I would’ve liked his design if he wasn’t wearing the button up and also maybe wore like any other pants aaaa. Also like hm. He uh, sure liked his sister. In a concerning way. Like it wasn’t a super obviously bad thing but every time romance was mentioned he’d be like "I don’t need romance, I have my sister!" Do you see what I mean? It’s sketchy to me.

Then we got Eric 👺👺👺. I hated this guy. First off he’s like a ripoff of Kristoph from frozen, without the fun himbo personality. And the whole time he was thirsting after Mira which ughhhh. They were worse than Junpei and Akane in 999. Maybe I’m just too gay for this shit but ughh. Also it was a thing that was pretty well established thing that his father was abusive but like. It didn’t really...mean jack shit? Honestly nothing about Eric’s character mattered, he was pretty irrelevant. Also he was super super shitty to Sean who was literally a fucking child

Then Mira. How disappointing aaaagh. Like they were literally just like "oh here’s this chick that has committed murder, this isn’t relevant at all :)". Like damn they really just had her be completely unnecessary huh. It was super obvious to me that she was the one who killed Eric’s mom and I thought that would’ve come up but. It just didn’t. I was also curious about their relationship in general since it seemed like she only got with Eric so she could kill him. And god they could’ve at least done something like idk. Make her like Dio and break into the game to cuz trouble. Or she could’ve been zero. Maybe that’s lazy but it would have been better. But no they literally did nothing with her. There was a timeline where she brutally murdered Junpei just like, for no reason I guess??? Jesus

Sean and Akane were characters I’m just meh about. I didn’t hate Sean, but I didn’t really like him either. Akane was never really my gal in 999 in the first place so hm. I think she’s funny but she’s done some sketchy stuff and idk I’d probably like her better if the games weren’t always trying to put her with Junpei every five minutes

Then there was Junpei. Ughhhh. They were trying something but ughh. He was very emo and kinda douchey and I just wasn’t into him. Which is a massive shame cuz I liked him a lot in 999, and especially in vlr. Like all I can say is that it’s a real disappointment for me

Now onto plot holes and things that didn’t get covered that should have. As previously mentioned, they didn’t do anything with Mira at all. They also didn’t properly go over Sigma and Diana’s relationship that Sigma had vaguely talked about that happened in another timeline. Carlos’s sister was not important at all and they threw in some "she’s got the mind abilities" bullshit in without really doing anything with it. The timeline shit made my brain turn into goo aaaa. We dont get closure on how the pandemic was stopped, which was the reason I played this fucking game. We didn’t learn jack shit about the third nonary game. And then of course, there’s fucking DELTA

This filled me with so much rage y’all. The game was just like "oh yeah btw there was this random old man who was just there the ENTIRE TIME that never got acknowledged ever and he’s the big bad villain of the game. Not just that, he’s the founder of the crazy cult from vlr. AND he’s Diana and Sigmas kid!" Like wow you know I don’t think words can describe how bad that was. I think things would’ve been better if he just like wasn’t there yeah. Also I guess he’s supposed to be like, the player cuz he mind controls the characters into making certain choices. Ugh. IT WAS SO STUPID MAN. And I guess the only ONLY reason he made the second nonary game was to make sure he was born which is just eghhhmm. That is too messy for me. That’s some bad time bullshit. And weird reason but okay. God

There’s literally so much more I have to say but if I don’t I’m gonna pass out so I’m just gonna take a nap and die. Moral of the story is that I’m pissed a series I loved ended so shitty and don’t play this game unless you hate yourself. The end