#also yes Ryuji is def in love with Akira but also has some feelings for Akechi

[loststarphounix]

Quick Persona 5 thing *putting on the Persona mask*

I love the dynamic of Ryui/Akira and Ryuji/Yusuke, but my favorite ship has to be Ryuji/Akechi because it hits that subsection of Strangers to Frenemies to Lovers to Tragic Enemies that I crave at times, which is the inevitable betrayal of trust and loyalty and the spiraling of obsession.

Persona 5 spoilers below

Like imagine Ryuji meets Akechi before the beginning of the game, he just thinks this guy is overly nice because he’s secretly a creep. He has no idea is Akechi is an actual celebrity and Akechi finds this immediately amusing and makes use of this by using Ryuji as a soundboard of sorts - gauging his reaction to certain key phrases and words to see what the average teenager is thinking and the trends of the day.

They are passing friends at first: seeing each other at the train station but going to different sides of the platform or heading out the station, seeing each other in the crowded streets after school and track practice where Ryuji is heading to the arcade or the ramen shop. Then they start to actually meet up on purpose, at the park or by the movie theater to enjoy whatever mindless action film was playing because that was Ryuji’s favorite genre. Akechi even visited his home a few times and was invited to stay for dinner with the family. It was nice…domesticed in a way he always dreamed. And more and more, Ryuji became his favorite person to text or call on days when he’s at his lowest or when the adults around him had pushed his buttons with their self importance. He was like a balm that soothed his heart. It was around this time, that Akechi realized that his affection was turning romantic, but he didn’t stop it. In fact, he decided to let it grow - after all he deserves love, like any of the other normal, more stupid teenagers their age. He could make Ryuji fall for him he was certain: he was attractive, not too tall, attentive and intelligent. He just had to make strategic moves to ensure their relationship evolved in the way his mind envisioned and it would be perfect.

But after second year, after Ryuji is attacked and subsequently kicked off the track team, things change. Ryuji is still his sunshine self, but it’s muted somehow, like the light was almost snuffed. Akechi hates that anything in this disgusting world tried to take the light from his only source of happiness. How dare it even think of touching Ryuji! The blond was his and the world had no claim to him.

Akechi makes himself more available to Ryuji, who even though is very much in pain and recovering, is badgering the young detective (“ have you eaten anything other than pancakes? Like I know I have a ramen obsession, but yours outdoes mine!” “You’ve been sleeping right?”) and it endears him to the blond. He wants to help, but Ryuji insists he can handle Kamoshida on his own and that his mom has enough to worry about than some other teen sticking his nose into their lives. But this doesn’t satisfy the brunet, because he cannot believe this goofy, lovable oaf wouldn’t want his money and connections to make his life better; even if he doesn’t know who Akechi actually is.

This leads to him planning on making Ryuji want to spend more time with him, promising himself that he’d reveal who he actually is and make Ryuji and his mom’s lives so much better. It wasn’t like it was going to be hard, Ryuji became his schools pariah after Kamoshida disbanded the track and field team. He was lonely, lost…in desperate need of a friend. And Akechi was that friend, giving him attention and love. And soon, with time, Ryuji would see that he didn’t need any of those idiots. He could have all he ever wanted, being by Akechi’s side.

But then Akira comes along and ruins everything Akechi worked on for the past year. How could he have predicted that the delinquent who transferred to Shujin Academy after assaulting and upstanding adult? And that Ryuji foolishly would see this thug as a kindred spirit?

Ryuji was spending more and more away from Akechi, to be with that scum. The light seemed brighter now, soaking the world in a warm glow that emitted from him every time they squeezed five minutes together. But it wasn’t from him. And it made Akechi want to scream at the injustice if it all. He was the one who found Ryuji first - the one who saw him as he was. Why can’t he be the cause for this warmth? Why was he not good enough to make Ryuji bloom again?

And after his cover being blown by this Akira and Miss Ann at the tv station, he can see the appeal…kind of. Akira was smart, he’ll give him that; clever too with how he almost trapped Akechi on live television with his questioning. Ryuji looked so impressed by his new “friend”, it made Akechi want to vomit. But he wasn’t Akechi, who knew how to sooth Ryuji on his bad days and knew just how to help when his leg started to acting up.

Then he finds out the truth about Ryuji and the Phantom Thieves - that his little sunshine was apart of that group of thugs? It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair.

And when Ryuji discovers his secrets - who Crow really is - and falls right into that criminals arms, it drives him to the breaking point. He decides that he’ll use the Palaces and Mementos to create the world that always should been his: him happy and loved and in love with Ryuji by his side, with Akira chained and humiliated; forced to see Akechi touch and claim what was never his again and again for all eternity.

Ryuji would be a little upset at first, but he’ll forgive Akechi. He’s foolishly kind like that. And he’ll understand in time why the other did what he did. He will…Akechi will make sure he will.

[cantfoolajoker]

the phantom thieves as dnd classes

ok as a dnd nerd who likes using class assignments as character study opportunities, im here to assign the thieves to some 5e classes and subclasses.

im putting it under a read more bc it got lengthy when i explained why i picked certain things.

so for starters, akira/ren is def a mastermind rogue imo. mastermind rogues flavor wise focus a lot on the concept of manipulating higher powers like rulers or high ranking members of society for your own cause. in akiren’s case, this falls right into what joker does as a phantom thief. the mastermind subclass over all also gives a lot of tools in order to just plainly not be yourself, which is something akiren also does a lot with how he presents himself.

morgana definitely leans on the side of the more radiant subclasses since he’s the manifestation of the hope of the people, so i pinned him as a divine soul sorcerer because of the innate divine energy resting in someones soul being a fitting description for him. this suits the fact that divine soul is actually a more healing based subclass ala a stereotypical cleric, giving morgana access to healing spells like he does in game, and at that, divine souls actually get an alternate form called the angelic form, which suits morgana having his cat form and his monster cat form. this subclass also references a lot of the people belonging to it are servants of the gods, which morgana is also referred to as. 

i feel like saying ryuji is a barbarian is like the small brain of this, and then i was like maybe a paladin? they do damage and stuff, but then i realized that tempest domain cleric is like right there, and that’s like his bread and butter. now i know what you’re thinking, dont clerics heal?, and let me just tell you cleric is such a versatile class you could have an entire team of clerics and so long as theyre different domains they could all functionally be different. tempest domain clerics focus on outputting dps in the form of lightning based attacks and also are one of the tanky cleric classes with getting martial weapons and heavy armor, so theyre expected to be super dps heavy, which is what ryuji does. usually gods of the tempest domain are patron sea gods that sailors pray to, which fits in with captain kidd and all that. these gods usually represent things like courage too, which is something ryuji has a lot of. also he def uses bludgeoning weapons just saying.

i threw around a bit what ann would be since her weapon doesn’t give much direction other than ranger, but i feel that a light domain cleric would fit her well. like i said in ryuji’s, clerics don’t have to heal constantly, but this gives ann the option of being able to like she does in game. light clerics basically automatically get most of the fire and light based spells in their domain spell list, covering ann’s biased toward fire based attacks as well with spells such as faerie fire, scorching ray, and everyone’s favorite spell fireball. gods representing the light domain promote ideas of renewel/rebirth, truth, and beauty which describe ann and her story pretty well. also it’s a fun contrast against ryuji as they’re the first two human party members.

okay so like i Know samurai fighter is a thing, but i also think yusuke would fit super well as a moon circle druid. druids overall focus a lot on old gods and magic- they’re described as being priests of old faith, which i feel fits yusuke’s traditional theme. moon circles mainly focus on using wildshape and can be very good at both melee dps and at tanking, both of which yusuke does combat wise. plus he’s called inari (the patron god of foxes) by futaba, he’s called fox as a thief nickname, and he wears the kitsune mask as a thief- if anything him Not wildshifting into a fox at this point would just be... well wild.

makoto gave me a headache since like, her fighting style does not translate well between melee punching and having a mount. i threw the idea back and forth with a friend and we agreed that a dex-based paladin multiclassed with a monk would be a good fit for her, since paladins get summon steed as a spell and also focus on the concept of being a justice holy servant while monk gives her the ability to throw actually good punches with a hit die. as for her paladin oath, two fit her very well between oath of the crown and oath of vengeance, with one focusing on upholding justice and society and the other focusing on punishing wrongdoers who step out of line with an iron fist, as both fit different aspects of makoto’s character and her goals. plus the religious undertones of the paladin class regardless mirrors the religious undertones she has as the priestess card and johanna.

so i had the choice of either leaning into being a navigator or letting her do her own thing, and i think futaba would probably be an alchemist artificer- which yes i’m counting since it’s going to be official soon. they’re all intelligence tinkerers with a knack for item analysis and can even create a construct for a companion, which futaba would probably adore if how much she loves cat morgana doesn’t speak its own volumes. they get things like infuse magic and can pull out combinations of concoctions from their alchemy satchel to do random things that range from damage dealing magic attacks like alchemical fire to creating field hazards like smoke stick.

since a lot of haru’s personal story focuses on her family, specifically her grandfather and her father, i feel that ancestral guardian barbarian is a good fit for her. for one she gets her big battle axe, but also it highlights a lot of the cold rage she has that isn’t touched upon, since raging as a barbarian doesn’t always have to be loud and yelling but can be silent and bone chilling too, which fits haru’s anger quite well. ancestral guardians focus a lot on heritage and using that heritage to buff yourself in battle, which falls in line with haru’s connection to her family.

finally nobody can tell me akechi isn’t an archfey warlock, especially one that’s pact of the blade. warlocks make connections with higher powers to get what they want, which whether you look at his relationship with shido or the fact yaldabaoth gave him his powers, he’s a warlock regardless. i picked archfey specifically because i feel akechi embodies a lot of the trickster fey elements over all, but also feylocks are buffers generally, which is a role akechi slots into quite easily. blade wise, a fey blade probably would resemble a toy saber with it being all mystical, which is why i can see him as pact of the blade. also, whether you want to argue he’s a charisma based warlock or an intelligence based one, he has both anyway. i also completely forgot to mention too that archfey’s given spells includes the calm emotions spell, which is just entirely ironic given what loki can do.

bonus: mishima is a valor bard, no i do not take constructive criticism. literally watch the final battle again and tell me he isn’t one. singing about heroes in order to inspire others and literally is the bard with the feat to give inspiration die mid battle? mishima.