#IYR/RTG plot

[crescentmoonteas]

hi same anon as before, i'd love to hear more about the plot you have planned out so far!

and I would love to tell you about it!! be aware this contains spoilers for both Persona 5 Royal and the AU itself, so I'm putting it under a read more just in case

∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

SPOILER ZONE oOoOOoOOoOOoo

okay so this is a very loose/rough plot outline because it's still changing and being confirmed (I literally changed Makoto's palace like 10 minutes ago) BUT

edit: I FORGOT MY BOY RYUJI........... RYUJI I AM SO SORRY........... timeline now updated to include Ryuji!

story opens with Haru talking to Wakaba about the exploits of the PTs (same framing device as Sae talking to Joker)

flashback to Haru arriving in Tokyo to start her probation

Sojiro is like "grumble grumble kids these days and their *checks notes* haha you kicked a guy in the balls? that's rad. anyway don't do it again"

first day of school

Haru meets Sumi

Sumi's like "I KNOW WHERE SCHOOL IS SENPAI"

surprise: school is now Madarame's palace (same art gallery kind of theme, thinking of having waxworks instead of paintings and it's highly implied the waxworks are just the cognitive versions of students that have been dipped in wax)

Sumi's like "OKAY MAYBE I DON'T KNOW WHERE SCHOOL IS SENPAI"

anyway blah blah awaken Haru's persona

meet Goro who's stuck and about to be taxidermied (chrome spellcheck told me this was wrong and it was actually taxidermised but apparently you can use both. this is irrelevant to the plot I'm just letting everyone know what I learnt today) by Madarame

save Goro, learn about persona, etc etc

decide best way to get Yusuke to fess up is by stealing his diary

steal the poor man's diary

Haru takes it back to Leblanc and tries to open it

Goro is no help because he's like WE HAVE NO LOCKPICKS!!! WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO!!! PECK IT OPEN?!

Akira (works part-time at Leblanc) is like "hi :) let me get that for you" *opens diary*

(Akira is the one who teaches Haru about infiltration tools)

meet Ryuji at some point. he's the new track star at Shujin!

anyway. something something awaken Sumi's persona, recruit Yusuke, awaken his persona, everyone gets a persona,

defeat Madarame

yay

go to Kosei to attend a volleyball game

Haru learns who Ann and Futaba are

[the second palace belongs to the guy who runs the eSports team that Futaba is on. I have yet to really nail these details so let's just skip forward]

Futaba: persona awakened, joins the team, hooray!

Futaba promotes the PTs by claiming they're sponsoring her. she puts their logo on her gamer jacket and all.

third palace is Principal Kobayakawa whose name I can never spell correctly from memory so apologies in advance

Kobayakawa has tasked our poor little meow meow Morgana, who is literally just a first year hall monitor with big dreams, with finding out what's going on with students getting jobs and shady deals

Morgana: panic.mp4

the PTs decide to go and change Kobayakawa's heart because tbh he's a bit of a dick

Morgana: persona awakened, joins the team, hooray!

important note: they do NOT find out about Kaneshiro or any of that. however, Kaneshiro is mysteriously taken down anyway.

Haru gets a text that's like "hello pls change my heart. I am literally dying. here's my address pls bring Big Bang Burger if you're coming" (that's a joke) (maybe)

the address leads to an apartment complex and Makoto lives on the very top floor. she's basically barricaded in and the state of her apartment probably violates every single health code

her rent/bills were set to auto-pay but the money's running out

they find out the auto-pay was set up by Sae before she died while out on a mission

"hey this apartment kinda looks like a lighthouse huh-"

MAKOTO'S OWN PALACE TIME

Makoto's palace is an abandoned lighthouse on a deserted island

the water level is rising and there's a leviathan nearby threatening to kill them

the PTs need to get through her palace and change her heart before they all drown/get eaten

pls look at this tweet by Jazzy for Makoto's palace and persona refs!!!!!!!!!!!

anyway. save Makoto, reconciliation with Sae, wooo Makoto is a PT now and she's the nav so Goro can finally stop guessing everything wildly

fifth palace belongs to Akira's dad who owns a wildly successful modelling company (that happens to be the same one Ann belongs to! what a coincidence)

Akira is engaged to Mika and the deadline for their wedding is approaching

(note: Mika isn't a complete bastard in the AU like Haru's fiance - she keeps her own personality!)

Akira's dad's palace is a factory where the models are the product

something something something. have yet to decide if Akira's dad dies like Haru's. remind me to ask Jazzy about this when we start designing that bit of the AU

Jazzy mentioned having both Akira's parents as bosses in the palace so we're doing that!!!

cognitive Akira is like a Barbie doll - he's trapped in a plastic box and he's not allowed out lest the world damages their perfect little darling <3

(hitting cognitive Akira turns him into damaged goods)

anyway AKIRA GET!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sixth palace is Wakaba's

she asks the PTs to explore her palace in the name of COGNITIVE PSIENCE!!!!!

Haru still gets apprehended and arrested by the antisocial force after and they fake her death like oh no, the PTs aren't together anymore. what a shame. anyway,

Seventh palace is Kamoshida

Ann gets her engine room moment (keeping this under wraps because the ideas Jazzy had were AMAZING and I don't want to spoil them)

Kamoshida goes down in FLAAAAMMEEESSSSSSSSS

hang on. everything is wrong. wh-

TIME TO FIGHT YALDABAOTH

pew pew pew

oh no. we lost Goro- oh wait there he is

and everything was fine :)

OR WAS IT!

MARUKI REALITY TIME

RYUJI WAS REALLY HIS BROTHER RYOJI?!?!?!?!?!

AND THE REAL RYUJI WAS THE TRACK STAR AT SHUJIN!

Maruki should not be a therapist. listen. that man needs whatever license/credentials he has revoked.

ANYWAY SHUAKE REALITY TIME NOW AKECHI HAS A HUMAN BOD OUTSIDE OF THE METAVERSE

Maruki fight: now with 20% more thong!

[spoilers censored because they're big and I want them to hit people in the face] [in a loving and good way]

anyway that's the general idea of it. obvs I haven't noted side confidants or anything but that's like the skeleton. the spine. the framework. if you have any Qs, my ask box is open!!!!

[halfmoonism]

Where Wrath's Edge is Sharp (wwes)

hi sorry I am subjecting you to the Horrors (my terrible awful p5 longfic au that I will. eventually? post once I've finished arc 1 (crossing my fingers. we're at 150ish-k at the time of writing and they're still going through the first palace.))

initial post | wwes tag

major p5r spoilers immediately ahead:

short ver: not-quite-roleswap AU where an Akechi who is persona-less until 17 runs into Morgana instead and unwittingly becomes the leader of the “phantom thieves” w/ Morgana, Makoto, Futaba and Sumire, going against sort-of-Black-Mask Joker w/ Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, and Haru.

long ver: takes a deep breath.

the layout of the iyr/rtg masterpost is so pretty, I'm citing it as inspiration :) I'll start w/ general notes then go into more concise sets of info

misc

no romance! this is an entirely gen found family fic w/ mild alternative chara interpretation (due to differing circumstances) but otherwise sort of follows canon, though the timeline starts abt 8 months before p5r canon (sept 2015)

I'm most likely keeping second and third awakenings, confidant links just take ten million years to progress bc Akechi is. Akechi

new personas: Akechi (Robin Hood -> Skadi, now 2nd persona), Sumire (Cendrillon -> Antigone)

Robin Hood just didn’t make sense for the direction Akechi's chara took (after still feeling helpless, all hope he had that he could be a hero of justice that avenged his mother died); Cendrillon made no sense for Sumire (she never became Kasumi, so the "clock strikes 12/become a different person" theme doesn't fit)

I'm so insane over his 2nd persona being Skadi btw like in mythology Loki killed her dad so. yknow. definitely no parallels there abt being both the victim and the perpetrator or anything

since there's only 5 party members, there is no set nav! Futaba fights w/ a scythe :) this also means everyone else helps teach sumire how to analyze weaknesses after she joins the team :) whoever's nav comments on showtimes as well!

element specializing:

Akechi - curse/psy/gun (Loki), bless/ice/phys (Skadi) Morgana - wind (main healer/buffer + I was not giving him gun sorry lmao) Makoto - nuke/lightning Futaba - psy/fire Sumire - bless/phys

new teams (+ arcanas)

notes: - new arcanas don't reflect the canon storyline, like Akechi being the Tower doesn't mean he has Shinya's canon storyline. it's more about reflections of their personalities and circumstances :) - Ninth Circle links (besides Joker) all break after certain points in the story and reform in third sem

the Espy Division (name courtesy of Futaba)

Futaba initially wanted to name them the Neo Justice Squad V but she was vehemently shut down by Akechi and Makoto lol

Akechi — the Tower

Morgana — Judgment

Makoto — the Chariot

Futaba — the Hanged Man

Sumire — the Fool

the Ninth Circle (name courtesy of mostly Ryuji)

Joker/Ren — Justice

Ryuji — Strength

Ann — the Magician

Yusuke — the High Priestess

Haru — Death

non-team confidants (in order of appearance; might be changed but these are pretty set)

Kiyoko Hagoromo (literally the only OC; goes to Akechi's school) — the Lovers

Lala Escargot — Temperance

Jose — the World

Trader Sakai — Wheel of Fortune

Muhen — the Hierophant

Sojiro Sakura — the Star

Shinya Oda — the Sun

Eiko Takao — the Moon

Shinichi Yoshizawa — the Empress

Hifumi Togo — the Hermit

Mika (Yamanaka) — the Devil

Sae Niijima — the Emperor (only established after interrogation room)

major plot changes

on principle, the Espy Division do not steal hearts. they fight the shadows to metaphorically break through to ppl and go from there. Futaba and Sumire do not steal their own hearts, for example. they go to therapy

Akechi does not awaken when he is 15. he continues to get passed around between foster homes until he lands the internship at the prosecution's office at 17 and immediately moves out to his own apartment

Akechi's very grand plan to take Shido down this time is to gain so much fame and credibility that ppl will actually listen to him when he publicly accuses Shido of all of his crimes. he does this by using the Metaverse to solve cases fast, which naturally makes Makoto suspicious of him

Shido and Sae's palaces are discovered early but not explored until around the time they are in canon. instead Futaba's palace is done first, then Sumire's, then the canon palaces are done in order

Sumire does not become Kasumi! her parents try to send her to therapy but she's so utterly convinced that she doesn't deserve it that she completely avoids Maruki and develops a palace instead (the palace of Acedia; forms as an arena in scramble crossing)

the canon palaces are done but for different reasons (Kaneshiro's is done as the conclusion to a long series of cases Akechi and Makoto were looking into since Dec; Okumura's is done bc Haru insists that they do it; Sae's is done bc she outright threatens to take Akechi and Makoto into custody if they don't turn themselves in)

Joker joins them for Sae's palace. they're all fully aware he's the leader of the enemy team but they reluctantly need his assistance to get past one of the cognitive doors

Joker's confidants (minus the Espy Division members/Shinya/Lavenza/Sae) are still happening in the bg so that's. so very fun for Sojiro when interrogation room comes around

Yaldabaoth declares Joker as the winner immediately after Shido confesses and claims his “prize” by possessing him to terrorize Tokyo. yes this is how I incorporate satanael into the plot

Maruki's reality still comes to pass, but everyone's wishes are appropriately updated. Akechi is not the only person in his apartment. Sumire's not the only sister alive. Joker... Nothing Bad Happens at all to him :)

[crescentmoonteas]

hi could u give me a quick rundown of your roleswap p5r au? i remember hearing something about it 2 years ago and now ive completely forgotten 😭😭

of course!!

super quick rundown: Haru is now the protag, and Ann is the traitor!

even more super and quicker rundown: roles were swapped.

quick rundown complete with screenshots (hit that alt text button on any of the images for the plain text!): one time I put the PTs in a randomiser and made a joke about how it was a roleswap AU based on how they turned out. I've since deleted the original tweet when I purged my account BUT Jazzy, bless their entire heart and brain, kept the idea alive and now, two years later, we're working on it together again!

you can see the new roles for the swap below. I may be purposely posting my tweet to promote my twitter account. follow me and I'll send you a photo of Zelly (pigeon) upon request

[crescentmoonteas]

Question: How does Futaba and her manager up in the story? Does Futaba threaten to arrest the PTs over harassment of a celebrity during an outburst of something? And then Kana asks "hey, Futaba's under a lot of stress because of her asshole of a manager. You guys can change her heart, right?"

Haru meets Futaba twice before the palace starts (once in passing during the volleyball game at Kosei and once because Wakaba is still friends with Sojiro in this AU, so she comes to visit him at Leblanc and brings Futaba with her) so they have a vague connection when the PTs are looking for a second palace! I don't have this bit 100% planned out yet but it'll go something like Haru overhears Futaba arguing with her manager, Futaba denies it, Kana realises Haru is someone who could help because she has nothing to lose (in terms of esports and friendship with Futaba, as Kana has tried to bring the subject up to Futaba before but she just gets shut down and doesn't want to risk their friendship any further) and approaches her to see if she'll help.

Mishima isn't the PTs social media guy in this AU for [HEAVILY REDACTED SPOILER REASONS] so they don't really take off online until after Futaba's arc where she starts promoting them as a sponsor on her eSports jacket/site/whatever and that's when they start a PT site and start collecting requests, so Kana knows nothing about the PTs and just thinks Haru could potentially be of huge help!

[crescentmoonteas]

The fact that Haru is still the rich girl here makes me feel even worse for her, especially with the Shujin kids likely being how they are in canon when Haru shows up. At least she's working on making Shujin a better place!

luckily for Haru, I've shifted half the Shujin main cast over to Kosei! all the unnamed NPCs who spread rumours about Joker carrying a knife or whatever remain, though, so there's a whole bunch of rumours about what horrendous deed Haru did to get a criminal record and put on probation and disowned from the Okumura fortune (at least one person jokes that she over-salted the Big Bang fries or something)

[crescentmoonteas]

IF YOU REGRET / RESET THE GAME

art by Lyn @jazlyn_jin!

hi! want to experience all the highs and lows of IYR/RTG (IF YOU REGRET / RESET THE GAME) but have no idea where to start or what Lyn and I are even going on about? no problem! here's a starter pack/summary post that'll get you up to speed in no time 💫

the tldr is that it's a roleswap AU where Haru is the protag and Ann is the traitor. the "not long enough; need more context" (doesn't roll off the tongue quite like tldr though) is below the read more!!

NOTE: this AU contains spoilers for both vanilla Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal. you've been warned!

most of the information for the AU is very neatly summed up (and comes with extremely good art by Lyn) in this thread on Lyn's twitter. below is more of a neat recap containing some plot points and stuff that you can use for reference or whatever.

what does IYR/RTG mean?

it means "if you regret, reset the game" and is a lyric from the song Axe to Grind from Persona 5 Strikers! it's a reference to how the roleswap is essentially a 'reset' of the canon game.

how did the AU come about?

two years ago I (Ash) posted a silly tweet about a roleswap AU "but it's just the Thieves put in a randomiser" and Lyn saw traitor!Ann and went wild. anyway two years passed and we're now back working together to make the AU a reality! sort of! we're not Maruki! maybe!

new roles!

🍀 Haru: Fool/Wild Card

🪶 Goro: Magician

⚡️ Sumi: Chariot

🦚 Yusuke: Lovers

👾 Futaba: Emperor

🌀 Morgana: Priestess

👑 Makoto: Hermit

♟️ Akira: Empress

🐈 Ann: Justice

💎 Ryuji: Faith

new personas!

🍀 Haru: Eurydice + Tyche + Atropos

🪶 Goro: The Mórrígan + Crowley + Hereward

⚡️ Sumi: Raijū + Cerberus + Anubis

🦚 Yusuke: Oshichi + Kikuri-Himei + Suzaku

👾 Futaba: MYDOOM + Sputnik 1 + ELIZA

🌀 Morgana: Babel + Seraph + Adam

👑 Makoto: Ophelia + Rapunzel + Vivian

♟️ Akira: Le Horla + d'Artagnan + Raoul

🐈 Ann: Daphne + Medusa + Persephone

💎 Ryuji: [SPOILER] + [SPOILER] + [SPOILER]

new confidants!

Wakaba Isshiki is now the Judgment Arcana

Jin Akechi is now the Devil Arcana

Nozomi Akechi is now the Tower Arcana

Kasumi Yoshizawa is now the Moon Arcana

new palaces! (and some returning ones!)

Madarame (Greed)

Shun Nanami (Wrath)

Kobayakawa (Boasting)

Makoto Niijima (Acedia)

Fumiko and Atsuto Kurusu (Pride)

Wakaba Isshiki (Envy)

Kamoshida (Lust)

Holy Grail (Sloth)

Yaldabaoth (every single sin at once)

Maruki (Sorrow)

new all out attack screens! (screens to be drawn, here's the phrases they have!)

🍀 Haru: Lucky Strike

🪶 Goro: Any Way The Wind Blows

⚡️ Sumi: Danger! High Voltage

🦚 Yusuke: Après Moi, Le Déluge

👾 Futaba: GG NO RE

🌀 Morgana: I Said No Running

👑 Makoto: Lifeguard On Duty

♟️ Akira: Checkmate

🐈 Ann: That's All Folks!

💎 Ryuji: [SPOILER]

new plot changes!

Kawakami now works at Crossroads part-time rather than the maid service. there is no maid service in IYR/RTG.

Crossroads is also the place where Haru winds up spending most of her time due to the high number of confidants there and their lax rules about having birds in the bar

there's also a new waitress at Crossroads called Ren!

Shido is a complete nobody in the AU and is not relevant to the plot at all

the confidants that have been swapped out are either dead (sorry Sae) or they no longer need their confidant chain doing due to the lack of Shido in the AU

Ohya is now having a great time with her reporting partner and probably drinks a somewhat reasonable amount now maybe

Haru's dad is alive and well and still a complete asshole

Ryuji is fine :) stop asking questions about him :)

[crescentmoonteas]

[IYR/RTG]

Haru: "Hey why do you like that Akira guy so much?"

Goro: *dead silence for a full 20 seconds* *forgets to say he doesn't like him* "He feeds me snacks"

Haru: ... :D

But in all seriousness, I really love your au! There's so much thought into it! Such a massive roleswap sounds insane to write and it's amazing that you guys have given everyone these new stories. A question I have is [P5R spoilers] do Akira and Goro fall for the false reality? Since they both keep their memories I'd imagine they (Goro) still hate Maruki and his whole thing, but they're in different roles now.

(Also I'm probably very wrong but the idea that Goro becomes begrudgingly fond of Haru over the course of the story appeals to me. He's still rude and abrasive but he gives her shinys and squaks at people when they're rude to her.)

Akira, feeding Goro an entire slice of cheesecake, trying to keep up the façade he has no idea that the crow at Leblanc is a real person: eat up Mr. Crow! :)

Goro: I'm going to remove your spine- ooh, is that strawberry coulis?

(note: pls do not feed cheesecake to irl crows. they don't have the same digestive system as Goro Akechi.)

(also absolutely 3000%!! like he starts out feeling like he has to take on the mentor role (like Morgana in the original timeline) out of obligation to Haru because he like, killed her dad, but then he decides Haru is actually pretty neat. and driven. and cool. maybe if she HAD MORE SCREEN TIME, ATLUS)

also aaa thank you!!! honestly the number of plot holes we keep falling into and we're like WE'LL DEAL WITH THOSE LATER or WE'LL BURN THAT BRIDGE WHEN WE GET TO IT is so funny

okay P5R spoilers below!!!

oOooOooo SPOILER ZONE but yes!! they do fall for the false reality :D

also Jazzy and I have some Genuinely A Little Bit Wild plans for third sem so it's not going to play out the same as it does in game!! don't even ask about that. it's all wibbly wobbly timey wimey planning right now. we're like five miles ahead of ourselves and I still haven't even given everyone personas yet

[crescentmoonteas]

hii i was gonna ask about the mc haru au but i kinda stalked the tag and read some of your asks so i have some other questions if you have time! my first question was if sojiro and akiren(akira i guess in this au?) will meet and have their past dadxson relationship but i saw he starts working part time in le blanc /yeay/which; do his parents know about it? what do they think?

Second question; does goro and akira know the other knows about their previous timeline? or will they have a ‘oh he knows’ moment later?

Thirdd: i learned akira won’t have his past memories of the ng+ akira which kinda saddens me that the ng+ akira won’t be the one gaining persona or will he? like.. the palace will be about ng+kira’s parents but akira doesn’t know about them.. or is it the richer version of his own parents?? but still they sound like two different people with different lives idk how does that work? won’t ann realize akira isn’t like his usual self (since they are childhood friends they must be close?) /also villain ann is sooo good ahhhhh/

Fourth: WHO DOES HARU KICK IN THE BALLS??

(thank you)

hello!! I am Ready to Answer some Questions!!!

so 1. Akira's parents don't know about him working at Leblanc (Akira sneaks away and works when his parents think he's studying or doing....... model.... stuff) and Sojiro's not going to snitch on him anytime soon.

hang on I do know the answer to question 2......... okay after searching through my Discord DMs it seems Jazzy and I have yet to choose an actual moment where they both realise they know BUT the two of them awaken in the new timeline about ~3 months prior to Haru moving to Leblanc and kicking off the story etc etc so in those 3 months I imagine they find each other? I swear we've discussed this hang on

okay so yeah the two of them manage to find each other in the few weeks before the 'game' kicks off and in that short timespan Goro manages to wreak havoc on half of Tokyo. Akira's obviously a bit more organised and trying to work out what's going on and why it's going on while Goro is alternating wildly between beating up shadows in Mementos and beating up people irl. he's full of rage.

third: this is actually a plot hole I have yet to deal with!! I've even noted it in the ol' Google Doc(TM)

obviously this is less of a problem for magician!Goro because he's kind of a magical construct rather than getting isekai'd into the Goro Akechi of this timeline (I know "isekai" isn't a verb and yet I will continue to use it like that) BUT I would assume that the Personas, awakenings, outfit theme, etc etc in IYR/RTG DO reflect the Akira of that timeline, or else we'd just get Joker with Arsene and Raoul and some other third guy again. like even though NG+Akira is in his body, canon!Akira is still somehow in there? merging of minds? oh god I'm making the plot hole into a plot canyon. help

also for the parents thing: Jazzy and I actually worked this out yesterday! Akira's parents in this timeline are essentially the same as his own in the original timeline but in the IYR/RTG timeline they managed to get lucky and started the modelling business thing. that way Akira still has an attachment to them without him being like [person just standing there emoji]

as for the fourth question: if I told you that, I'd have to recruit you into the Super Secret Writer's Room (although I'm sure you can piece together who Haru fights based on parallels to the original timeline and palace lineups!) (also pls note the attack was NOT unprovoked. Haru stepped into save a girl being harassed. she's not just going around kneeing people in the crotch.) (or is she?) (edit: I realised I've literally already answered this and I'm a fool lol it's Kamoshida!!)