when i was working on Aya, not to mention Yori later on, being familiar with such a significant part of the compilation of ffvii, even back when her main purpose was to be yumeshipped with Claudia, i could come with dozens of scenarios in a very short time, essentially writing down new ideas each day or two.
trying to come up with similar fluff, or short stories in general, for Raine and Lightning, feels impossible at times, given how little breathing room ffxiii gives for character development, any kinda exposition, or for them to simply slow down and enjoy their time together. there's an unspecified amount of time aboard the Lindblum, a few days of dead air on Gran Pulse, and realistically that's pretty much it, unless it's just expanding on already existing scenes with something very subtle. then there's the issue of me not really knowing what's next (or even before tbh) and how the entire setting is gonna look in the future, aside from a short synopsis of ffxiii-2 as a sequel hook, which is kind of a problem in itself, but at least i have ideas on how to solve it.
i might've completely used up the potential of Lindblum as both time frame and location, i think i've inserted Raine into probably every existing scene that had some potential already, so Gran Pulse feels like the only option for random feel-good stuff, because even for the AU where ffxiii-2 doesn't happen, i don't have enough info on the setting yet. or post-canon. post-canon is an option too since it's like modern au right?
i know i can do whatever i want forever. can it. i don't wanna hear it. i love working within the limitations of the world i decided to set my character in and overcoming them in creative ways, and i'll gladly torture myself further whenever i don't feel like writing completely outside of it, which literally most of my characters and stories are already compatible with regardless of the universes they're set in. there's irony in this - stop exploring it
